Dedication Plaque
The inscription over the front door (Image 6 in the Gallery) reads:
COLLEGIUM HOC MATRONARUM
Do Oo Mo
HUMILLIME DEDICAVIT
SETHUS EPISCOPUS SARUM
ANNO DOMINI
MDCLXXXII
Translated from Latin into English, this reads:
Seth, Bishop of Salisbury, most humbly dedicated this College of Matrons to God, most good, most great, in the year of our Lord 1682
- In ancient Rome a collegium was a club or society, a group of people living together under a common set of rules.
- The word matronarum is derived from the Latin matrona (wife or mother) and means ‘of married women’.
- Do Oo Mo is short for Deo Optimo Maximo and is derived from the pagan Iovi Optimo Maximo (To the best and greatest Jupiter).
