sb. and a. [f. St. Ursul-a, name of a legendary early British virgin-martyr, + -INE.]
A. sb. pl. A religious order of nuns, established under the rule of St. Augustine in 1572 from a company founded at Brescia in 1537, for the teaching of girls, nursing of the sick, and the sanctification of the lives of its members.
1693. Emilianne’s Hist. Monast. Orders, 248. They are called Urselines, from a holy Virgin called Ursula … who suffered Martyrdom … near Colen.
1701. in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ., VII. 88. We were … afterwards at ye Grand Ursulines.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, xiii. A convent of Ursulines, remarkable for their hospitality to strangers.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxxv. These it is my purpose to dedicate to Heaven in the convent of the Ursulines.
1884. Addis & Arnold, Cath. Dict. (1897), 912. The Ursulines do not now increase so rapidly as in former times.
B. adj. Pertaining or belonging to the Ursulines.
1739. Gray, Lett. (1900), I. 17. We went also to the chapels of the Jesuits and Ursuline Nuns.
1804. Mary Lamb, Lines Picture Two Females, 2. The Lady Blanch … To the Urs’line convent hastens.
1815. Milman, Fazio, 45. Our convent gates are rude,… Our Ursuline veils of such a jealous woof [etc.].
1894. T. C. Upham, Life Mme. Guyon, i. 2. She was placed at the Ursuline Seminary.
