The manuscript of Fr. Lewis Sabran's Letter Book is in Brussels (Bibliotheque Royale de Belgique No. 4177). It seems likely that it was seized by the government of the Austrian Netherlands in 1773. The history of St. Omers College was retold recently by the late Fr. Hubert Chadwick in his St. Orners to Stonyhurst. The College was founded in 159,3 by Fr. Robert Persons in what was then Spanish territory with the assistance of Philip II. One reason for the foundation was the proposal in England to take the children of Catholic parents from the parents at the age of seven and place them with approved Protestants to be brought up as Protestants. The College
continued at St. Omers as a school for boys from England until 1762. That part of the Netherlands had become French territory in 1678 and in 1762 the College was involved in the expulsion of the Jesuits from France. It moved to Bruges in the Austrian Netherlands. Then in 1773 the Society of Jesus was suppressed by the
Pope.
