[citation needed] Helen was professed into the Poor Clares in 1632, the same year as the sisters Catherine and Mary Bonaventure Browne.
The nuns had been banished from Dublin in November 1630 and resettled at Bethleham, parish of Kilkenny West, County Westmeath.
[citation needed] Following a request from some citizens of Galway, twelve sisters and two novices moved there during or immediately after January 1642.
Maria Gabriel became the first abbess of the convent; in September, her relative Richard Óge Martyn, became Mayor of Galway.
Here lieth the Body of the R. Mother Maria Gabriel alias Helen Martin, first Abbess and religious of the poore Clares of Galway, who died the 14 of Jan. adged 68, in religion 40.