Eleanor Dillon
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Sister Eleanor Dillon (''c.'' 1601 – 1629) was an Irish abbess and co-foundress of the
Poor Clares The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare (Latin language, Latin: ''Ordo Sanctae Clarae''), originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and also known as the Clarisses or Clarissines, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Or ...
in Ireland.


Life

Eleanor Mary Dillon was born around 1601 in Killenfaghny, County Westmeath. Her parents were
Theobald Dillon, 1st Viscount Dillon Theobald Dillon, 1st Viscount Dillon (died 1624), was an Irish military commander and adventurer. He held extensive lands in eastern Connacht and north-western Leinster, some acquired by sharp practices. He was a loyal supporter of Elizabeth I ...
and Eleanor (née Tuite). She had four sisters and seven brothers including
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, and Cecily Dillon. She entered the English Poor Clares at
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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. 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.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillon, Eleanor Mary People from County Westmeath 1600s births 1629 deaths Poor Clares 17th-century Irish nuns Irish Roman Catholic abbesses Daughters of viscounts