Cornelia Connelly was born on January 15, 1809 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. She was daughter of Ralph Peacock, a merchant of means, and Mrs. Mary (Swope) Bowen. She was of English and Spanish ancestry, and displayed the strong will and sound judgment of the former, and the emotional traits of the latter. Both her father and mother died during her girlhood, and she was reared with every social advantage by her half-sister, a Mrs. Isabella Montgomery.
Connelly received religious training in the Episcopal Church.
On December 1, 1831, Cornelia married Pierce Connelly, a young Episcopal clergyman, who shortly became rector of Trinity Church, Natchez, Mississippi. An interest in convent life led her to make a study of Catholicism, and in 1835 both she and her husband decided to embrace the Roman Catholic faith. This same year they started for Rome. Delayed in New Orleans, Mrs. Connelly was received into the Church at the Cathedral there by Bishop Blanc, but her husband deferred the ceremony until their arrival at Rome. After two years’ residence in Italy, Mr. Connelly became professor in the College of St. Charles, Grand Coteau, Louisiana, while his wife taught music in a near-by convent, where her interest in such institutions was intensified. With self-abnegating devotion, she took up the practises of the religious life.
In 1840 her husband announced his desire to enter the priesthood. The accomplishment of her husband’s desire was dependent upon her willingness formally to separate from him, enter a convent, and take a vow of perpetual chastity. Although devoted to her family, she consented to make the sacrifice. Journeying to Rome again, husband and wife met the preliminary requirements, and the former was ordained priest, July 6, 1845.
At this time Bishop Wiseman was urging upon church authorities the need of education for Catholic girls in England. Mrs. Connelly was chosen as peculiarly fitted to provide for that need. Acting upon instructions she drew up rules and constitution for a new Order, basing them upon those of the Society of Jesus. Its principal object was to be the education of girls of all classes, and she chose for its name the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. In 1846 she went to Derby, England, under the direction of Bishop Wiseman, and founded the first House of the Order there, later transferring it to St. Leonards-on-Sca, Sussex. The rest of her life was dedicated to insuring the permanence and extension of the Order. Trying obstacles arose, among them the attempt of her husband to obtain control of the Society through her, and later, after he had apostatized, to compel her by legal process to live with him. Her faith, persistence, and unselfishness overcame all difficulties, however, and the Society prospered and received the approval of Rome. Much to her satisfaction, it was established in the United States in 1862, and in 1867 she visited its convents there.
Connely was an attractive, well-educated woman with a lively personality who was described as being intelligent, happy, strong-minded, hot-tempered and untidy.
Cornelia was married to Pierce Connelly. They had five children, one of whom, Pierce Francis, became the sculptor.
