Pope Urban VIII

From the time of the suppression of the Institute in 1631, MW 's letters teem with code names (the Pope is the Scouf or Antony). One letter, written invisibly in lemon juice in England...

Pope Urban VIII ordered the closure of MW 's houses in Italy; her schools in Rome shut down that summer in spite of the tears and lamentations of the pupils' parents.

MW spoke about her Institute to a pair of senior clerics appointed by Pope Urban VIII to advise him; they were not, as he supposed, neutral or favourable towards it.

The Pope granted MW several concessions: she was declared free of heresy; Winefrid Wigmore was to be released from prison, and a few English ladies permitted to live in Rome under Papal protection.

Several years after MW 's schools in Rome and houses elsewhere in Europe had already been closed in fact, Pope Urban VIII signed the Bull of Suppression.

It was devastating to her to be labelled a heretic—although she had been writing to her communities urging them to comply with Pope Urban VIII 's suppression of the Institute. Having behaved with great dignity...

MW composed a petition to Urban VIII , setting forth her record of religious vocation, her unworthiness, and her faith in his decision: implicitly appealing against the expected suppression of her Order.