The Stone Priory Collection

The mission at Stone, Staffordshire was begun by Blessed Dominic Barberi who resided at nearby Aston Hall.  In 1844 he opened the chapel of St. Anne, which was designed by A. W. N. Pugin.

In 1851, Servant of God, Mother Margaret Hallahan arrived and established the mother house of the Dominican Congregation of St. Catherine of Siena. Bishop Ullathorne of Birmingham regarded the convent as his spiritual home and on his death was even buried in the chapel.

The priory buildings and church were erected gradually during the 1850s, where they provided a hospital, school, and a church. After nearly 175 years Stone Priory was suppressed and closed in 2024.

Following the closure of the priory the archives were transferred to the Birmingham Archdiocesan Archives. This is when NINS began a project to bring a selection of the letters onto the Digital Collections, working with the Stone archivist Anselm Nye, and the Birmingham archivist Naomi Johnson.

There are nearly seven hundred letters now available online.

The collection includes one hundred original Newman manuscripts, mainly written to Sister Mary Catherine Bathurst and Sister Mary Alban Bowden, as well as a smaller number to Anne Campbell, the Dowager Duchess of Argyll, and Mother Francis Raphael Drane. In these letters Newman discussed theological matters of faith and vocation and dispensed spiritual advice.

Two hundred of the letters were written by Mother Margaret. The Cause for Mother Margaret’s canonization was opened in 1937, though it has not progressed. Mother Margaret also corresponded with Newman, and several of her letters are preserved in the Oratory archives, although the whereabouts of his letters to her are unknown.

The next most significant correspondent in the Stone archives is Bishop Ullathorne with more than 190 of his original manuscripts included.

The Stone Priory archive is a significant collection for Newman scholarship because it gives us a view into Newman’s ideas of spirituality in female religious life, and from them we can compare and contrast these ideas to those of his greatest episcopal supporter, Bishop Ullathorne.