foundress

IPA: fˈaʊndrɪs

(dated) A female founder (“one who founds or establishes”).
(zoology, specifically) A female animal which establishes a colony.
(metallurgy, obsolete, rare) A female founder (“one who founds or casts metals”).

Examples of "foundress" in Sentences

Scripture by which could be insinuated that the foundress was a
The astonishing story of Mother Mary MacKillop, an Australian sister and foundress of a women
She is known as the foundress of several churches in the Counties of Galway and Sligo, Ireland.
(Lobera, born 1545; died 4 March 1621), prioress of Granada to succeed her in the position of "foundress" of the order.
And the astonishing story of Mother Mary MacKillop, an Australian sister and foundress of a women's religious order, who will be canonized on Oct. 17, says a great deal about sanctity, about sin, about women in the church and, finally, about hope.
And the most recently canonized American saint, Mother Theodore Guérin, another foundress -- of the Sisters of Providence of St-Mary-of-the-Woods in Indiana -- was instructed by her local bishop to resign from her religious order and leave the state.
Until recently the story of MacKillop's punishment was understood mainly as the result of a conflict between her and the bishop, who cited insubordination as the official reason for this extraordinary move against the foundress of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart.
The most recently canonized American saint, Mother Theodore Guerin, foundress of the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods, faced opposition from her local bishop who threatened ejecting her from her own religious order before she was able to attain autonomy in 19th-century Indiana.