Instead Elizabeth joined the English community of nuns of the Order of St. Clare, then called "Claresses", at Gravelines, at that time part of the Spanish Netherlands.
[1] The Poor Clare Convent at Gravelines was a religious community founded in 1607 by Mary Ward for English Roman Catholic women who wished to live the contemplative life of a nun, which was impossible after the Reformation and its consequence, the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
[2] The way of life of the Poor Clares was austere: the nuns slept on straw sacks, ate meat only at Christmas and spent much of their day in silent prayer or contemplation, speaking only when necessary and with permission.
Previous incumbents of that office had struggled with financial difficulties, but under Mother Clare Mary Ann the establishment flourished.
[5] Tyldesley became Superior of four communities of Poor Clares, both Irish and English, and received more than a hundred women into religious life.