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The Abbess of Ghent, Abbess Knatchbull, directed that the Benedictine filiations of Ghent send some of their professed Irish-born religious to complete the foundation in Ypres. Among the first Irish Dames of Ypres were Dame Ursula Butler (Ghent); Dame Mary Joseph O’Bryan (Dunkirk) and Dame Mary Joseph Butler (Pontoise).23 On 19 November 1682, Dame Flavia Carey was appointed Lady Abbess of the Irish Benedictine foundation in Ypres, henceforth ‘dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, under the title of Gratia Dei’.24 From this time, the community in Ypres became known as De Iersche Damen (the Irish Dames).
Two Dublin Foundations, 1687–9
Finally established in Ypres, the pioneering nuns set about securing the future of their foundation. There were several expeditions to Ireland, to gather pupils for their school and postulants for their novitiate. In 1684, Dame Joseph Ryan returned from one such expedition with six young girls for the school and two postulants and the future must have looked promising.25 The impact of penal laws on Irish Catholics had caused those who were wealthy to send their daughters abroad for their education. Dame Joseph Ryan knew that the school could attract more young Irish women and she embarked on another journey, questing for vocations in Ireland.26 However, while she was away, the community suffered a setback when the Lady Abbess, Dame Flavia Carey, died. There were only three choir nuns in the community at the time and the Ypres nuns were required to obtain assistance from the other Benedictine houses in order to appoint a successor.27 Dame Mary Joseph Butler was subsequently elected Lady Abbess, a position which she retained until her death in 1723.28
Dame Portrait of King James II.
Meanwhile, during her travels in Ireland, Dame Ryan learned of the election and was displeased. She may have expected the election to be postponed until her return or she may simply have not supported Butler’s appointment. In any case, Dame Ryan decided not to return to Ypres. Instead, she petitioned the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Patrick Russell, for permission to establish a foundation in the city. The recent succession of the Catholic King James II to the throne would have suggested to Dame Ryan that the time was perfect for the establishment of a Benedictine house in Ireland.29 At the time, Benedictine foundations were autonomous and independent, subject only to the jurisdiction of the local bishop. Dame Ryan had made an earlier attempt to establish an Irish foundation in Dunkirk and still harboured a desire to establish her own monastery. Following the granting of formal approval from Bishop Russell, Dame Ryan obtained premises in Channel Row and began her Benedictine foundation in 1687.30 Unsurprisingly, back in Ypres, Lady Abbess Butler was extremely critical of Dame Ryan’s actions and the subsequent loss of potential students and postulants. The situation undoubtedly became even more difficult when, in 1687, Lady Abbess Butler was invited to establish another foundation in Dublin.
In 1685, James II became King of England and Ireland, following the death of his brother, Charles II. The succession of James II was widely welcomed by Catholics in Ireland and England, including the Benedictines. Indeed Abbess Knatchbull, at Ghent, carried on a correspondence with both James II and his wife, Mary of Modena.31 She was just one of many nuns involved in Jacobite support, at a time when ‘religious women’s spiritual patronage was highly sought after at the English court’.32 The nuns were confident of the king’s support following his accession, and – despite the brevity of his reign – they were not disappointed: the Catholic king directed the lord lieutenant, the Duke of Tyrconnell, to invite the Irish Dames of Ypres to come to Dublin.33
Suitable premises were found on Great Ship Street and were to be given to the community rent and tax free, and James II promised £100 a year for the maintenance of the nuns and the convent.34 Before the nuns left Ypres, Tyrconnell had written to the Grand Vicars of Ypres requesting that the abbey be retained there in case the foundation in Dublin did not succeed.35 Because the numbers in the community in Ypres were still small, four nuns from Pontoise were selected to lead
the foundation: Dame Margaret Markham, Dame Mary Lawson, Dame Anne Neville and Dame Susan Fletcher.36 They arrived in Dublin in late September 1687 and took possession of the little convent in Great Ship Street which had been acquired for them by Tyrconnell.37 In 1689, they were joined by the Irish Dames from Ypres: Lady Abbess Butler and Dames Barbara Philpott and Placida Holmes.38
Portrait of Lady Abbess Mary Joseph Butler, 3rd Abbess of Ypres (1686–1723).
Abbaye des Bénédictines Irlandaises, Ypres (Lithograph, Bruges).
The convent and school in Great Ship Street had not been in operation for more than two years when political and social unrest forced the nuns to abandon their mission. Although the Duke of Ormonde, a distant relation of Lady Abbess Butler, had promised protection of the Irish Benedictines, Lady Abbess Butler was determined that they should return to Ypres.39 Acceding to his cousin’s wishes, the Duke of Ormonde obtained safe passage for the nuns from Great Ship Street and they returned to Ypres on 23 July 1690.40 Around the same time, Dame Ryan’s convent in Channel Row was also forced to close by the Williamite forces. While Lady Abbess Butler returned to the convent in Ypres to try to rebuild the Benedictine foundation there, Dame Ryan remained in Ireland hopeful that circumstances would change. However, she eventually returned to Dunkirk where she died on 7 September 1719 at the age of ninety-two.41
Letter of permission to Dame Mary Joseph Butler to leave Ypres for Dublin (1688).
Letter of permission to Dame Mary Joseph Butler to leave Ypres for Dublin (1688).
Funeral Oration of King James II (1702).
The Irish Dames of Ypres, 1690–1914
On returning to Ypres in 1690, Abbess Butler was faced with the difficult challenge of trying to rebuild the Irish foundation there. According to the annals of the Benedictine convent in Ypres:
After a long and dangerous voyage both by sea and land they at length arrived at Ypres, and entered their old house, where Lady Butler led a most solitary life … For five years she [was] alone with four lay sisters, and in … extreme poverty … resisting the solicitations of her family, and even the Bishops, to sell
