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HISTORY OF MALTA.

tion, to be received without portions into this royal convent; andthose from the kingdoms of Arragon and Catalonia were to be ofsuch acknowledged illustrious descent as not to be required to ad-duce proofs of their nobility.

The monastery at Sixena soon became the most celebrated inthe kingdom. The king endowed it with great riches; and popeCelestin III. subjected it, equally with the Hospitallers, to the rulesof the Augustine order. The habit was either a scarlet or dark-redrobe, with a black mantle abec, on which was a white cross witheight points, worn on the side next the heart: in church they ap-peared with fine lawn sleeves; and, in remembrance of their foun-dress the queen, they held a silver sceptre in their hand during di-vine service. The prioress had the right of presenting to vacantbenefices, and had even the power of giving the habit of obedienceto the priests who officiated in the chapel. She appeared at theprovincial chapters of the order in Arragon, where she had a vote,and where she took her seat immediately after the grand-prior orcastellan of emposta.

Queen Sancha, with one of her daughters, retired into this mo-nastery after the death of her husband ; and some historians say theyboth took the veil. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, thiscommunity, which had always prospered and shone forth in thegreatest splendor, according to its original regulations, chose towithdraw itself from under the government and particular disciplineof the grand-masters, and place itself under that of the pope; but, in1569, Dame Ilieronyma d’Olibo, grand-prioress of this royal founda-