The English College, Lisbon

Author:

A. H. Norris

Report:

Sixth Annual Report and Review

Page:

15

Year:

1979

Subject Matter:

Schools

Excerpt:

The Pontifical College of St. Peter and St. Paul, known to the Portuguese as "O colégio dos Inglezinhos" and to the British as the English College, was founded as long ago as 1622 and is by far the oldest British establishment in Portugal.

The intention to found at Lisbon a College where English secular priests could be trained for the Mission in post-Reformation England and Wales was first conceived by Fr. Nicholas Aston, Visitator to the Inquisition in Lisbon and chaplain to the local English residents. Similar Colleges already existed in various European countries and others were to be founded later. Fr. Aston bought a house suitable for his purpose but died before he could complete his plan. His successor, Fr. William Newman, to whom he left the house, encountered a wealthy Portuguese nobleman, Dom Pedro Coutinho, who offered to buy a suitable piece of land, construct the necessary buildings and endow the enterprise. The land he bought was that on which the College stood until its closure in 1973.

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