Eleanor Dillon

Sister Eleanor Dillon (c. 1601 – 1629) was an Irish abbess and co-foundress of the Poor Clares in Ireland.[1][2]

Eleanor Dillon
Personal
Bornc. 1601
Killenfaghny, County Westmeath, Ireland
Died1629(1629-00-00) (aged 27–28)
Merchants' Quay, Dublin
ReligionChristian
OrderPoor Clares

Life

Eleanor Mary Dillon was born around 1601 in Killenfaghny, County Westmeath. Her parents were Theobald Dillon, 1st Viscount Dillon and Eleanor (née Tuite). She had four sisters and seven brothers including Lucas, James, and Cecily Dillon. She entered the English Poor Clares at Gravelines in Flanders with her sister and was professed, alongside her sister, on 8 September 1622 as Sister Eleanor Mary of St Joseph. Dillon led a group of five young Irish nuns from Gravelines for Dunkirk in 1625, to found the first convent for Irish women since the suppression of the monasteries. Due to high rents, the group only remained in Dunkirk for a short time, leaving for Nieuport in Flanders in 1626 and founding a convent there in early 1627.[1][3][4]

At this point Dillon's brothers, Louis and George who were both priests, suggested that both Dillon sisters return to Ireland to found a convent there. At this time, Catholics were being treated less harshly by the English authorities, which saw a number of religious establishments. The Dillon sisters arrived in Ireland around 13 June 1629, and established the first Poor Clares convent in Ireland at Merchants' Quay in Dublin with Dillon as the abbess. The exact date of Dillon's death is unknown, but she died in 1629 as the convent was established, leading to her sister taking her place as abbess.[1][5]

gollark: What *sort* of algebra?
gollark: Especially (THE HORROR) circle theorems.
gollark: To be fair, some maths *is* quite hard.
gollark: Ugh, I got it the wrong way up again.
gollark: And how would you know that... unless you ARE terrariola⸘

References
  1. Barry, Judy (2016). "Dillon, Eleanor Mary". In McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  2. "Who were the Nuns?". wwtn.history.qmul.ac.uk. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  3. Clarke, Frances. "Dillon, Cecily (c. 1603–1653), Poor Clare abbess". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/67217. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  4. O'Neill, Ciaran (2014). Catholics of consequence : transnational education, social mobility, and the Irish Catholic elite. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 173. ISBN 0198707711.
  5. "A Dream Realised in 1629 – Sisters of St. Clare". Sisters of St Clare. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
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