(This collection of literature attempts to compile many of...)
This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.
Rose Hawthorne Lathrop: Selected Writings (Sources of American Spirituality)
(Includes a generous selection of Rose Hawthorne's letters...)
Includes a generous selection of Rose Hawthorne's letters, passages from her diary and a number of essays from her years working with the poor, plus a lengthy biographical introduction by the editor.
Rose Hawthorne was an American writer. As Mother Mary Alphonsa in the 1900s, she was a Roman Catholic religious sister, social worker, and foundress.
Background
Rose Hawthorne was born on May 20, 1851 in Lenox, Massachussets, United States, the youngest and last surviving child of Nathaniel and Sophia (Peabody) Hawthorne. In her third year the family moved to Liverpool where Hawthorne served as consul. Subsequently they traveled extensively in Europe, returning to the United States in 1861. Hawthorne died in Plymouth, New Hampshire, May 18, 1864, when Rose was thirteen years of age. In 1868 Mrs. Hawthorne returned to Europe with her three children Julian, Una, and Rose. She died in England in 1871 when Rose was twenty years of age. Hawthorne inherited rich literary and cultural traditions from her parents.
Education
Rose was enrolled at a boarding school run by Diocletian Lewis in nearby Lexington, Massachusetts. In 1925, she was awarded an honorary Master of Arts from Bowdoin College.
Career
Hawthorne published a little volume of verse Along the Shore in 1888. The files of St. Nicholas contain a number of short sketches from her pen. Her Memories of Hawthorne appeared first serially in the Atlantic Monthly, being published as a volume in 1897.
A second edition appeared in 1923 with a Prelude by Maurice Francis Egan. Mr. and Mrs. Lathrop published as joint authors in 1894 A Story of Courage, a history of the Georgetown Visitation Convent, based on a study of its archives.
In 1896 Mrs. Lathrop became interested in the victims of incurable cancer and opened a small home for the care of them. As the work grew she determined to consecrate her life to it, founding a religious Sisterhood known as Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer and taking the name of Sister Alphonsa, as a member of the Community. The work was permanently established at Rosary Hill Home, Hawthorne, New York, in 1901.
A second Home known as St. Rose's was opened in New York City in 1912. Only victims of incurable cancer, without friends and utterly without resources, were received, no distinction as to race or creed being known among the patients cared for. Such sympathy with suffering was traditional in the Hawthorne family. Mother Alphonsa's sister, Una, spent her last years in caring for destitute children in London, where she died in 1877.
It is said that she succeeded in maintaining a spirit of wholesome joy among those whom she served, in spite of the dreadful realities of suffering with which she dealt. Mother Alphonsa's literary activity practically ceased when she gave herself up to the care of her cancer patients. She wrote, however, a general introduction to a limited edition of Hawthorne's works in 1900 and an admirable preface for the new edition of Memories of Hawthorne in 1923. While this volume consists in large measure of the letters of her gifted mother, the author's text reveals extraordinary powers of insight and description, and the style takes on at times a quality of haunting beauty.
On July 8, 1926, Lathrop wrote various letters asking for donations until nearly 10 o'clock before going to bed. She died in her sleep on July 9, the day that would had been her parents' 84th wedding anniversary. She was buried on the grounds of the Motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters in Hawthorne, New York.
Achievements
Hawthorne sought greater purpose in her life and spent time with the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, founded a charitable organization named after Saint Rose of Lima, Sister Rose's Free Home, to care for impoverished cancer patients, and also founded a new religious order, the Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer.
Hawthorne received a medal from the National Institute of Social Sciences for "notable achievement" in 1914. On April 18, 1926, the Rotary Club of New York presented her with a service medal as "soldier of love, a friend of the poor, organizer of rare ability, hope of the hopeless".
In 2003, Cardinal Edward Egan, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York, approved the movement for Lathrop's canonization. She now has the title "Servant of God" in the Catholic Church.
(Includes a generous selection of Rose Hawthorne's letters...)
Religion
Hawthorne was converted to the Roman Catholic faith in 1891.
Views
Hawthorne's own vision, which brought the victims of cancer within the embrace of her sympathy, rested on a profound spiritual insight and corresponding impulse toward self-effacing service.
Quotations:
"We cannot cure our patients but we can assure the dignity and value of their final days and keep them comfortable and free of pain. "
Personality
Hawthorne was alert, widely informed, thoroughly cultured, forceful, and kindly.
Connections
Hawthorne married George Parsons Lathrop in London. They had one son who died at the age of five.
