“For the Glory of God”: a Study of the Education of English Catholic Women in Convents in Flanders and France in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century

The early seventeenth century was a period, of considerable spiritual vitality among English Catholic women and saw the foundation of some nineteen convents in Flanders and northern France. There were fundamental distinctions over the detail of the constitutional structure and spiritual practice made by the founders leading to the establishment of convents following Benedictine, Augustinian, Franciscan, and Carmelite rules together with a new order, the Mary Ward Sisters. All were dedicated to serve ‘the glory of God’; but interpretations varied as to how best this should be achieved. Some orders for example, placed emphasis on the beauty of the liturgy, others on study and the written word, yet others placed austerity and internal spiritual examination at the centre of their religious life. Educational provision was directly linked to the purpose envisaged in the foundations and thus is reflected in a diversity of experience, both of content and method. The education provided in the convents has an importance outside the cloister in that a number of lay girls were educated alongside the young postulants.This paper examines surviving evidence from a number of convents and offers some insights into the diversity of educational practice and outcomesfor women joining the English convents in the first half of the seventeenth century. It argues that conventual education in this period has importance not only in the formation and growth of the convents themselves, but that it also forms an essential part of the transmission of English Catholic culture and the survival of Catholicism in a period of persecution.