Mary Fotheringham's Prayer Book (1720): Pt I

Introduction

The prayer book on the left dates from 1720. Although in a somewhat poor condition, it offers a number of remarkable insights into the prayer life of Catholics during this period of repression, between Penal times and the Catholic relief Act of 1829. It measures 12 x 7 cms. The numbered pages finish with page 500 and are mainly in English, with some Latin.There are however some unnumbered pages at the beginning and at the end. Many of these have fascinating handwritten entries, in English and in French. Pages 351-464 are missing and these may have contained the Ordo Missae, as this is absent from the book in its current form.

Mary Teresa Fotheringham

Here is the first handwritten entry.

    This Book belonged to my
dearest Aunt Fotheringham
& was given me my beloved
Grandmamma after my Aunty's 
death.
    Mary Teresa Fotheringham
departed this life Monday the 
7th March 1831  & was buried the
12th March 1831 in the vaults
under the Chapel at Bath.
               R.I.P. 

After the dissolution of Bath Abbey in 1539, most of the Benedictine Mission fled overseas. but a small remnant stayed on. In 1809, the Mission purchased a building that had housed the Theatre Royal from 1750-1905. This theatre features in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. The building was converted into a Catholic Chapel. A floor was laid over the theatre's pit, creating vaults that were used for burials. This is presumably where Mary Fotheringham would have been buried.

A new Catholic church was built and consecrated in 1863 and the burials were moved to Perrymead Cemetery, a newly acquired site in Prior Park Estate. Only a few of those buried in the Old Chapel were reburied in Perrymead. Enquiries at Bath Record Office indicate that the 65 recorded reburials are not identified. Could this be Mary Fotheringham's final resting place on earth?

A Summary of the Contents

The printed pages contain:

• A liturgical calendar
• A Table of Moveable Feasts from 1720-1745
• A Daily Exercise (miscellaneous prayers in English)
• The 'Office of the B.V. Mary' (English)
• The Office of the Dead (English)
• The Rosary: 'The method of saying the Rosary of Our Blessed Lady in Latin and English; as it was ordered by Pope Pius V of the holy Order of Preachers; and as it is said in Catholic Chapels.'
• The Litanies of Our Blessed Lady (Latin and English)
• Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament (English)
• Pages 351-464 missing
• The Seven Penitential Psalms (English)
• The Litanies of Saints (Latin and English)
• The Litanies of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (page 500 only, in English)