Dame ''Dame'' is an honorific title and the feminine form of address for the honour of damehood in many Christian chivalric orders, as well as the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British honours system and those of several oth ...

Gertrude More (born as Helen More; 25 March 1606 - 17 August 1633) was a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

of the

English Benedictine Congregation The English Benedictine Congregation (EBC) unites autonomous Roman Catholic Benedictine communities of monks and nuns and is technically the oldest of the nineteen congregations that are affiliated in the Benedictine Confederation. History and ...

, a writer and chief founder of the abbey at

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; pcd, Kimbré; nl, Kamerijk), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department and in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, regio ...

which became

Stanbrook Abbey Stanbrook Abbey is a Catholic contemplative Benedictine women's monastery with the status of an abbey, located at Wass, North Yorkshire, England. The community was founded in 1625 at Cambrai in Flanders (then part of the Spanish Netherlands, ...

Life

More was born in Low Leyton in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. Her father, Cresacre More, was great-grandson of

Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...

; her mother, Elizabeth Gage, was sister of

Sir John Gage, 1st Baronet Sir John Gage, 1st Baronet (died 3 October 1633) was an English baronet and landowner, and ancestor of the Viscounts Gage. Gage was the son of Thomas Gage and Elizabeth Guilford. He married Penelope Darcy, a daughter of Thomas Darcy, 1st Earl Ri ...

Firle Firle (; Sussex dialect: ''Furrel'' ) is a village and civil parish in the Lewes district of East Sussex, England. Firle refers to an old-English/Anglo-Saxon word ''fierol'' meaning overgrown with oak. Although the original division of East ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

Lord Chamberlain The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main cha ...

to Queen Mary. Her mother died in 1611 and Helen's father, who had trained to be a monk, became responsible for her care and education. Dom Benet Jones, a Benedictine monk, encouraged her to join his projected religious foundation, , in

. She was the first of nine

postulant A postulant (from la, postulare, to ask) was originally one who makes a request or demand; hence, a candidate. The use of the term is now generally restricted to those asking for admission into a Christian monastery or a religious order for the p ...

s admitted to the order on 31 December 1623. Helen More came under the prescriptive influence of the Benedictine

Augustine Baker Fr. Augustine Baker OSB (9 December 1575 – 9 August 1641), also sometimes known as "Fr. Austin Baker", was a well-known Benedictine mystic and an ascetic writer. He was one of the earliest members of the English Benedictine Congregation ...

and took the religious name of Gertrude.

Catherine Gascoigne Catherine Gascoigne (1601 – 21 May 1676) was the English abbess of Cambrai from 1624 to 1673. Life Gascoigne was born in Yorkshire. Her parents were Lady Anne (born Ingelby of Lawkland Hall) and Sir John Gascoigne who was the first Baronet of ...

, one of her peers, was chosen ahead of her by the authorities in Rome as abbess in 1629 because she was older. Gascoigne was more welcoming of Baker's advice. Sister More opposed Baker's approach but eventually gave into his ways - which included writing good books. Her writing was heavily influenced by the christian mystics such as

Julian of Norwich Julian of Norwich (1343 – after 1416), also known as Juliana of Norwich, Dame Julian or Mother Julian, was an English mystic and anchoress of the Middle Ages. Her writings, now known as ''Revelations of Divine Love'', are the earlies ...

and

Teresa of Avila Teresa (also Theresa, Therese; french: Thérèse) is a feminine given name. It originates in the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity. Its derivation is uncertain, it may be derived from Greek θερίζω (''therízō'') "to harvest or rea ...

and other spiritual writers and she contributed to the effort to publish their work. The row at Cumbrai continued and Baker was recalled to Douai. Before the row was settled Gertrude died at

, from

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

, aged 27.

Posthumous

Some papers found after her death and arranged by Father Baker, were afterwards published in two separate works: one entitled ''The Holy Practices of a Divine Lover, or the Sainctly Ideot's Devotions'' (Paris, 1657); the other, ''Confessiones Amantis'', or ''Spiritual Exercises'', or ''Ideot's Devotions'', to which was prefixed her ''Apology'', for herself and for her spiritual guide (Paris, 1658).

References

External links

Archive of Gertrude More's writings

{{DEFAULTSORT:More, Helen 1606 births 1633 deaths 17th-century Christian mystics Deaths from smallpox People from Leyton Benedictine nuns 17th-century English Roman Catholic nuns Roman Catholic mystics