Clementine Lynch, OSB (in religion, Mary Scholastica; 16 June 1754 22 June 1799), was an

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics () are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland, defined by their adherence to Catholic Christianity and their shared Irish ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage.The term distinguishes Catholics of Irish descent, particul ...

nun who served as

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa'') is the female superior of a community of nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Lutheran and Anglican abbeys, the mod ...

of the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

convent in Ypres, Belgium, during the French Revolution.

Biography

Lynch was born 16 June 1754 in Ireland and was sent to the Benedictine school in Ypres, then part of the

Austrian Netherlands The Austrian Netherlands was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The period began with the acquisition by the Austrian Habsburg monarchy of the former Spanish Netherlands under the Treaty of Ras ...

, 9 July 1764. When she had completed her school years she remained in the order, becoming first a

postulant A postulant (from , "to ask") was originally one who makes a request or demand; hence, a candidate. The use of the term is now generally restricted to those asking for admission into a Christian monastery or a religious order for the period precedi ...

on 29 September 1770 and completing her vows on 21 March 1772. She took the name Mary Scholastica. Lynch became the fifth Abbess on 17 October 1783 when she was elected to the position. The convent and surrounding area was invaded by the French in 1793, continuing from the French Revolution of 1789. However because the convent had close ties to its Irish origin and the women were known as ‘the Irish dames of Ypres’, an Irish general, appealed to by Lynch, persuaded the troops to withdraw from the convent and even to pay for damages. The general, believed to be James O'Moran, then suggested the nuns leave convent life but they remained and withstood the town's sieges, despite being particularly close to the town's ramparts, and the province's annexation by France in October 1794. The new government was hostile to the religious nature of the society and between that and the previous experiences, Lynch's health failed. She died 22 June 1799.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Clementine 1754 births 1799 deaths Irish Roman Catholic abbesses People from Ypres