In 1699 she was given financial help from Innocent XII. The community's finances only improved in 1695 when it took in four postulants, two of whom were professed in 1700. She ignored suggestions from her family and church superiors to close the house and move to a more settled convent, and in 1696 was granted permission to beg by the bishop. On her return to Ypres she lived in extreme poverty with four lay nuns. Although pressed by the 2nd duke of Ormond (qv) to stay on in Dublin, she was determined that she and her community should leave Ireland, and through Ormond's influence was granted a pass from King William (qv) that guaranteed them safe passage from Ireland. Butler managed to save the church's ornaments and hid with her sisters in neighbouring houses. The convent's fortunes, so closely aligned with those of James, were placed in immediate jeopardy after his defeat at the Boyne, and in July 1690 it was sacked by Williamite troops. Known as the King James Abbey of Gratia Dei, the convent included a school, which initially accepted thirty pupils from gentry families. She arrived in Dublin 31 October 1688 (a year after the first nuns had arrived), and was received by the king, who issued the convent with a royal patent in June 1689. Breaking her journey in London, she waited on the queen at Whitehall and the queen dowager, Catherine of Braganza, who presented her with altar plate. During her two-year absence she still retained her position as head of the Ypres house. was not considered a welcome addition by Dame Mary Joseph Ryan, who ran the existing Benedictine school and convent in Channel Row.īutler's departure for Ireland was delayed when she was seriously injured at the Ypres convent, and she did not leave for Ireland until 1688. As sister of Francis Butler, the king's cup-bearer, she was James's obvious choice of abbess however, the new convent in Great Ship St. Having established herself at the head of the small community, she was summoned to Dublin in 1687 by Richard Talbot (qv), earl of Tyrconnell, who, acting at the request of James II (qv), invited her to found a second Benedictine house in the city. Butler was elected abbess of the Ypres convent on 29 August 1686 after the death of its first Irish superior, Dame Flavia Carey. She remained there until 1683, when she was included in a group of Irish nuns sent to Ypres to revive the flagging fortunes of the Irish Benedictine convent there. She was professed at the convent in Boulogne in the winter of 1657, and the following year was moved to Pontoise. An extremely pious child, from the age of 12 she expressed the wish to become a nun. After her father's death (1649) she was sent to be educated at the Benedictine convent in Ghent, where her aunt Dame Mary Knatchbull was abbess. She was descended on her father's side from Edmund Butler (qv), earl of Carrick, through his son John, brother of the 1st earl of Ormond (qv). Kilkenny, daughter of Theobald (‘Toby’) Butler of Callan, and his wife Anne Audley, originally from Attebridge, Norfolk, England. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Arthritis Foundation, P.O. John the Baptist Church in Greenville on Wednesday September 14th at 11am, followed by burial in Greenville Cemetery. Cunningham Funeral Home in Greenville on Tuesday September 13 th from 4 to 6pm. Relatives and friends may call at the A.J. They are survived by their children Maureen, Johnny and his wife Sharon, Kevin and his wife Theresa, Patrick and his wife Lydia, their 10 wonderful grandchildren, and many brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces. Mary and John spent 61 wonderful years together until John’s passing in 2020. Mary also loved to cook and bake, and the Holiday dinners at her house were loved by all the cousins – and there would always be a warm plate for whoever showed up late. When Mary moved to the Catskills about 20 years ago, she was able to grow her love of gardening and she spent many hours taking care of her plants and shrubs. During this time Mary led many weekly excursions to Inwood Park where all the many cousins established the bonds that keep them close to this day. Together they raised 4 children in the Irish neighborhood of Inwood in upper Manhattan and were longtime parishioners at Good Shepherd Church. They both worked for New York Telephone for many years. Mary came to New York City in the 1950’s where she met the love of her life, John Butler. Mary was born in the town of Mohill in County Leitrim, Ireland to the late John and Ellie Ward, the 2 nd of eight children. GREENVILLE - Mary Elizabeth Butler, age 86, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, Septemand is now with her loving husband and family members.
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