Leicester Austin Friary

Leicester Austin Friary

Location within Leicestershire
Monastery information
Other names	St Katherine’s Priory
Order	Order of Hermits of Saint Augustine
Established	1254
Disestablished	1535
Dedicated to	St Catherine
Diocese	Lincoln
People
Important associated figures	Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster
Site
Coordinates	52.633362°N 1.144428°W / 52.633362; -1.144428
Visible remains	None

Leicester Austin Friary is a former Augustinian Priory in Leicester, England.

History

Leicester Austin Friary was founded in 1254 and dedicated to St Catherine. It was enlarged in 1304 by Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster.

In 1372 the general chapter of the Order of Austin Friars was held at the friary. It was around the same time (the late 14th-century) that the friary was home to a friary named Thomas Ratcliffe, who was regarded as a renowned preacher.

The friary was surrendered for dissolution in November 1535. The friary does not appear to have been very large. At dissolution it was home to the Prior and three friars, and owned only the land it stood upon and a few small properties within the town. The annual income of the priory was listed as only £1.

The friary was unusual in having two cloisters.

An image of a medieval funeral procession in Leicester involving Friars from four different mendicant orders including the Austin Friars, as well as the Greyfriars, the Blackfriars, some Whitefriars (an order not present in Leicester), and a group of lay mourners. The church depicted is the now demolished St Sepulchre outside the southern wall of old Leicester (now Leicester Royal Infirmary).