prioresses
Female monastery heads
Prioresses is the plural of prioress, a woman who heads a priory or ranks second to an abbess in a convent.
The title parallels prior for men.
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales features a prioress among its pilgrims: The prioresses of medieval England wielded considerable authority over their communities.
Female monastic leader
- conventReligious sisters' dwelling
- nunneryMonastery for women
- cloisterCovered monastic walkway
- religious orderVowed spiritual community
veil · habit · enclosure · choir · novice · postulant · benedictine · chapter
Deep, loyal commitment
- contemplationSustained reflective attention
- prayerAddress to deity
- intercessionActing on another's behalf
- vocationDedicated career path
piety · holiness · guidance · counsel · discernment · formation · retreat · silence
Of tiered landownership
- estateProperty and grounds
- landownerOne possessing real estate
- titheTenth for clergy
- charterFounding organizational document
seal · patronage · nobility · dowry · endowment · pilgrimage · relic · saint
Power to enforce obedience
- governanceHow authority is exercised
- administratorPerson who manages operations
- overseerOne who monitors work
- superiorHigher in rank
election · appointment · council · decision · discipline · guidance · community · hierarchy
abbess
Female monastic leader
religious order · veil · habit · enclosure · choir · novice · postulant · benedictine · chapter · rule
devotion
Deep, loyal commitment
- contemplationSustained reflective attention
- prayerAddress to deity
- intercessionActing on another's behalf
vocation · piety · holiness · guidance · counsel · discernment · formation · retreat · silence · fasting
feudal
Of tiered landownership
charter · seal · patronage · nobility · dowry · endowment · pilgrimage · relic · saint · manuscript
authority
Power to enforce obedience
- governanceHow authority is exercised
- administratorPerson who manages operations
- overseerOne who monitors work
superior · election · appointment · council · decision · discipline · guidance · community · hierarchy · obedience
- holy womenabbesses, Virgin Mary, Saint Mary, Saint Anne, Saint Teresa
- monasticsmonk, nun, abbot, nuns, abbess
- nunsnun, nuns, sister, sisters, convent
- religious superiorsabbots, abbesses, priors, Mother Superior, provincials
- historical womenCleopatra, Joan of Arc, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, Marie Curie