The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-01-22 00:00:00

A RELIC OF JAMES II:

An account (says the Times Paris correspondent)
was given nearly four years ago of the discovery at
the Scotch College of two leaden cases, believed to
contain the brains of James IL and the heart of
the Duchess of Perth. In laying a pipe under the
chapel floor the workmen came on a cavity, in which
these relics were picked up. Monseigneur Rogerson,
Administrator of the Scotch endowments, who showed
them to me, was of opinion that this pit had been dug
in readiness for an intended massacre, either of the
persons confined in the College, or of the English
Austin nuns, next door; but it is more likely to have
resulted from the exhumation of a coffin for the sake
of the lead, or of other ariseles of value. Monseigneur
Rogerson's original intention was to reinter the relics,
but in a quiet way, so as to avoid risk of profanation,
and he did not even inform the tenants of the College
(now occupied as a boy's boarding school), that the
case had any historical interest.
He was not then aware, however, that the brains
of James 11. were formerly in a gilt bronze urn, at-
tached to a tablet on the wall. This urn disappeared
during the Revolution, and the leaden case within it
was not- further heard of till the discovery of 1883.
As there is no record of any other cases with such
contents having ever been placed in the college, the
presumption as to the identity of those found is
almost irresistible. 1 have reason to know, moreover,
that the announcement of the discovery evoked in-
quiries from the highest quarter as to the authenticity
and safe-keeping of the braini of James 11. Monseig-
neurßogerson,who took a stroug interest in the Stuarts,
died three years ago, and what had become of the
relics, still apparently in his possession up to that
time, was a question of obvious interest. He had no
relations in France, his kindred in the north of Eng-
land were not likely to have interested themselves in
these relics, and the new Administrator is a French
ecclesiastic, who returned no answer to an inquiry
addressed to him.

I have, however, now ascertained that the cases are
in the safe-keeping of Monseigneur Rogerson's execu-
tor, Mr. O'Keenen, a solicitor, pending a decision as
to their ultimate disposal. The Duchess of Perth
has no lineal descendants, at least in the male line,
and as her heart was originally deposited under an
inscribed slab on the chapel floor, it might fitly be re-
placed there. The brains of James 11. might per-
haps be inserted in a new urn, to be placed where the
old one stood; but the Scotch College is now a
French school, and though the tenants are very
courteous to their rare British visitors, a better known
depository might perhaps be found. The brains
might, for instance, be interred at St. Germain,
with what, I believe, are the only other
remains of James ll.—namely, part of the
flesh removal in the process of embalming,
and a portion of his bowels. These were discovered
60 years ago, while a church was being restored, and
George IV. placed an inscription over them, which
Queen Victoria has restored. The body itself, con-
fided to the English Benedictines, in the expectation
that it would eventually be transferred to Westmin-
ster Abbey, disappeared during the Revolution, and
was probably thrown into a quarry. Other relics of
James It. in Paris, at St. Omer and elsewhere, like-
wise disappeared, and a piece of his arm preserved till
1871 by the Austin nuns was made away with by the
Commune, which used the Neuilly Convent as a bar-
rack. There is consequently every reason for insur-
ing the preservation of the college relic. Mr.
O'Beenan is, I understand, in communication with
Scotch Catholic bishops, and meanwhile it is satis-
factory to know that the case is in safe custody.