From 1589–1594 she lived with and was educated in Latin by her maternal grandmother, Ursula Wright, at Ploughland Hall, Welwick, who had been imprisoned for fourteen years for the "exhalation of the Catholic religion."

It is documented, through John Jackson (b.1581) that Mary was at Ripley Castle, home of relative Sampson Ingleby, steward to the Earl of Northumberland for a brief time in 1594.

In 1599 she moved to the house of Sir Ralph Babthorpe at Osgodby, North Riding of Yorkshire, yet another relation and here expanded her education to include the French, Italian and German languages.

Mary recalled, "But the same God […] would not permit that I should be hindered through his means, so that finally He caused him to change his opinion, at least so far as to leave me to myself in this matter, which was sufficient for me".

[3] Ward left England in order to enter a monastery of Poor Clares at Saint-Omer in northern France; she then moved to the Spanish Netherlands as a lay sister.

[2] However, Mary Ward did not find herself called to the contemplative life and instead decided to dedicate herself to an active ministry, whilst still being religious; this was considered most unusual at the time.

At the age of twenty-four, she found herself surrounded by a band of devoted companions[5] including Winefrid Wigmore determined to work under her guidance to address new needs.

As previous foundresses who attempted such an apostolic way of life (e.g., Angela Merici) had learned, uncloistered religious sisters were repugnant to long-standing principles and traditions then prevalent.

At that time, the work of religious women was confined to what could be carried on within walls, either teaching boarding students within the cloister or nursing the sick in hospitals attached to the monastery.

[6] There were other startling differences between the new Institute and existing congregations of women, including freedom from enclosure, the obligation of praying the Liturgy of the Hours in choir, requirement to wear a religious habit, and from the jurisdiction of the local bishop.

Moreover, her scheme was proposed at a time when there was division amongst English Catholics, and the fact that it borrowed so much from the Society of Jesus (itself an object of suspicion and hostility in many quarters) increased the mistrust.

Lessius held that local episcopal authorization sufficed to render it a religious body whereas Suárez maintained that its aim, organization, and methods being without precedent in the case of women, required the sanction of the Holy See.

The difficulties which Ward encountered were mainly due to this ruling, when she applied to the Holy See for permission to expand her institute in Flanders, Bavaria, Austria, and Italy.

[2] She travelled throughout Europe on foot, in extreme poverty and frequently ill, founding schools in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Austria, and in today's Czech Republic and Slovakia.

She then relied on her female friends to continue running the schools, using coded letter written in lemon juice as invisible ink to provide instructions.

[2] In 1637, with letters of introduction from Pope Urban VIII to Queen Henrietta Maria of France, Mary returned to England and established herself in London.

In 1642 she journeyed northward with her household where they established a community school in Hutton Rudby, the home of cousin Sir Thomas Gascoigne, and then travelled to stay with the Thwing family at Heworth, near York.

[14] Ward was declared venerable by Pope Benedict XVI on 19 December 2009, and he mentioned her the following year during his state visit to the United Kingdom.