Mary Bonaventure Browne

Mother Mary Bonaventure Browne (born after 1610, died after 1670) was a Poor Clare and Irish historian.

A daughter of Andrew Browne fitz Oliver, a wealthy merchant and a member of The Tribes of Galway. She was a niece of Martin Browne, whose townhouse doorway, the Browne doorway, now stands in Eyre Square. Andrew was a first cousin of Sir Dominick Browne, former Mayor of Galway and the father of Valentine Browne, OFM, Provincial of Franciscans 1629-1635. Her elder brother, Francis, later joined the Franciscans, while Mary and her sister Catherine joined the Poor Clares in 1632. In that year her father Andrew was elected one of the town sheriffs but refused to take the Oath of Supremacy, as had his father in 1609, and thus was not sworn in.

Following their banishment from Dublin in November 1630, the Poor Clares removed to Bethleham, in what was then the townland of Bleanphuttogue, parish of Kilkenny West, County Westmeath, a remote area on the shores of Lough Ree some eight miles (13 km) north-west of Athlone and four and a half miles southwest of Ballymahon, County Longford. Within a few years there were sixty members.

Following a request from some citizens of Galway, twelve sister and two novices moved there during or immediately after January 1642. Mary and Catherine, who were professed at Bethlehem in 1633, were among the group. The Abbess at Bethleham was Mother Cicely Dillon, a sister of Sir James Dillon (officer) and both children of Theobald Dillon, 1st Viscount Dillon. At Galway the Abbess was, successively, Mary Gabriel Martyn, Mary Clare Kennedy, and Mary during 1647-50, being succeeded by her sister Catherine. The convent was located in or near what is now St. Augustine Street.

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