The title Abbess is the female form of the title Abbott, and an abbess had a similar position to that of an abbott as head of a religious community. There were some significant differences, too, between the role of an abbess and an abbott, because abbesses were women and women were prohibited from being priests.
Abbesses often exercised considerable authority for their time, and had more independent power than many other women.
Historical Definition
From The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907: "The female superior in spirituals and temporals of a community of twelve or more nuns. With a few necessary exceptions, the position of an Abbess in her convent corresponds generally with that of an Abbot in his monastery. The title was originally the distinctive appellation of Benedictine superiors, but in the course of time it came to be a applied also to the conventual superior in other orders, especially to these of the Second Order of St. Francis (Poor Clares) and to these of certain colleges of canonesses."
