Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre

The Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre are a Catholic female religious order.

The habit is black, and the choir sisters wear a white linen surplice, without sleeves, on the left side of which is embroidered a double red cross. A black veil is worn by the professed, and a white one by novices and lay sisters.

Foundation

Concerning the foundation there is only a tradition connecting it with James the Apostle and representing St. Helena as invested with the habit by Macanus, Bishop of Jerusalem.

The earliest date on record is 1276, the year in which the Saragossa convent was established. The foundation of a house at Charleville in 1622, by Claudia Mouy, widow of the Marquis de Chaligny, was the signal for agreat revival in the west, and constitutions, drawn up by a Jesuit Father and approved by Pope Urban VIII, in 1631, bound the canonesses to the recitation of the Divine office, rigorous fasts, the use of the discipline, and a strict interpretation of the rule of poverty; twelve was the number of professed religious assigned as necessary for the canonical election of a prioress.

In England

Susan Hawley, foundress of the English canonesses (born at New Brentford, Middlesex, 1622; died at Liège, 1706), having been professed at Tongeren, in 1642, went with four others to Liège to establish a community there, and in 1652, there being a sufficient number of professed, was elected prioress, in which capacity she ruled with rare prudence until her resignation in 1697.

The school, opened under Mary Christina Dennett, who was prioress from 1770 to 1781, proved so successful that on the outbreak of the French Revolution the canonesses had great difficulty in securing permission to leave the city.

After three months at Maastricht, they went to England (August, 1794), where they were sheltered by Lord Stourton in Holme Hall (Yorks), moved thence to Dean House (Wilts), and finally took possession of New Hall, near Chelmsford (Essex). Here they opened a free school for the poor children of the neighbourhood; this school still exists [ [http://www.newhallschool.co.uk/home/senior/about New Hall School - About New Hall ] ] .

References

*Max Heimbucher, "Orden und Kongregationen" (Paderborn, 1908)
*Francesca M. Steele, "Convents of Great Britain" (St. Louis, 1902)
*Pierre Hélyot, "Dict. des ordres relig." (Paris, 1859)
*Joseph Gillow, "Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath.", s. v. Hawley, Susan.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07427a.htm "Catholic Encyclopedia" article]
* [http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/specialcollections/collections/guide/atoz/holysepulchre/Archive Archives of the English canonesses]
* [http://www.canonesses.co.uk The English Community of Canonesses Regular of the Holy Seplchre]
* [http://crss-worldwide.tk The Association of Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre]