Reverend Mother, in Roman Catholic, Anglican and Episcopal usage, the customary title or salutation for the Abbess or female leader of a religious institution such as a convent or abbey, and for certain other officials of religious orders of women (most often, the general superior)
He appointed her abbess of the convent of St. Maria im Kapitol, Cologne, to succeed her sister Bertha, who died about 1000.
St. Rusticala (b. at Vaison, 551; d. 628) was abbess of the monastery of St. Caesarius at Arles.
Elisabeth and her older sister Archduchess Maria Annunziata of Austria (later Abbess of the Theresia Convent in the Hradschin, Prague) were the product of his third marriage to Infanta Maria Theresa of Portugal, a daughter of deposed King Miguel I of Portugal.
Mother Superior Catherine Rouby, the Superior at the time, also provided shelter to fugitive nuns including Carmelites from Brabant, Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre from Liège and Poor Clares from Dunkirk.
Beatrix von Holte (born 1250; died in Essen on 4 December 1327) was an abbess of Essen Abbey.
Saint Beuve was the first abbess of Saint-Pierre-les-Dames in Reims.
Caritas Pirckheimer (born 21 March 1467, Eichstätt - died 19 August 1532, Nuremberg) was Abbess of Saint Clara's convent in Nuremberg at the time of the Reformation, which she opposed due to the threat posed by Martin Luther to Catholic houses of worship and religious buildings, including her own convent.
Cenred had at least two other children: Ingild, the great-grandfather of Ealhmund of Kent, and the great-great grandfather of Egbert; and Cuthburh, who married Aldfrith of Northumbria, and became abbess of Wimborne.
Abbess Gisela was the one person to send Alcuin the news at Tours of her brother Charlemagne’s official coronation.
#Johanna Charlotte (Dessau, 6 April 1682 - d. Herford, 31 March 1750), Abbess of Herford (1729–1750); married on 25 January 1699 to Philip William, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt.
Left an orphan in her infancy, she was placed under the guardianship of her uncles, and was brought up under the direction of her aunt, who was the Abbess of the Monastery of St. Catherine in Sorbo.
At the request of the last abbess, Countess Magdalena of Stolberg-Wernigerode, the Evangelical Church Province of Saxony took over the abbey in 1946 as a convalescent home and conference centre.
The Lady Abbess of this particular order is the only woman to whom is accorded the right of fulfilling certain Episcopal functions, it being the prerogative of her office to crown the Queen of Bohemia when the Cardinal Archbishop of Prague, crowns the King.
Eventually, in about 672, Æthelthryth persuaded Ecgfrith to allow her to become a nun, and “she entered the monastery of the Abbess Æbbe, who was aunt to King Ecgfrith, at the place called the city of Coludi (Coldingham, Berwickshire), having received the veil of the religious habit from the hands of the aforesaid Bishop Wilfrid”.
Gottfried Keller in the novella «Hadlaub»: gleich neben ihr eine andere Konventualin der Abtei, Frau Elisabeth von Wetzikon, Muhme des Bischofs, die später die bedeutendste Äbtissin wurde, diese auch in weltlicher Tracht. (right next to her another Member of the Assembly of the abbey, Lady Elisabeth of Wetzikon, the aunt of the bishop, who later became the most significant abbess, also in secular garb.)
In 1337 Elizabeth Morteyn, who was then abbess, claimed the 'third penny' from the town of Bedford, in virtue of an alleged grant from Malcolm IV, King of Scotland; the case was carried before Parliament, and the burgesses were successful in proving that Malcolm never had any lordship in the town.
Moreover, before she died, the abbess of Euphrasia's monastery reported having had a vision of Euphrasia transported to God's throne, surrounded by angels.
She is credited with establishing a religious site later incorporated into Christ Church in Oxford — Frithuswith was the first abbess of this Oxford double monastery.
#Agnes (b. 1445 – d. Kaufungen, 15 August 1504), Abbess of Gandersheim (1485), of Neuenheerse (1486–1492) and of Kaufungen (1495)
The known siblings of Gertrude include (1) Gebhard III, Count of Sulzbach, (2) Adelheid, Abbess of Niedernburg at Passau, (3) Bertha of Sulzbach, Byzantine Empress, (4) Luitgarde, wife first of Godfrey II of Leuven and secondly of Hugo XII, Count of Dagsburg and Metz, and (5) Matilda of Sulzbach, wife of Engelbert III of Istria.
Three of Günter's sisters were abbesses: Kunigunde in Falkenhagen Abbey in Lügde, Ermengard in Neuenheerse, and Mathilda in Möllenbeck Abbey, near Rinteln.
The Blessed Hadewych, O.Praem., (c. 1150 – 14 April 1200?) a.k.a. Hadewig or Hedwig, was abbess of the Premonstratensian monastery of Meer, (now part of Meerbusch) in modern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
#Hedwig (b. ca. 1316 – d. 28 May? 1348), Abbess of Trebnitz.
An altar from his hand in Cararra marble is now in the Virga Jesse Basilica that was originally commissioned for Herkenrode Abbey by the abbess there, Anna Catharina de Lamboy.
Margaret, (1527-1596), abbess of Bassum Abbey 1541-1549, married Rudolph of Diepholz in 1549 Rudolf
The other works of Jonas are lives of the abbots Attala and Bertulf of Bobbio, of abbot Eustace of Luxeuil, an abbey founded by Columbanus that retained close personal ties with Bobbio, and of the abbess Burgundofara (or Fara) of Evoriac (modern Faremoutiers).
As part of its Celtic heritage, Jouarre was established as a "double community," i.e., a community of monks as well as nuns, both under the rule of the abbess, who in 1225 was granted immunity from interference by the bishop of Meaux, answering only to the pope.
As Abbess and Pastor she mentored and spiritually directed Cardinal Cisneros, Emperor Carlos V, Juan I of Austria, Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba well as many noble men and women, clerics, religious and lay people.
Aided by Abbess Imene, who was the sister of Archbishop Conrad of Cologne, Juliana took up residence at the Cistercian Abbey of Salzinnes, and finally Fosses-la-Ville, in the County of Namur, where she lived in seclusion until her death.
Kassia (fl. 9th-century), Byzantine abbess, poet, and hymnographer
#Catherine (b. ca. 1344 – d. 10 April 1404/4 October 1405?), Abbess of Trebnitz (1372)
At Galway the Abbess was, successively, Mary Gabriel Martyn, Mary Clare Kennedy, and Mary during 1647-50, being succeeded by her sister Catherine.
Mary Gabriel Martyn (1604 - 1672), Abbess of the Poor Clares of Galway.
On the closing of the Dublin convent, the Duke of Ormonde assured his cousin, Abbess Butler, of his special protection, should she consent to remain in Ireland, but she decided to return to Ypres, upon which the duke procured for her, from the Prince of Orange, a passport (still preserved at Ypres) permitting her and her nuns to leave the country without molestation.
After some years at Reichenau, the dependent priory of Benken, St. Gallen near Lake Zurich, he embraced an eremitical life and established his hermitage on the slopes of Etzel Pass, taking with him a wonder-working statue of the Virgin Mary which he had been given by the Abbess Hildegarde of Zurich.
A chapel dedicated to the Mercian Saint Mildrith (Mildred), Abbess of Minster-in-Thanet, who is said to have stayed there, exists in Millam, but is privately owned and not easily visited.
The Cathedral records of Ely in 680, refer that Seaxburh of Ely,(Queen Sexburga, Abbess of Minster in Sheppey) left her 'life' at the doors of 'Mylton' Church.
When in the first half of the 12th century the monastery began to decline, its discipline was restored by Abbess Relindis of Bergen near Neuburg an der Donau, who became abbess of Hohenburg in about 1140.
Following the initiative of the abbess, Sister Brigitte de Singly, the Poor Clares commissioned Renzo Piano; the association had considered several architects besides Piano, including Tadao Ando, Glenn Murcutt, and Jean Nouvel.
For the next 10 years, Raisbeck sang wherever and whatever she could: a tremendously successful production of The Sound of Music, in which she sang the Abbess, with June Bronhill as Maria, was followed by Carousel.
The virgin saint was abbess of the famous monastery of Killchere ("Cyra's Church") in that part of Munster which was called Muscragia or Muskerry.
The first abbess was Petrussa from Kitzingen Abbey; she was followed by Gertrude, the daughter of Hedwig.
Some documents of a personal nature, and books are available in the archives of the Abbess' Christian Russia in Seriate, Italy.
Werburgh's Church is a Church of Ireland church in Dublin, Ireland, and was built in 1178, shortly after the arrival of the Anglo-Normans in the town, and named after St. Werburgh, abbess of Ely and patron saint of Chester who died in 699 AD.
Stealing Heaven is a 1988 film, a costume drama based on the French 12th century medieval romance (a true story) of Peter Abelard and Héloïse and on a historical novel by Marion Meade.
The abbess or abbot ruled Coxwold, Stonegrave and a third house, Donamuthe, near where the Old Don met the Trent and Humber at Adlingfleet.
On his return from this campaign Sweyn abducted Eadgifu, the Abbess of Leominster, apparently intending to marry her and gain control of Leominster's vast estate.
Coenwulf's daughter Cwenthryth, abbess of Winchcombe and Minster, paid compensation to Wulfred and lost control over the houses in Kent.
It is held by Eanfrið son of Æðelfrið as a sworn vassal of Edwin and is also home to his sister Æbbe, later famous as the abbess of Coldingham.