Nunnery, religious house in County Westmeath (WM015-002----)

The Poor Clare convent is situated 105m SW of the shoreline of Lough Ree. The convent at Bethlehem was established in 1631 after the nuns were forced to flee from their Dublin house towards the end of the previous year. In 1682 Sir Henry Piers recorded that 'in a promontory that jetteth into the lake, distant from Athlone five miles, and to the north of it, was before the year 1641, a nunnery called Bethlem, the only one that I have heard of that was of late days in this kingdom, of the order of St. Clare, the mother abbess whereof was a lady of good extraction, the daughter of Sir Edmund Tuit' (Vallancey 1786, 81). The convent of Bethlehem was burnt by Lord Ranelagh in 1642 after which they fled to establish a new foundation (WM029-042101-) in the town of Athlone (Cal. S.P. Ire., 662-3). The burning of this convent was described in a petition sent to the Supreme Council in 1647 by the 'Mother Abbess and poor Sisters of St. Clare, in the Convent of Bethlehem in Athlone' (ibid.). The petitioner stated that 'the enemy burned their convent of Bethlehem and choicest ornaments at the beginning of these distempers, and ceased [seized] upon all their goods and provisions, and forced themselves to betake them into islands, woods, and bogs. After the first cessastion was proclaimed, they came together in the ruinous town of Athlone, their communion consisting of 24, where they continue till now upon the benevolence of the Supreme Council and friends, but they are very poor' (ibid.). The Supreme Council replied to this petition stating that 'the way to relieve "these poor damosells" is to allow them £200 a year until they may recover what is due unto them, and that from the customs and excise of Athlone, out of the tithe of the Diocese of Clonmacnoise and of the estate of Lord Ranelagh, who burnt their convent. From the profit of his estate, a new convent (WM029-042101-) might be built for them' (ibid.). The nuns fled their foundation and took temporary refuge from Cromwellian forces on an island in Lough Ree where there was an existing medieval church (WM015-010001-). This island later became known as Nun’s Island. The attack on the nunnery in Bethlehem was described as following; ‘ther have beene in them parts anuke [a nook] of logh Ry [Lough Ree] where some nuns of St. Clare thitherunto did inhabit, upon intimation that those enemie forces approached the countrie, deserted theire said habitation, and retired themselves unto an iland [island] of the said logh. Theire flight soe sudaine and unexpected, that the most parte of theire household stuffe, nay their verie habits for feare to be surprised left behind. The Round-heads issuing to the countrie, ranging the matter of 4 score, when to Bethlem [Bethlehem] (the place wheare those nuns did dwell was soe called) demolished the house, carried away what they founde in it’ (Gilbert 1879, 58). Sir Henry Piers wrote in 1682 that the nunnery was burnt by 'captain Bertie or Bartue, brother to the lord chamberlain of England, the earl of Lindsey, who was general for the king at the battle of Edgehill. These men hearing of the nunnery hard by, immeidately marched thither, whether with or without command of their officer I have not learned, and plundered the same; I do not hear of any force there to resist them, nor that any violence was offered to any of the virgins; however, after rifling of the place they burnt it, and leaving the house in flames there returned to their quarters ay Ballincloffy [Ballynacliffy Castle WM015-005----]' (Vallancey 1786, 82). There is an account of the foundation of Bethlehem written by one of the nuns who lived there, Mother Mary Bonaverture Browne. Along with her sister, she entered religious life at Bethlehem, in 1632, and was one of a group of twelve professed sisters and two novices who were sent from Bethlehem to establish a new foundation in Galway city in 1642. She left Galway after its surrender to Cromwellian forces in 1652 and went to Spain where she lived until her death some time in the early 1690s (O’Brien 1993, foreward). While in exile she wrote a narrative of the Poor Clares in Ireland, covering the period 1629-1670. The original, written in Irish, has been lost but an English translation of it in a contemporary hand, is preserved in the Poor Clare convent in Galway. In her narrative she records how the nuns, having been forced to quit their convent in Dublin towards the close of the year 1630, were sustained by 'some noble country friends. These charitably gave them shelter until a poor dwelling was built for them. This was in a solitary corner of land without inhabitants, near a large lake called Lough Ree, which in English may be termed the ‘King’s Lake’. They did not dare any more to settle in a large town or city or populated place. There they found a convent which they called Bethlehem.* It was situated in such a low-lying and dark marsh that the doctors wondered how such gentle creatures, very delicately reared, could live there. In wet and rainy weather the water would not only fall on them through the roof of the house, but in several places would also well up through the ground. In addition, all their dwellings were so low that their cells and other rooms, apart from the choir, were at ground level. In this convent their number increased to sixty. It was the golden age for the many religious how, poorly clad, employed themselves in the lowliest duties and ate the roughest food, although they were select and noble persons in the world. None of them excused themselves from working at drawing turf and wood, and things needed for building the house, these being thrown in through the grille. They also brewed, baked, washed dishes, served in the kitchen and the like. . . . Since word of their virtuous life spread abroad, many high-ranking ladies came from far away to see them, and they were edified by their holy conversation. Among others was the wife of Lord Wentworth [Elizabeth Rodes, his third wife], at that time Deputy of Ireland. . . . The convent of Bethlehem was the first in the whole country which the heretics destroyed. As God would have it, information was given some time previously to the Catholics that the heretics intended to come and destroy it. When this sad news reached the poor flock of Christ living there, great fear and terror overtook them. They did not know whom they should turn to for help or from whom they could hope for deliverance in the approaching danger, but only from God through the merits of their most holy mother, Saint Clare . . . . The followers of St. Clare’s First Rule are accustomed to having the Blessed Sacrament within the choir, in a pyx placed inside a tabernacle. The tabernacle is located over a high grille in such a way that it can be seen from inside by pulling a string which hangs downward. On the outside t he Fathers can, without entering the convent, renew the Sacred Host through a little window which such tabernacles have on the outside for that purpose. And the key of the window is always kept very reverently by the confessor of the convent. . . . The Provincial . . . gave permission for fourteen of that holy flock to found a convent in Galway. . . On hearing that these religious were brought to Galway, the heretics were spurred to put their evil plans into effect all the more quickly, in case those remaining in the convent, about thirty in number, should also be taken away before being captured. Having no suitable place to live in, the Sisters spent some weeks there until they were finally warned that the heretics were on their way to the convent. They then escaped in boats to the other side of the lake. Seeing that their evil intentions came to nothing, the ruthless heretics entered the convent and stayed there for three days and three nights. They ate all the food of the poor Sisters and made great sport and mockery of the altars, pictures, ornaments and sacred objects found there. . . Finally, th