Mary Percy (1570–1642) was an English noblewoman who founded an English

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 ...

Monastery in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and served as its abbess.

Life

Mary Percy was born on 11 June 1570, the youngest daughter of

Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, 1st Baron Percy, KG (152822 August 1572) was an English nobleman, politician and Roman Catholic rebel leader, who led the Rising of the North against Elizabeth I in 1569. After the failure of the risin ...

, and his wife Anne Somerset. Her father was executed for his part in the

Rising of the North The Rising of the North of 1569, also called the Revolt of the Northern Earls, Northern Rebellion or the Rebellion of the Earls, was an unsuccessful attempt by Catholicism, Catholic nobles from Northern England to depose Queen Elizabeth I of En ...

and her mother who had been involved, left the country with the infant Mary. Her siblings were left in England and brought up by their paternal uncle,

Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainme ...

. Feeling called to religious life, she first spent some time with the Flemish Augustinian Canonesses. Finding this unsatisfactory, she decided to establish a Benedictine convent for English women. She purchased a house in Brussels and asked Benedictine nun Joanne Berkeley to be abbess. Percy was joined by her sister Gertrude and Dorothy Arundell. This was the first community of English nuns to be established since the Reformation. The Convent of the Assumption of Our Blessed Lady was established in Brussels on 21 November 1599. Percy was clothed as a nun and made her profession of vows on 21 November 1600. The first abbess was Joanne Berkeley. Percy brought to the monastery a dowry of 5000 florins. Difficulties arose between those nuns who wanted a Jesuit confessor and those who preferred a different spiritual approach. These disagreements persisted into Percy's subsequent tenure as abbess.Blom, Jos. ''Catherine Greenbury and Mary Percy'', Routledge, 2017
Berkeley died in 1616 and Percy was elected abbess, serving until her death in Brussels on 13 September 1642. The convent had the support of the Infanta Isabella.

Works

* ''Innocency Justified and Insolency Repressed'' (1632), Harley MS 4275 * Isabella Berinzaga, ''Abridgement of Christian Perfection'', translated by Mary Percy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Percy, Mary 1570 births 1642 deaths Benedictine abbesses

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

English Roman Catholic abbesses