Sir Charles Drummond Ellis (b.Hampstead, 11 August 1895; died Cookham 10 January 1980) was a physicist and scientific administrator.  His work helped scientists to understand nuclear structure better.

Education and internment
Ellis's father was a general manager of the Metropolitan Railway in London.  He went to Harrow School where he was very good at all subjects as well as sport.  In 1913 he become a cadet in the Royal Military Academy.  He wanted to join the Royal Engineers.

He was on holiday in Germany the next summer when World War I broke out.   All British people who were in Germany were  sent to the Ruhleben P.O.W. Camp just outside Berlin.  The place where the detainees (prisoners of war) were held had been a horse racecourse.  There were lots of stables, and in each stable there were 27 horse boxes which became the detainees' home during the war.  The detainees were allowed to do lots of things to keep themselves busy.  They could get books, and Ellis made good use of his time to study.  Another detainee in the camp was the scientist James Chadwick.  Chadwick taught Ellis a lot and together they made a laboratory in one of the horse stables where they made scientific experiments on the photochemical process.

Career after the war
After the war Ellis decided to study at Trinity College, Cambridge.  After graduating in 1920 he did research work at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge.  The director there was Sir Ernest Rutherford.  Chadwick also worked there.    In 1921 Ellis had become a fellow of Trinity College and was made assistant lecturer in natural science.  In 1925 he married the daughter of a rich Polish shipbuilder.  In 1929 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.

In 1930 Rutherford, Chadwick and Ellis wrote a famous book together called Radiations from Radioactive Substances.

Discovery of the neutrino
During the early 1930s Ellis worked with N.F.Mott on energy relations in beta decay.  He discovered the neutrino and  worked with W.J.Henderson on the energy distribution of positrons in artificial radioactivity.  He became professor at the University of London.

During World War II he worked on the possibility of using nuclear fission to develop new weapons.  He became scientific adviser to the army council from 1943-1946.  He was knighted in 1946 for his war service.

Later career
After World War II Ellis had other jobs which were not related to nuclear weapons.  He gave scientific advice to the National Coal Board and to the British American Tobacco Company.  This was at a time when people were just starting to realize that smoking might be bad for the health.

Ellis died in 1980 in a nursing home in Cookham after a short illness.

References
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; OUP 2004-7
 The Ruhleben Story

1895 births
1980 deaths
English physicists
POW at Ruhleben
Knights Bachelor
Scientists from London

Charles Drummond Ellis


John McDowell Leavitt (May 10, 1824 – December 12, 1909) was an early Ohio lawyer, Episcopal clergyman, poet, novelist, editor and professor. Leavitt served as the second President  of Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and as President of St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland.

Biography

John Leavitt was born on May 10, 1824, at Steubenville, Ohio, the son of Humphrey Howe Leavitt, a U.S. Congressman from Ohio and later U.S. District Court judge, and his wife Maria Antoinette McDowell, daughter of physician Dr. John McDowell of Chester County, Pennsylvania. John Leavitt graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Jefferson College (now Washington & Jefferson College), and subsequently studied law with his father and with Judge Noah Haynes Swayne. Leavitt established a law practice at Cincinnati, Ohio, but after four restless years he gave up his practice and entered the theological seminary at Gambier, Ohio.

After his graduation from seminary, Leavitt was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1848, and deacon in 1862. (Leavitt's great-grandfather was the Scottish Presbyterian minister Rev. Alexander McDowell.) Leavitt embarked on a career as an editor poet, professor, writer and university president. From 1868 to 1871 he served as the editor of The American Quarterly Church Review and Ecclesiastical Register. Leavitt taught at Kenyon College and Ohio University, which conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and where he served successively as professor of mathematics and later of languages. Leavitt served briefly as a rector, at St James Episcopal Church in Zanesville, Ohio during his tenure as a Kenyon College professor.

On September 1, 1875, he was named president of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which was founded in 1865 as a four-year technical college. During Leavitt's tenure Lehigh was divided into two schools, general literature and technology, and under his incumbency the college began offering a Ph.D.

But Leavitt's tenure wasn't tranquil. The brilliant minister, who had been appointed after delivering a graduation address some found electrifying, sometimes alienated the faculty. The University's trustees soon found "that with Leavitt they had a president who was brilliant, energetic and tactless," writes William Ross Yates in his Lehigh University, a history of the institution. "Leavitt had been a child prodigy, graduating from Jefferson College with honors at the age of seventeen." But Leavitt lacked the "orthodoxy and restraint of his predecessor," and his five-year tenure was "unhappy." Leavitt was estranged from the faculty almost from the beginning, Yates writes: "A zeal for reform and a lack of tact in proposing it disturbed the professors, who by the time of his appointment were entrenched in their control of several departments." On top of the fractious relations with his faculty, Leavitt also found himself serving during a "severe economic depression." (The entering classes of 1877 and 1878 consisted of 35 students – half that of 1876.)

Within five years, after the enrollment at Lehigh dropped precipitously, Leavitt left for St. John's College, where he was named president of the Annapolis, Maryland, institution in 1880. During his tenure, St. John's established a department of mechanical engineering, where an engineering officer from the United States Navy took up residence as professor. But once again Leavitt's tenure was rocky, and marked by another difficult financial situation, prompted by the withdrawal of an appropriation by the Maryland legislature.

