Catherine Goddard Clarke , also known as Sister Catherine, (August 21, 1900 – May 8, 1968) was an American

Traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is the set of beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, Christian liturgy, liturgical forms, Catholic devotions, devotions, and presentations of Catholic Church, Catholic teaching that existed in the Catholic Church befo ...

writer, educator, and lay religious sister. She was the founder of the Saint Benedict Center in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

and, alongside Father

Leonard Feeney Leonard Edward Feeney (February 18, 1897 – January 30, 1978) was an American Jesuit priest, poet, lyricist, and essayist. He articulated a strict interpretation of the Roman Catholic doctrine ''extra Ecclesiam nulla salus'' ("outside the Chu ...

, a founder of the

Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary refers to a number of different religious communities which all trace their roots to the St. Benedict Center, founded in 1940 by Catherine Goddard Clarke in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1945 ...

Biography

In 1940, Clarke sought permission from Cardinal

William Henry O'Connell William Henry O'Connell (December 8, 1859 – April 22, 1944) was an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Boston from 1907 until his death in 1944, and was made a cardinal in 1911. Early life William O'Connell wa ...

, Archbishop of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, to establish an educational center near

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Cardinal O'Connell granted her permission, and so she started Saint Benedict Center in

Harvard Square Harvard Square is a triangular plaza at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street and John F. Kennedy Street near the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The term "Harvard Square" is also used to delineate the busin ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. She led the center with the help of

Avery Dulles Avery Robert Dulles (; 1918–2008) was an American Jesuit priest, theologian, and cardinal of the Catholic Church. Dulles served on the faculty of Woodstock College from 1960 to 1974, of the Catholic University of America from 1974 to 1988, a ...

, then a Harvard law student, and Christopher Huntington, a Harvard dean. Saint Benedict's provided religious instruction to Catholic students at Harvard and

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

. Dulles, who would later become a

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

, asked Clarke to serve as his godmother upon his conversion to Catholicism. In 1942, Father

, a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

priest, became associated with the center. Clarke invited him to serve as the spiritual director of the center in 1943. Clarke, as one of the teachers, gave weekly evening lectures on church history at the center. The center later evolved into St. Benedict Abbey in Still River, Massachusetts. On January 17, 1949, Clarke, Father Feeney, and Fakhri Maluf founding the

, a

religious community. The community adopted

Louis de Montfort Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (31 January 1673 – 28 April 1716) was a French Roman Catholic priest and confessor. He was known in his time as a preacher and was made a missionary apostolic by Pope Clement XI. As well as preaching, