Ordinaciones del Monasterio de la Concepción Sin Mancilla de Nuestra Señora de la ciudad de Toledo

[between 1520 and 18th century]

The Monasterio de la Concepción de la Nuestra Señora was established in Toledo, Spain on the foundations of an older Franciscan friary building. Beatriz de Menezes da Silva, a former Portuguese noblewoman (1424-1492; canonized in 1976), established the order, also known as the Conceptionists. In 1494, the order began following Franciscan rule. In 1508, Ambrosio Montesino composed a Conceptionist breviary, and, in 1511, a Conceptionist rule was written by Fray Francisco Quiñones and approved by Pope Julius II in the "Ad statum prosperum" bull. In 1516, Conceptionist Ordinances were appended to the rule. The Conceptionists flourished from the 16th to 18th century, expanding the presence of the order in Spain and its colonies in Latin America. The volume is composed of two texts pertaining to the governance of the Monasterio de la Concepción de Nuestra Señora, a Franciscan convent in the parish of Magdalena, Toledo. The first text, which has no formal title, most likely is the rule by Fray Francisco Quiñones; the second text includes a formal title, which can be translated into English as "Ordinances of the Monastery of the Immaculate Conception." See also Princeton MS. 169.