Dr. Leavitt spent four years at St. John's, which awarded him the degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) in 1889. The College subsequently commissioned a portrait of its former president, and it was hung in McDowell Hall.

Following his service at St. John's, Leavitt was named to the Professorship of Ecclesiastical History at Theological Seminary of the Reformed Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he subsequently became the Seminary's dean.

Leavitt's best-known book was Kings of Capital and Knights of Labor, initially published by New York's John S. Willey Publishing Company in 1885. Leavitt also published 11 volumes of poetry, several novels and many works of non-fiction on subjects ranging from church history to philosophy. The Episcopal priest also founded and edited The International Review, as well as serving as editor of The Church Review and Ecclesiastical Register, the official journal of the Episcopal Church, for three years (1868–71). He also published Americans in Rome, Reasons for Faith in the Nineteenth Century, Visions of Solyma and Other Poems, Old World Tradigus from New World Life, Hymns to Our King and Paul Errington and Our Scarlet Prince: A Book for the American People.

Rev. Leavitt's works occasionally engendered controversy, and were not always warmly received by the critics. Dr. Leavitt is "exclamatory in style, and expects to carry the defenses of the enemy with a rush," wrote John Bascom in The Dial in 1901, reviewing Leavitt's book Reasons for Faith in Christianity. "His words are full of enthusiasm, and are fitted to give much satisfaction to those who entertain the same opinions as the speaker."

Having been a well-known Episcopal clergyman for more than 40 years, Leavitt created a stir in 1889 when he elected to leave the Protestant Episcopal Church for the Reformed Episcopalians. Saying that he could not be a consistent Protestant Episcopalian, largely because of what he considered to be a growing tendency in the Church toward Roman-style ritual, Leavitt spoke at churches across the county, where he explained his position. At a sermon at the First Reformed Episcopal Church, located on Madison Avenue and 51st Street in New York City, in October 1889, Leavitt spoke out.

"Dr. Leavitt is well-known not only as a clergyman of power and learning," wrote The New York Times, "but as an author and publisher." In his sermon Leavitt spoke of being "compelled to abandon my ministry or abandon my church," according to The Times. Leavitt complained bitterly of an Episcopal church leaning towards Rome, with its version of "confession, Mary worship, Mass, prayers for the dead if not prayed to the dead, and other practices which I believe to be against Scripture and the law of the Church. As the Bishops will not enforce the law, they force me to withdraw." Leavitt complained of an unnamed Episcopal clergyman in New York who, Leavitt said, "I myself have heard him preach that which many Bishops on the bench would condemn and have reported him to the ecclesiastical authority, and still he holds his way undisturbed."

Leavitt's declaration followed the establishment of the Reformed Episcopal Church in 1873, when its initial declaration of principles rejected what it called a movement within the established church to follow sacraments which were "repressive of freedom in prayer."

John McDowell Leavitt was married to the former Bithia Brooks. They had four sons: John Brooks Leavitt, an attorney, graduate of Columbia University Law School, and crusader against municipal corruption; Edwin Ransom Leavitt, a New York City lawyer; mechanical engineer and inventor Frank McDowell Leavitt, who also lived in Brooklyn, New York; and Humphrey H. Leavitt II, attorney; and two daughters; Bithia (Leavitt) Mersereau; and Anna Goodrich Leavitt, who married Lieut. James C. Cresap of the United States Navy. John M. Leavitt died in Annapolis in 1909. His wife Bithia Brooks Leavitt died in Paris, France, in 1880.

See also

John Leavitt
Humphrey Howe Leavitt
John Brooks Leavitt

References

Further reading
  Kings of Capital and Knights of Labor, John McDowell Leavitt, D.D., published by Powers & Le Craw, New York, 1885

People from Steubenville, Ohio
19th-century American novelists
Leavitt family
American religious writers
American male novelists
Washington & Jefferson College alumni
Reformed Episcopal Seminary faculty
19th-century American poets
Ohio lawyers
American Episcopal priests
American biblical scholars
Kenyon College faculty
Ohio University faculty
Presidents of Lehigh University
1824 births
1909 deaths
American people of Scottish descent
American male poets
19th-century American male writers
Anglican biblical scholars
Novelists from Pennsylvania
Novelists from Ohio
American male non-fiction writers
19th-century American Episcopalians
19th-century American clergy

John McDowell Leavitt


Fleming Road () is a road in Wan Chai and Wan Chai North on the Hong Kong Island of Hong Kong. The road begins south with Johnston Road, runs across Hennessy Road, Lockhart Road and Jaffe Road, flies over Gloucester Road and runs across Harbour Road and ends at the junction with Convention Avenue and Expo Drive East.

History
The road was named after Francis Fleming, Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong between 1890 and 1892. The road was built on the 1921 reclamation. In the 1970s, another reclamation extended the road to Wan Chai North by the Victoria Harbour.

At the junction of Fleming Road and Lockhart Road, a 3-storey building housed comfort women for the Japanese Army during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong between 1940 and 1945.

