A branch of the Order of Saint Clare, founded by Beatriz de Silva. Isabel, the daughter of Edward, King of Portugal, having married John II (1406-1454) of Castile, took her kinswoman, Beatriz de Silva, sister of James I, Count of Portalegre, with her. The beautiful Beatriz, however, aroused the suspicion and jealousy of the queen, and was imprisoned. Escaping, she fled to the Sisters of St. Dominic at Toledo, where she lived about forty years. Her veneration for the Immaculate Conception of Mary inspired her to found, with twelve companions, a special order in honour of Mary's privilege. Queen Isabella gave her the castle of Galliana in 1484. The sisters followed the Cistercian rule, reciting the Office of the Blessed Virgin in addition. Beatriz died 1 Sept., 1490, at the age of sixty-six.

Through the influence of Ximnenes de Cisneros, the famous Archbishop of Toledo, the Conceptionists were subordinated to the Franciscans, and in 1501 they adopted the rules of the Order of Saint Clare, modified with the authorization of Alexander VI. Julius II sanctioned them anew in 1506; Quiñonez, provincial of the Franciscans of Castile, and later general of the entire order, drew up their constitution in 1516. The second convent was founded at Torrigo, another at Madrid in 1512, and one at Assisi in the same year. Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of Philip IV of Spain, summoned them to the Faubourg Saint-Germain at Paris, where the Sisters of Saint Clare adopted their rules, which were again modified by a Brief of Clement X. The Conceptionists wear a white habit and scapular with a blue cloak, and an image of the Blessed Virgin on their habit. The celebrated Maria de Agreda, author of "The Mystical City of God ", was a Conceptionist. The Conceptionist congregation is at present spread widely throughout Spain and Belgium.

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online