Historical Institute of the Province of Hispania Order of Preachers

Books of professions

Gil de Frederich3

Among the most important manuscripts preserved in the AHDOPH (Valencia) are the Books of Professions of the convent of Santa Catalina, virgin and martyr, in Barcelona. Specifically, these are manuscripts 31 and 75.

Number 75 is divided into two parts. The first is a 44-page bundle, a copy of an earlier document containing the professions issued between 1255 and 1532. On page three, relating to the professions of the year 1273, the following inidication stands out: ‘Nota 3 sequentes profesiones in manu sancti Raymundi de Pennaforti’. Unfortunately the original document has not come down to us.

The second part of the same volume records the professions issued between 1531 and 1683. Among them we can highlight that of the future Master of the Order, Fra Tomás Ripoll, in 1669 (pp. 44-48).

In the margins of the profession, other information such as the date of death or a brief biographical sketch is noted.

  • Book of professions of the convent Santa Catalina, virgen y mártir de Barcelona (1255-1532/1531-1683) AHPDA Ms. 75

Number 31 is the original Book of Professions, in which are recorded the years from 1685 to 1833. Among those recorded there is the record dated 1735 of the profession of the future Master of the Order Brother Juan Tomás de Boxadors in 1735 (ff. 40-41) and that of other important friars such as the member of the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres Brother Josep Mercader in 1719 (f. 24v), and that of his martyred connovice Brother Francisco Gil de Frederich, in the same year and on the same page. More information is also inscribed in the margin of the text of the profession.

  • Book of professions of the convent of Santa Catalina, virgen y mártir de Barcelona (1685-1833) AHPDA Ms. 31