On 17 December 2005, during the WTO Ministerial Conference of 2005, protestors from South Korea broke the police defense line on Lockhart Road and rushed along Fleming Road in an attempt to break into the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai North. A full scale clash with the Hong Kong Police Force took place at this road and Central Plaza.

See also
 List of streets and roads in Hong Kong

References

External links

Wan Chai
Wan Chai North
Roads on Hong Kong Island

Fleming Road


Cambuskenneth (Gaelic: Camas Sgeanail) is a village in the city of Stirling, in central Scotland. It has a population of 250 and is the site of the historic Cambuskenneth Abbey. It is by the River Forth and the only road access to the village is along Ladysneuk Road from Alloa Road in Causewayhead.

Villages in Stirling council

Cambuskenneth


Jackie Chan Hiu-ki (陳曉琪), also known as Kellyjackie (born 23 August, 1986), is a Hong Kong citizen who enjoys singing as a hobby. She is also a member of a band called the Royals. She likes the pop singer Kelly Chen, so she puts "Kelly" in her nickname.

She was a secondary school student before 2005. She started to put her songs on the Internet from the age of 13, although she mostly sang other singers' songs. After about one year, she started writing her own songs. Her own first song was Lucky Voice which, like her other songs, was put on the Internet for others to listen.

In January 2005, she wrote the song He invites me to Disneyland (他約我去迪士尼) to ease her exam stress. She got the ideas of the song from the story Sleeping Beauty.

She uploaded her song He invites me to Disneyland to her band's forum, her Xanga site, i010.com and also cmidi.com for free downloading by Internet users. The song became very famous with the help of the Internet within a few weeks. The song was also number 1 of Yahoo! Hong Kong's Top Searches (搜尋人氣榜) for some time. Some DJs also played the song on the radio. Many people were happy about her, although some also thought she did not have good singing skills.

When the Hong Kong Disneyland opened, the Hong Kong Disneyland -The Grand Opening Celebration Album (香港迪士尼樂園開幕紀念大碟) was sold in public. Kellyjackie and Kelly Chen sang He invites me to Disneyland together in the album.

References

1986 births
Living people
Internet celebrities
Hong Kong singers

Kellyjackie


Ahrem was a village in Germany near Cologne.  Ahrem is now part of the town Erftstadt. Geographical location , population 1,103 (2003).

The first written documentation about Ahrem was in 1256, when the archbishop of Cologne mentions Ainhem. However the name of the village points to roots in the time of the Franks; it means "village of Arn (or Arno)". This dating is supported by a cemetery which was dated to the 6th century.

Ahrem belonged to the clerical state of Cologne, in the Amt Lechenich. Originally it was a few separated farm buildings, but during the centuries grew a core settlement around the main street and the small brook Lechenicher Mühlengraben. The village remained small - in 1801 it had just 215 citizens.

During the communal reform of 1968 the village was incorporated into the new city of Erftstadt.

References

Erftstadt

Ahrem


DC Countdown, commonly referred to as Countdown to Infinite Crisis, is a one-shot publication and the official start of the "Infinite Crisis" storyline. It was released 30 March 2005, sold out, and quickly went to a second printing. When this comic was first published, the cover showed Batman holding a shadowed corpse, so as not to ruin the surprise of who dies. For the second printing, the shadows were removed to reveal the identity of the corpse. During initial solicitations the comic was entitled DC Countdown to postpone revelation of an upcoming crisis.

Countdown was a special 80 page comic originally priced at $1, much lower than would normally be the case for an 80-page comic, although the second printing was priced at $2.  The script was co-written by Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, and Judd Winick, while the art chores were divided up, generally on a chapter by chapter basis, between the penciller-inker teams of Rags Morales & Michael Bair, Jesus Saiz & Jimmy Palmiotti, Ivan Reis & Marc Campos, and Phil Jimenez & Andy Lanning.  Artist Ed Benes pencilled and inked his chapter.

Synopsis
The main plot concerns Ted Kord, the superhero and former Justice League member known as the Blue Beetle, investigating the theft of funds from his company that has left him nearly bankrupt. Most of the other DC heroes except Wonder Woman dismiss Kord's concerns, either politely or, like Batman, who now remembers that the League had mind-wiped him, outright (Batman would later regret his behaviour). Only Booster Gold, another superhero and Kord's best friend, eventually decides to help complete the investigation, but before he can he is seriously injured by an explosive trap.

Alone and unaided, Blue Beetle continues to follow the clues to Switzerland where he infiltrates the castle base of the Checkmate organization. There, he confronts Maxwell Lord, who is revealed to be using his Justice League files and Batman's satellite, the Brother MK I, to keep an eye on the superhero community, which he considers a threat to the human race. After Beetle refuses to join Lord, Lord executes him with a fatal gunshot to the head.

Crossovers
Countdown was bannered as a bridge to all four of the Crisis leadup titles, but featured each of them unevenly. The main plot was essentially an extended prologue to The OMAC Project. The events of Day of Vengeance were foreshadowed, when the Beetle confronted the wizard Shazam, but no particular hints about that title were made. The Rann-Thanagar War was mentioned on a single page, but seemed to already be underway in the story. The main characters of Villains United were featured in a single chapter of the book, but one that did not connect to the Blue Beetle storyline in any way.

