Mary Percy (abbess)
Mary Percy (1570–1642) was an English noblewoman who founded an English Benedictine Monastery in Brussels and served as its abbess.
Lady Mary Percy | |
|---|---|
| Abbess of the English Benedictine Monastery in Brussels | |
| Elected | 1616 |
| In office | 1616–1642 |
| Predecessor | Joanna aka Joanne Berkeley |
| Successor | Agnes Lenthall |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 June 1570 |
| Died | 13 September 1642 (aged 72) Brussels, Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg Netherlands |
| Parents | Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, Anne Percy, Countess of Northumberland |
Life
Mary Percy was born on 11 June 1570, the daughter of Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, and his wife Anne Somerset.[1] Her father was executed for his part in the Rising of the North and her mother who had been involved had left the country. Mary went with her but her siblings were left in England.[2]
On 21 November 1599 she was clothed as a nun in the newly founded English Benedictine Monastery in Brussels, making her profession of vows on 21 November 1600.[3] The first abbess was Joanne Berkeley. Percy brought to the monastery a dowry of 5000 florins.[1] Berkeley died and Percy was elected abbess in 1616, serving until her death in Brussels on 13 September 1642.[1]
Works
- Innocency Justified and Insolency Repressed (1632), Harley MS 4275
- Isabella Berinzaga, Abridgement of Christian Perfection, translated by Mary Percy.
References
- "Mary Percy". Who were the nuns?. Queen Mary University of London.
- "Percy, Lady Mary (c. 1570–1642), abbess of the Convent of the Assumption of Our Blessed Lady, Brussels". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/66980. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
- Joseph S. Hansom (ed.), The English Benedictine Nuns of Brussels and Winchester, 1598-1856, in Miscellanea IX, Catholic Record Society volume 14 (London, 1914), pp. 175-176.