Henry VIII’s decision to create an English Church ruptured the fabric of society and caused distress, and on some occasions death, to many old established noble and county families. Born into just such a family in 1585, Mary Ward quickly began to learn the penalties that non-attendance in the local Church of England parish could bring.

Despite her many suitors, Mary Ward decided early in her life to dedicate herself to God, and upon her majority she left England for Flanders. Admitted to the Poor Clares she was impressed by the work and discipline of the Society of Jesus, and it became her goal to found a community of women based upon the Jesuit model.

From the outset her dream was the object of violent controversy and sanctions, and as a result her life became one of high drama. That she held firm to her intention to enable women to work in a new form of apostolate, is a measure of her greatness and one of the causes for the fascination that her story still holds for us today.

Henriette Peters has brought to her study a passionate and whole hearted respect for the truth that is in keeping with the stature of her subject, and her work can be regarded as both a synthesis of all previous scholarship, and as a useful source for new and enlightening insights into this important figure.

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