Collection
Countdown was reprinted as part of the trade paperback collection of The OMAC Project, published November 2005 ().

References

Darius, Julian (June 13, 2005). "Your Guide to Infinite Crisis: DC Countdown. Sequart Research & Literacy Organization.

External links

Infinite Crisis
2005 comics debuts
Comics by Geoff Johns

Countdown to Infinite Crisis


John III (, ; 20 December 1537 – 17 November 1592) was King of Sweden from 1569 until his death. He was the son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife Margaret Leijonhufvud.  He was also, quite autonomously, the ruler of Finland, as Duke John from 1556 to 1563. In 1581 he assumed also the title Grand Prince of Finland. He attained the Swedish throne after a rebellion against his half-brother Eric XIV. He is mainly remembered for his attempts to close the gap between the newly established Lutheran Church of Sweden and the Catholic Church, as well as his conflict with and murder of his brother.

His first wife was Catherine Jagellonica of the Polish-Lithuanian ruling family, and their son Sigismund eventually ascended both the Polish-Lithuanian and Swedish thrones.

Biography

John was the second son of Gustav Vasa (1523–60). His mother was Margaret Leijonhufvud (1514–51), a Swedish noblewoman. Gustav had placed his son in Finland to secure Swedish territory in the eastern Baltic from a Russian threat. John was sent as an emissary to England to secure the hand of Queen Elizabeth I in marriage to his half-brother Crown Prince Erik (1559–60). The marriage would have secured Swedish access to Western Europe. That mission failed, but in England, John observed the reintroduction of Protestantism and the Book of Common Prayer (1559). The Finnish duke had liturgical and theological interests.

As Duke of Finland, he opposed the efforts of his half-brother King Eric XIV (1560–1569) to secure Reval and East Baltic ports. John and his wife, Katarina, were imprisoned in the Gripsholm in 1563  After his release from prison, probably because of his brother's insanity (see Sture Murders), John again joined the opposition of the nobles, deposed Eric and made himself the king. His important ally was his maternal uncle Sten Leijonhufvud, who at deathbed was made Count of Raseborg. Shortly after this John executed his brother's most trusted counsellor, Jöran Persson, whom he held largely responsible for his harsh treatment while in prison.

John further initiated peace talks with Denmark-Norway and Lübeck to end the Scandinavian Seven Years' War but rejected the resulting Treaties of Roskilde (1568) in which his envoys had accepted far-reaching Danish demands. After two more years of fighting, the war was concluded without many Swedish concessions in the Treaty of Stettin (1570). During the following years he successfully fought Russia in the Livonian War, concluded by the Treaty of Plussa in 1583, a war that meant a Swedish reconquest of Narva.  As a whole his foreign policy was affected by his connection to Poland of which country his son Sigismund III Vasa was made king in 1587.

In domestic politics John showed clear Catholic sympathies, inspired by his Polish wife, a fact that created frictions to the Swedish clergy and nobility. He sought to enlist the help of the papacy in gaining release of his wife's family assets, which were frozen in Naples. He also allowed Jesuits to secretly staff the Royal Theological College in Stockholm. However, John himself was a learned follower of the mediating theologian George Cassander. He sought reconciliation between Rome and Wittenberg on the basis of the consensus of the first five centuries of Christianity (consensus quinquesaecularis). John approved the publication of the Lutheran Swedish Church Order of Archbishop Laurentius Petri in 1571 but also got the church to approve an addendum to the church order in 1575, Nova ordinantia ecclesiastica that displayed a return to patristic sources. This set the stage for his promulgation of the Swedish-Latin Red Book, entitled Liturgia suecanae ecclesiae catholicae & orthodoxae conformis, which reintroduced several Catholic customs and resulted in the Liturgical Struggle, which was not to end for twenty years. In 1575, he gave his permission for the remaining Catholic convents in Sweden to start receiving novices again. From time to time he was also at odds theologically with his younger brother Duke Charles of Sudermannia (afterwards Charles IX of Sweden), who had Calvinist sympathies, and did not promote King John's Liturgy in his duchy. John III was an eager patron of art and architecture. He turned the medieval Kalmar Castle into a Renaissance palace and often resided there because it was closer to Poland.

John III as king
In January 1569, John was recognized as king by the same riksdag that forced Eric XIV off the throne. But this recognition was not without influence from John; Duke Karl received confirmation on his dukedom without the restrictions on his power that the Arboga articles imposed. The nobilities' power and rights were extended and their responsibilities lessened.

John was still concerned about his position as king as long as Eric was alive. During the imprisonment of Eric, three major conspiracies were made to depose John: the 1569 Plot, the Mornay Plot, and the 1576 Plot. The fear of a possible liberation of the imprisoned king worried him to the point that in 1571 he ordered the guards to murder the captured king if there were any suspicion of an attempt to liberate him. It is possible that this is how Eric died in 1577.

John III claimed that he had liberated Sweden from the "tyrant" Eric XIV, just as his father had liberated Sweden from the "bloodhound" Christian II. John was violent, hot-tempered, and greatly suspicious.

