Fair manuscript copies of four of the original founding documents of the first convent in India, the Convent of Santa Monica in Goa, founded in 1598 and completed in 1627.

The four documents were originally compiled by Frei Diogo de Santa Anna (1571-1644), the sole confessor of the convent, probably in 1627 as part of the dedication of the completion of the building. The imprimatur of the compilation was given by Frei Sebastian de San Pedro (ca. 1549-1629), the Archbishop of Goa, on 10 February 1628. This present volume was copied from the original compiled manuscript in 1874 in Goa under the supervision of Joaquim Heliodoro da Cunha Rivara (1809-1879), the Secretary General of the Portuguese colony of Goa. He brought this volume back to Portugal in 1877, and it was then donated on his death two years later to the Biblioteca Publica de Evora.

The documents themselves contain the Statutes, Regimen, and Divine Office of the Convent, and the dedicatory sermon delivered on the completion of the convent in 1627 by Frei Diogo de Santa Anna. The sermon also contains the history of the first years of the convent.

The only portion we can find record of is the sermon, of which a single manuscript copy survives in the Arquivo Nacional da Torro do Tombo (MS no.1869). We can find no record of the original manuscripts of the Statutes, Regimen, and Divine Office from which this volume.

4to (31 x 20.5 cm); Portuguese manuscript in ink, 471 ll. in fair copy, paper watermarked 'ALMASSO', 'MARIA NAIA', 'THOMA'; later half calf, blue cloth boards, gilt morocco spine label, near fine internally.