Frances Mary Teresa Ball

She was therefore sent to England at the age of nine to the Bar Convent in York, which was an IBVM school,[1] although Mary Ward was not acknowledged as the foundress.

This sisterhood, which had long existed in York, was originally established on the continent in the seventeenth century by Mary Ward to supply the means of a sound religious and secular education to young ladies.

[2] Henry James Coleridge describes her as "a bright, quiet, high-spirited girl, fond of fun, and with much depth of character.

"[3] In these times students did not return home for Easter, Christmas or summer holidays but stayed at the school until they left, usually in their late teens.

[1] Frances was expected to make an admirable wife for the son and heir of some rich Catholic Dublin merchant family.

[4] Recalled by Archbishop Murray, she returned to Dublin with two novices, in 1821, to establish the Irish Branch of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the instruction of children.

[6] According to the local tradition, the house where the Holy Family lived in Nazareth was carried to Loreto, Italy, by angels in the year 1295 to protect it from destruction.