Family

John married his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland (1526–83), of the House of Jagiello, in Vilnius on 4 October 1562. In Sweden, she is known as Katarina Jagellonica.  She was the sister of king  Sigismund II Augustus of Poland.  Their children were:

 Isabella (1564–1566)
 Sigismund (1566–1632), King of Poland (1587–1632), King of Sweden (1592–99), and Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania
 Anna (1568–1625)

He married his second wife, Gunilla Bielke (1568–1592), on 21 February 1585; they had a son:

 John (1589–1618), firstly Duke of Finland, then from 1608 Duke of Ostrogothia. The young duke married his first cousin Maria Elisabet (1596–1618), daughter of Charles IX of Sweden (reigned 1599–1611)

With his mistress Karin Hansdotter (1532–1596) he had at least four illegitimate children:
 Sofia Gyllenhielm (1556–1583), who married Pontus De la Gardie
 Augustus Gyllenhielm (1557–1560)
 Julius Gyllenhielm (1559–1581)
 Lucretia Gyllenhielm (1560–1585)

John cared for Karin and their children even after he married Catherine Jagellonica, in 1562.  He got Karin a husband who would care for her and the children: in 1561, she married nobleman Klas Andersson (Västgöte), a friend and servant of John. They had a daughter named Brita. He continued supporting Karin and his illegitimate children as king, from 1568. In 1572 Karin married again, as her first husband was executed for treason by Eric XIV in 1563, to a Lars Henrikson, whom John ennobled in 1576 to care for his issue with Karin. The same year, he made his daughter Sofia a lady in the castle, as a servant to his sister Princess Elizabeth of Sweden. In 1580, John married her to Pontus de la Gardie. She later died giving birth to Jacob De la Gardie.

Ancestry

See also
 History of Sweden (1523–1611).

References

 Signum svenska kulturhistoria: Renässansen (2005).
 Michael Roberts, The Early Vasas: A History of Sweden 1523–1611 (1968).
 Sigtrygg Serenius, Liturgia svecanae ecclesiae catholicae et Orthodoxae conformis (1966).
 Roland Persson, Johan III och Nova Ordinantia (1973).
 Frank C. Senn, Christian Liturgy – Catholic and Evangelical (1997), pp. 421–445.

External links

1537 births
1592 deaths
16th-century Swedish monarchs
Candidates for the Polish elective throne
House of Vasa
Swedish princes
People from Söderköping Municipality
Burials at Uppsala Cathedral
1560s in Sweden
1570s in Sweden
1580s in Sweden
1590s in Sweden
People of the Northern Seven Years' War
Sons of kings

John III of Sweden


The Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição () is a church in the civil parish of Madalena, in the municipality of Lisbon.

The Church of Conceição dos Freires, or Conceição Velha, (known as the Church of the Misericórdia) was not included in the original plans to reconstruct the Lisbon riverfront, even though it was partially ruined. Instead, King Joseph gave the monks from the Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição (which was destroyed) the location of the Misericórdia church, and ordered Pombaline architect Francisco António Ferreira (with the collaboration of Honorato José Correia) in 1770, to rebuild the structure. Once renovations were completed, the clerics of the Conceição, re-occupied the rebuilt Misericórdia Church, and the Brotherhood of the Misericórdia was transferred to the (formerly Jesuit) Church of São Roque.

Francisco António Ferreira, also known as o Cangalhas, reused the lateral entrance, central column, two Manueline windows, the relief of the Misericórdia, and Chapel of the Holy Sacrement, as the new entrance. With this, he reoriented the temple, whose southern entrance became the principal, and the lateral chapel became the presbytery. The main facade, crowned by triangular pediment, is marked by an ornate Manueline portico, with a tympanum that includes the Virgin of the Misericórdia, and figures of nobles and religious clerics. Flanked by comparable Manueline-style windows, the whole group has semblances to the Monastery of the Jerónimos.

History

In 1498, the Confraria da Misericórdia (Brotherhood of the Misericórdia) was instituted, under the initiative of Eleanor of Viseu and friar Miguel Contreiras (approved by King Manuel and confirmed by Pope Alexander VI).
The new institution was transferred a chapel in the cloister of the Sé Cathedral of Lisbon. In 1502, after transferring the title of the Hermitage of Restelo to the Order of Saint Jerónimo, King Manuel traded to the Order of Christ the Casa da Judiaria Grande (Great House of the Jewry), a synagogue situated in Vila Nova (which was between Rua dos Fanqueiros and Rua da Madalena). The victorious Christians then rebuilt and consecrated the new church to Our Lady of the Conception (), then known as the Church of the Conceição dos Freires, later known as the Conceição Velha (in deference to the Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição Nova, which was built along the Rua Nova dos Ferros). At the time, it was called the Church of the Misercórdia.

In 1516, Manuel ordered the publication of a compromise with the Santa Irmandade da Misericórdia for the building of the church. At the time, the building was carved into stone with a vaulted ceiling decorated with regal and sacred emblems and supported by marble pillars, dividing the structure into three naves. The presbytery was located in the east, in line with the main portico (from plans and sketches dating from the 1755 earthquake). In the south was a door, flanked by sculpted pilasters and three windows (one on the left and the others on the right). The cornice was surmounted by a larger lintel, and on either side was a tower (the western one called Escrivaninha), all of which was detailed in the gravura de Leyden ("Leyden etchings"). Erected alongside the building was the Casa da Misericórdia, centre of the local hospital, orphanage, registry, house of the dispatch, offices and courtyard.

