INTRODUCTION The manuscript of Fr. Lewis Sabran's Letter Book is in Brussels (Bibliothèque 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. Omers to Stonyhurst. The College was founded in 1593 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 . The Prince Bishop of Liège offered it a home and there it remained until the advance of the French Revolutionaryarmies in 1794 forced it to move again; this time it was to England, to Stonyhurst in Lancashire. Fr. Chadwick records in his book (page 347) that various manuscript volumes of historical interest were taken at Bruges in 1773 and searched by the agents of the government of the Netherlands with a view to finding clues as to the whereabouts of hidden Jesuit riches . As has been said above the Letter Book was probably seized at this time. The Letter Book runs from October , 1713 to October, 1715 and consists of 126 folios. The title on the outside is "Journal of Letters kept by F. Sabran, Rector of St. Omers 1713-1715 . Fr. Sabran held the office of Rector from June , 1712 until October, 1715. As Rector he was of course the Superior of the house and also Headmaster of the College. In his Letter Book he wrote down the substance of most ( but, as is clear from the text, not all) of the letters he received and sent , and he occasionally made a note of various happenings such as his journeys, the arrival and departure of boys and visitors , etc. His correspondence included letters receivedand sent about a wide variety of topics . Among these topics were Jansenism and the Bull Unigenitus, political news from England and the Succession question, the affairs of the Jacobite Court, the hopes of the restoration of James Edward and the beginnings of the Fifteen, the affair of Deale, the apothecary, and the persecution
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1 Rectorsnormally held office for three, sometimes six, years.
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