Conception of Our Lady, an order of nuns, founded in Portugal in 1484 by Beatrix de Sylva, in honour of the immaculate conception. It was confirmed in 1489 by Pope Innocent VIII. In 1489 Cardinal Ximenes put the nuns under the direction of the Franciscans, and imposed on them the rule of St Clara. The order subsequently spread into Italy and France.
Conception of Our Lady
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 3: Catarrh to Dion, p. 398
Source scan(s): p. 0409