A letter from King John III dated 1533, permitted the construction of an entablature which the Church's ombudsman and the local Brotherhood of the Misericórdia had planned (and later had received consent from the municipal government for its construction). On 25 March 1534, this construction was completed, resulting in the Manueline-era entrance, and the installation of the Brotherhood, from an inscription that was hoisted on the north portico (today located in the Carmo Museum).

King Sebastian, with the endorsement of Cardinal Henry, established the ecclesiastical parish of Nossa Senhora da Conceição in 1568.

In 1576, the Misericórdia instituted the tradition of inscribing on the main porticos of its buildings, images of the Virgin Mary, with the Pope, Cardinal and Bishop to the right, along with clerics; while on the left, an image of the King, Queen and other representatives/dignitaries.

In 1594, the main portal was covered, with the addition of the orphanage, at the same time Simõa Godinho ordered the construction of a chapel, to be donated to the Misericórida, along with his earthly possessions.

A small doorway was opened in 1598 along the northern facade.

Documents from Lisbon in 1626, described an aromatic spice and flower market on the southern staircase. During this year, another double archway was opened, which included an image of Nossa Senhora do Pópulo (Our Lady of the People).

A 1659 Lisbon plan, illustrated by João Nunes Tinoco, depicts a narrow churchyard fronting the south facade.

During the second half of the 17th century, an organ was executed under the direction of Father Francisco de Santo António. In August 1670 the altarpiece was ordered for the church by the Misericórdia's ombudsman, the Marquess of Marialva, the first to use twisted columns in the city of Lisbon.

In 1684, a new collection/orphanage was established in the east wing of the church.

Father Agostinho de Santa Maria, writing in 1721, indicated that the "old" south gate, with double arches, had a grande arch with the image of Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia. In 1729, the presbytery roof was painted by Brás de Oliveira Velho and António Pimenta Rolim.

On 1 November 1755, the Lisbon earthquake partially destroyed the Church, resulting in the destruction of part of the vaulted-ceiling and a belfry over the lateral doorway. A fire, which was triggered after the event, consumed the orphanage, except the chapel of the Holy Sacrament (the former Chapel of D. Simôa), and altarpiece of the Chapel of the Holy Christ of Padecentes. The church of Conceição dos Freiras was also ruined, making its reconstruction non-viable owing to the new city plan.

In 1768, from a letter of D. José, the Brotherhood of the Misericórdia, installed themselves in the Church of São Roque, which became vacant after the expulsion of the Jesuits.

The former-Church of the Misericórdia was then reconstructed with a new orientation, reusing the materials and some of the structures, under the direction of Francisco António Ferreira and Honorato José Correia in 1770. The chapel of the Holy Sacrament was transformed into presbytery, and the south portico was transformed into the principal doorway, resulting in a re-orientation of the nave along a north to south access. The nuns of the Order of Christ, transferred to the new church following its reconstruction, bringing with them the patron saint, Nossa Senhora da Conceição and its denomination of Conceição Velha. At the end of the 18th century, the stone group of the tympanum was encased in glass and illuminated.

Sometime between 1818 and 1880, the historical of the Misericórdia was removed and substituted for a grated window; the figure was moved to chapel with appropriate altar, that was painted and gilded. By 1834, the religious orders were abandoned and the church uninhabited. Around 1837, the church was under threat of being sold, to be destroyed and replaced with commercial/residential buildings.

In 1880, the Brotherhood of Leigos, which managed the church completed a public restoration of the sculptures in the tympanum, cleaning the paint that covered the figures.

Republic
Between 1936 and 1940, the vicar and Brotherhood of Santa Cruz dos Passos, informed the public of the necessity of completing restoration work on the church and its annexes, due to water infiltration, that was ruining the coverings, corners, stucco and wood frames. The groups solicited the DGEMN Direcção-Geral de Edifícios e Monumentos Nacionais (General-Directorate for Buildings and National Monuments) in order to make the necessary repairs; the DGEMN first intervened in 1938, with the repair of the gutter and the raising of the front walkway to the church. This was followed in 1942 by the repair of the steps and railings to the altars; the replacement of the wood floors, stone and tiles; the cleaning of the building's exterior stonework; and plastering joints.

These suggestions were followed in 1946–47, by similar calls by the Brotherhood, referring to the deterioration of the main portal and sacristy. In addition, there were references to deteriorating windows, falling stucco from the vaulted-ceiling and degradation of the skylight in the choir. But, even as the DGEMN intervened in 1947, the church's condition worsened the following year, with rainfall that invaded the church, and a broken pipe in the sacristy, that resulted in the rotting of the wood floors that had to be replaced.

