Mary Clare Kennedy

Mary Clare Kennedy, second Abbess of the Poor Clares of Galway, fl. 1647.

Kennedy became abbess sometime in the mid-1640s. Ó Muraíle has drawn attention to the fact that of the twelve sisters and two novices that founded the Galway convent, twelve had Anglo-Irish surnames yet two, including Kennedy, bore Gaelic surnames.

Her background is obscure. Ó Cinnéide is the surname of a branch of the Dál gCais, apparently descended from King Cennétig mac Lorcáin of Thomond (reigned bef. 944-951). However, a similar surname, Ó Ceinnéididh, was borne by an unrelated family, a minor branch of the Uí Maine. Their pedigree is given as Connagan, son of Cernach, son of Ailell, son of Cernach, son of Coscrach, son of Fidhchellach, son of Dicholla, son of Eoghan Finn mac Cormac mac Cairpri Crom mac Lughaidh, the resolute, Feradhach mac Dallan mac Bresal mac Máine Mór and were one of eleven surnames listed as of the Clann Cernaigh.

Her presence amid a group of mainly Anglo-Irish women may not have been out of place. There is strong evidence for the use and status of the Irish language within the community. Her successor, Mary Bonaventure Browne, commissioned Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh to complete the work of translating The Rule of St. Clare, and related documents, into Irish.

Kennedy was succeeded by Browne in 1647 and was among the sisters when Galway surrendered to Cromwellian forces in April 1652. Her subsequent fate is unknown.

Preceded by Mary Gabriel Martyn

Abbess of the Poor Clares of Galway ?–1647

Succeeded by Mary Bonaventure Browne

External links

• http://www.poorclares.ie/
• http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G105007/index.html

Sources

• Historic Galway Convents. I.The Poor Clares, Studies, xxviii (1949), pp. 439–46, Helena Concannon
• Poor Clares, Galway, 1642-1992, by Celsus O'Brien, 1992
• The Celebrated Antiquary: Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (c.1600-1671) - His Life, Lineage and Learning, Nollaig Ó Muraíle, An Sagart, Maynooth, 1996; reprinted 2003. ISBN 1903896 05 3; ISSN 0 790 8806.

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Name	Kennedy, Mary Clare
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