The Poor Clares
Following their banishment from Dublin in November 1630, the Poor Clares removed to Bethleham, in what was then the townland of Bleanphuttogue, parish of Kilkenny West, County Westmeath, a remote area on the shores of Lough Ree some eight miles (13 km) north-west of Athlone and four and a half miles southwest of Ballymahon, County Longford. Within a few years there were sixty members.
Following a request from some citizens of Galway, twelve sister and two novices moved there during or immediately after January 1642. Mary and Catherine, who were professed at Bethlehem in 1633, were among the group. The Abbess at Bethleham was Mother Cicely Dillon, a sister of Sir James Dillon (officer) and both children of Theobald Dillon, 1st Viscount Dillon. At Galway the Abbess was, successively, Mary Gabriel Martyn, Mary Clare Kennedy, and Mary during 1647-50, being succeeded by her sister Catherine. The convent was located in or near what is now St. Augustine Street.
Read more about this topic: Mary Bonaventure Browne
Famous quotes containing the word poor:
“Old Mother Hubbard
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The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.”
—Sarah Catherine Martin (1768–1826)