A Jacobite Gazetteer - Modena

Former Convento di San Paolo
Monument to Queen Mary III and II
Monument to Queen Mary III and II

In 1816 Princess Mary Beatrice (later Queen Mary III and II) founded a school for poor girls in the former convent attached to the Chiesa di San Paolo; the girls were known as the "Putte della Duchessa". 1

At the far end of the entrance hall on the ground floor of the convent is a terracotta memorial to Queen Mary erected in 1842 (two years after her death). At the top of the memorial is a sculpture of a mother with her three children flanked on either side by a cornucopia. Below a blue and white frieze of acanthus leaves is a round tondo which surrounds a slight recess containing a bust of Queen Mary. She is dressed as a Roman matron and holds a book (symbolic of education). On either side of the tondo is a blue and white panel decorated with arabesques. Below the bust of Queen Mary is an Italian inscription:

ALLA GLORIOSA E BENEDETTA MEMORIA
DE MARIA BEATRICE VITTORIA DI SAVOIA
ARCIDVCHESSA D'AVSTRIA DVCHESSA DI MODENA
PRINCIPESSA PROVIDA PIISSIMA
CHE A QVESTO REGIO EDVCANDATO DI S·PAOLO
FONDATO DALLA MVNIFICENZA
DELL'AVGVSTO SVO CONSORTE FRANCESCO IV·
ED ALLE POVERE ZITELLE IN ESSO RACCOLTE
CH'ELLA GODEA CHIAMARE
LE FIGLIE DELL'AMOR SVO
BENIGNA E PIETOSA CON MATERNO AFFETTO
COMPARTIVA OGNI AIVTO E CONSOLAZIONE
ANNO DEL SIGNORE m·DCCC·XXXXII
 
To the glorious and blessed memory
of Maria Beatrice Vittoria of Savoy,
Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Modena,
a prudent and most pious princess,
who founded this royal school of Saint Paul
by the generosity
of her august husband Francis IV
and to the poor little girls gathered in it
who she was happy to call
the daughters of her love
blessed and moved by maternal affection
and distributed with every help and consolation.
Year of the Lord 1842.

The former convent and school is located at the southern end of the city on Via Selmi. If the building is not open, then it is possible to see the memorial through the glass window and doors.

Notes

1 "Ex Chiesa di S. Paolo", http://www.colombinieditore.it/GdM/QQ/134.html.

Image 1 (Monument to Queen Mary III and II): © Noel S. McFerran 2004.

This page is maintained by Noel S. McFerran (noel.mcferran@rogers.com) and was last updated July 17, 2005.
© Noel S. McFerran 2003-2005.