| Description | This volume comprises of rotas assigning the initials of sisters to various duties during the Divine Service for dates between 1777 and 1787. In addition to rotas, the manuscript also contains Bridget Becquet's notes on rites, Syon Abbey's history, and biographical notes on the brothers and sisters of Syon Abbey from 1400 to 1793. Some of the biographical notes only consist of names and death dates, while others include further details about their lives. An inscription in a later hand at the front of the mauscript questions the accuracy of the contents of the manuscript. The manuscript is only partially paginated, and a new pagination begins with inserted leaves at the end of the manuscript.
The notes within the manuscript are divided into sections with underlined headings. The section headings are as follows:
- 'Faults Concerning the Divine Office' (p. 2)
- 'Of the office of the Chantress (p. 6)
- 'The Anniversaries for the Dead' (p. 14)
- 'The manner of Burying Lay Persons' (p. 20)
- 'Ceremonies to be used in the burial of Infants' (p. 32)
- 'Memorandum' (p. 36)
- 'How the New Professt are to go through Their duties' (p. 40)
- 'The Copy of a Letter Wrote by the Rev[eren]d Ins [possibly abbreviation for Johannes: John] Preston, master of divinity at the English Colledge, to Sister Bridget Becquet, when she was Chantress, April 1775' (p. 42)
- 'Of the Divine Office in General and of those that come too late to the Quire' (p. 54)
- 'The Order of Reciting the Divine Office for the use of the English Nuns of Lisbon. According to the Roman Breviary Breviary, the Patriarchal rites and the Priviledges of their Order of Holy Saviour, Commonly Called the of S. Birgitt. for the Year of our Lord' (p. 64)
- 'A Memorandum or a Short Register of all particular events Concerning Sion House From its first Foundation In England by King Henry the 5th in the year 1415 Down to this present year 1777 Taken partly from the Book of the Travels, and partly translated from an old Latin Book wrote by the Brothers of the Order, and the Life of Lady Bridget Mendanha, and the Book of Foundation of the Convent of Marvilla. By me S[is]t[e]r B[ridget[ Becquet'' (p. 84)
- 'A List of the Brothers of the Order that died from Fourteen Hundred to 1539' (p. 96)
- 'A List of the Sisters of the Order that died from four Hundred and 15 to five Hundred and 39' (p. 107)
- 'A Brief Account of the Nuns from their leaving Old Sion House in England To their arrival at New Sion House in Lisbon, with a short account of old Sion in England'
- 'A List of the Brothers of our Order that died from 1539 To the year of our Lord 1583'
- 'A List of the Sisters that died from the year 1539 that they left England to the year 1594 that they came to Portugal'
- 'A list of the Nuns that died from the year 1594 that we came to Portugal to the year 169[above: 4 or]7 that we Buried the Last Brother of our Order'
- Biography of Winifred Hill, beginning 'Lady Winifred Hill was Born in London...' (p. 1)
- 'A coppy of the Lord Nuncio Arch BP [Archbishop] of Tarso [Tarsus]. His Pastoral upon his Visitation in the year of our Lord = 1699. But not published until the year, 1700' (p. 19)
- Inserted notes relating to Syon Abbey's history and members, including Father Richard Reynolds and Sister Catherine Palmer
- 'Prayers for the dead' [inserted piece, in a different hand]
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| Admin History | Bridget [also known as Birgitta] Becquet was a choir nun at Syon Abbey in Lisbon, Portugal. She made her profession in religion at Syon Abbey on 22 April 1753 [see EUL MS 389/COM/2/1/4/27 for her vow of profession]. According to this volume, she held the office of Chantress in 1774 and again 1777. She held the office of Abbess of Syon Abbey from 1784 to 1790. Bridget Becquet died on 14 October 1795 at Syon Abbey in Lisbon.. |