In 1952, there was an inventory of the images in the Church: at the time there existed 40 figures in wood and stone, located in various niches and altars in the sub-choir, nave, presbytery and dependent annexes. Considering the condition of the structure, it was determined that the organ, should be removed from the site and installed in the Church of Freixo de Espada-à-Cinta. But, still, water infiltration and humidity continued to degrade the pavement and stonework of the presbytery. In 1954, the tiles were repaired, which included the consolidation and painting of the Chapel of Senhor dos Passos, repair of the walls, ceilings and access corridor towards the Rua dos Bacalhoeiros.  Similar repairs were completed in 1955, including the painting of the doors, re-plastering the interior and exterior surfaces, and new wood floors in the sacristy. The roof was repaired between 1965 and 1967. Yet, in 1959, the Prior denounced the state of degradation in the sacristy, the access corridor towards the Rua dos Bacalhoeiros and the floor in the presbytery. The DGEMN, then, substituted the wood floor in the presbytery for stone; resurfaced the walls of the corridor access and sacristy's vestibule; oil painted the doors, panels and ceilings; cleaned the arcade; and painted the walls with water-based paints and an insulator.

Ten years later, there was a need for a technical visit, owing to rainfall seepage in various locations throughout the church.

The building was fully connected to the electrical grid in 1964. In 1966, there was a revision of the interior plastering, repair and conservation of the principal doorways. Later, in 1968, with a drive to make the building "fire safe", the exterior door was restored; a new assessment of the electrical installations was completed; installation of fire extinguishers; and the cleaning, removal of dust and bird feces was completed, and the building was resealed with silicone where needed. There was a partial renovation of the electrical installations in 1969; re-touches of the plaster, filling of cracks and repair of joints, as well as the installation of a sound system.

In 1970, the skylight was repaired; improvements made to the electrical system were made in order to install a projector; reconstruction of the wood structures and stuccoing of the ceilings; construction of hydraulic rigging and screed in the pavement; painting of the walls with water-based paints. There was a proposal by the LNEC and IJF to study the area in order to treat the deteriorating stonework at the end of the 1970s. But, in 1978, the facade panel was partially destroyed through the restoration attempts of the IJF. By the end of 1979, there was a further reassessment of the roofing in the registry, altar and lateral chapels for repairs; demolition and reconstruction of the framework and pavement of the lateral chapels; substitution and assessment of the zinc eaves troughs and flaps; and repair and cleaning of the roof.

In 1980, 1981 and 1982, there were further repairs to the ceiling of the presbytery and staircase of the choir; substitution of the zinc flap edges and tile flooring. In 1980, the LNEC realized a study of the stone, for signs of degradation based on physical, chemical and petrographic assessments. These investigations were followed, in 1983, by conservation and cleaning of the facade, using hydraulic hoses to remove the dirt, accompanied by hard-bristle brushes and soft sponges. In 1984, the DGEMN, demolished and reconstructed the firewall with plaster and whitewash; chipping away the plaster facade and replacing it with new plaster of mortar, whitewashing the completed surface; repair and replacement of the pavement of the choir; replacement of the ceiling plaster, paint and window grills; varnishing the doors; substitution of glass; cracks and joints were grouted in the facade, with new stone replacing older rock, which was removed and replaced.

In 1986, there were repairs to the roof and the cleaning of gutters and downspouts.

On 8 April 1998, a map of risks was elaborated by the DGEMN, in order to assess the condition of the property.

On 22 August 2006, feedback from the DRCLisboa indicated their willingness to the classify the church as a Zona Especial de Proteção (Special Zone of Protection) along with the Castle of São Jorge, and remainder of Lisbon's historical walls, the Pombaline Lower Town, and several other properties already classified within the church's vicinity.

The Conselho Nacional de Cultura (National Council on Culture) proposed that the definition be shelved on 10 October 2011. A dispatch from the director of the IGESPAR a week later (18 October) agreed with the feedback, and requested new definitions be elaborated for the ZEP.

Architecture

The church is located in the "ravine" area of the Pombaline Lower Town, flanked by buildings of comparable height and facing the street. It is implanted with close to many of comparable historic buildings and monuments, such as the Sé Cathedral of Lisbon, Casa dos Bicos and Praça do Comércio. The primitive church was located in this location, was the second largest Manueline temple in Lisbon, only second to the Monastery of Santa Maria de Belém (the Jerónimos).

Exterior
The church consists of two juxtapositioned rectangular spaces, comprising a single nave and presbytery, with sacristy abutting, storage spaces, lateral courts and corridor. The horizontal articulated volumes and differently covered with tile. The frontispiece, which faces the south, consists of corner pilasters crowned by a triangular pediment, with a tympanum marked by elliptic oculus. The portico is framed by Manueline decoration, with double arched doors with niche, framed by relief pilasters, ornamentally decorated, with the sculptures of the Anjo da Anunciação (Angel of the Annuciation) and Virgem (Mary) in niche, united by Roman arch and flourishes in the jambs. Above this is a lintel, surmounted by two armillary spheres and cross of the Order of Christ. In the tympanum, in low relief is the figure of Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia (Our Lady of the Misericórdia). Lateral windows, framed by segmented columns, complete the facade, with a lot of decoration, including images of the saints.

The Manueline elements concentrated on the principal facade are reconstructed from the ruins of the lateral (south) facade of the Church of the Misericórdia, destroyed during the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, and were re-used for this project. Primarily, these elements were the decorations in the internal faces of the portico (the urns, medallions, masks, cornucopias, fantastical animals, sphinxes and birds), the vegetal forms (leaves, flowers) and zoomorphic elements (birds, dragons and dogs).

