Elizabeth Tyldesley (or Clare Mary Ann, OSC) (1585–1654) was a 17th-century

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Copt ...

at the Poor Clare Convent at Gravelines.

Life

Elizabeth Tyldesley born in 1585, was the daughter of Thomas Tyldesley of

Morleys Hall Morleys Hall, a moated hall converted to two houses, is situated at on Morleys Lane, on the edge of Astley Moss in Astley in the historic county of Lancashire and the ceremonial county of Greater Manchester, England. It was largely rebuilt in ...

, Astley and Myerscough Hall and Elizabeth Anderton of Lostock, in Lancashire (now

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

). Her family were

recusants Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...

and her mother arranged a pension for the Roman Catholic priest,

Ambrose Barlow Ambrose Edward Barlow, O.S.B. (1585 – 10 September 1641) was an English Benedictine monk who is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. He is one of a group of saints canonized by Pope Paul VI who became known as the Forty Martyrs of En ...

, so that he could secretly carry out priestly duties, offering

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

in the homes of Roman Catholics in the

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

parish. Her grandfather, Edward Tyldesley, had left her a

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...

of £500, but she never married. Instead Elizabeth joined the English community of

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 ...

s of the Order of St. Clare, then called "Claresses", at

Gravelines Gravelines (, ; ; ) is a commune in the Nord department in Northern France. It lies at the mouth of the river Aa southwest of Dunkirk. It was formed in the 12th century around the mouth of a canal built to connect Saint-Omer with the sea. As ...

, at that time part of the

Spanish Netherlands Spanish Netherlands (Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a ''pars pro toto'') was the H ...

. The Poor Clare Convent at Gravelines was a religious community founded in 1607 by Mary Ward for English Roman Catholic women who wished to live the

contemplative In a religious context, the practice of contemplation seeks a direct awareness of the divine which transcends the intellect, often in accordance with prayer or meditation. Etymology The word ''contemplation'' is derived from the Latin word '' ...

life of a

, which was impossible after the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

and its consequence, the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Elizabeth was one of seven candidates who received their religious habits on 5 February 1609. She assumed the name of Sister Clare Mary Ann when she received the habit. She completed her novitiate year and professed her first vows 3 November 1610. The way of life of the Poor Clares was austere: the nuns slept on straw sacks, ate meat only at Christmas and spent much of their day in silent prayer or contemplation, speaking only when necessary and with permission. Five years later, she was elected

of the community. Previous incumbents of that office had struggled with financial difficulties, but under

Mother ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...

Clare Mary Ann the establishment flourished. In 1626 a Franciscan deposed her from her role as abbess and she was replaced with Margaret Radcliffe. This was a very unpopular move and a fire broke out at the convent which was supposed by some to be divine intervention. Tyldesley was restored to her former position in 1627. Tyldesley became Superior of four communities of Poor Clares, both

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

and English, and received more than a hundred women into

religious life Consecrated life (also known as religious life) is a state of life in the Catholic Church lived by those faithful who are called to follow Jesus Christ in a more exacting way. It includes those in institutes of consecrated life (religious and se ...

. Elizabeth died on 17 February 1654 after 44 years in the monastery, of which she had served as abbess for 39. Tyldesley's nephew, the

Cavalier The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ) ...

and Catholic Sir Thomas Tyldesley, considered to be "one of the wealthiest gentlemen in Lancashire", must have been proud of his aunt's achievements, according to historian Gordon Blackwood.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tyldesley, Elizabeth Poor Clare abbesses 17th-century English Roman Catholic nuns 1585 births 1654 deaths English Roman Catholic abbesses People from the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Nuns from the Spanish Netherlands