Portico
The portico is marked by two sculpted pilasters, comprising a large arch, surmounted by a slim canopy, containing two minor arches of the same profile. Rising from a simple base, but multifaceted barrel, the pilasters are tri-faceted, with by middle-relief decoration and statuary. In the internal faces, include six kneeling cherubs facing the doorways. Meanwhile, in the exterior facetes there are various decorative elements, that include urns, fantastical animals, heads of angels, badges, cornucopias, medallions and other stylized vegetal elements, dominated by two niches on either side. These two niches, with corbels and canopies, contain figures of the Angel Gabriel (on the right) and the Virgin Mary (on the left), with the pilasters above the niches, semi-circular and striated, extending into pinnacles, surmounted by armillary spheres. These pilasters are united above the main portico, by a line of vegetal decoration that frames the periphery of the doorway.

The outside of the main arch is decorated with rolling phytomorphic acanthus, which rise to the center forming a small canopy with the royal coat-of-arms, crowned with a garland and strut cross of the Order of Christ, dividing the capstone. The internal archivolt, is carved with flourishes of vegetal elements that extend to the base of the inner archivolt.

The double-arch is delimited externally by columns and rectangular frames, and decorated with phytomorphic motifs. The pillar dividing the two arches includes a small niche with the image of Justiça, or alternately, the Archangel Michael, holding a scale in his right arm and sword in his left, and decorated with geometric shapes.

The tympanum has two registers. On the first there are two inverted semi-circles with decorations (urns, cornucopias and animal figures). Tangent to the arches of the doorways are medallions with classical bust, while on the periphery there are relief imagery. The second register, semi-circular, holds a sculptured group of figures that represents the classical Misericórdia symbol, or Mater Omnium, over a frieze with elevated platform consisting of semi-circular dietes. On this platform is the Virgin Mary, secured by two angels, over figures representing Pope Alexander VI, Father Miguel Contreiras, a bishop and cardinal (all on the right), and Queen Eleonor, King Manuel and two prelated (on the left).

The windows that flank the portico also follow the same motifs, decorated in vegetal motifs, with pillars that extend to pinnacles and surmounted by a flower. The lateral pillars are candelabra in nature, sculpted with ropes and vegetal elements, over bases decorated with zoomorphic and vegetal elements, and frieze of foliage. In each jamb is a niche, with vegetal corbels and zoomorphic lintels, with the images of Santo André and São Tiago (on the right) and São Bartolomeu and São Jerónimo (on the left).

Interior

The singular nave consists of a high-choir over stone pillars, a sillar of marble azulejo tile and stucco vaulted-ceiling. In addition, there is a baptistery, to the left of the altar, six lateral chapels and raised pulpit to the left of the altar. The concave chapels are designed within a Roman arch, and include gilded retables, are all covered in vegetal elements. The last altar, deeper than the rest, includes imagery from the Last Supper and a ceiling painting of the Holy Spirit. A fence of wood separates the chapels from the rest of the nave.

The vaulted-ceiling roof is painted with the Triumph of Our Lady of the Conception (), and includes molded and framed elements, as well as the signet of the Virgin Mary. This figurative and symbolic ceiling, in blue, gold and ocre, depicts figures of an angel with lance killing a dragon over a globe. The Virgin is located over a lunar crescent, crowned by stars, being blessed by God, with clouds and the heads of angels filling in the rest. The main scene is framed by architectural motifs, heads of angels selectively placed in the cardinal directions, and arches forming an architectural frieze.
Outside the medallion is decorated by florians, with their centres opened to vegetable motifs (mainly leaves), with the area above the presbytery the most decorated. Here there is an inscribed "M" and crown. Between the arches are other representations: an angel with a scale in his right hand, and sword in the other; angels with flowers; angels with trumpets; the sun; and an angel guarding a thurible in its right hand, with flores surrounding the group.

The three-story symmetrical altar and presbytery wall is marked by a triumphal Roman arch with pediment accessing the altar, flanked on either side by doors, two niches (with the images of Saint Peter and Saint Paul respectively) and, similarly, two windows with guardrails. Generally, the form of the presbytery has an architectural form; its design is dictated by an exterior form, which were hallmarks of many of the works of Jerónimo de Ruão, much like the presbytery of the Jerónimos Monastery.

The presbytery has rhythmic marble walls with pilasters, surmounted by a vaulted-ceiling, with painted panels, guarding a gilded retable and altar with the image of Our Lady of the Conception.

The rectangular sacristy, which is accessed from the northern narrow corridor, is abutted by a rectangular courtyard.

The azulejos, an ornamental composition, forms the sillar in the church, consisting of bi-chromatic (cobalt blue and manganese on white). Usually nine azulejo tiles in height, the decorations include vegetal imagery (mostly flowers and/or foliage).

References
Notes

Sources

Manueline architecture
Gothic architecture in Portugal
Renaissance architecture in Portugal
Nossa Senhora Conceicao Velha
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1770
1516 establishments in Portugal
National monuments in Lisbon District
18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Portugal

Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição Velha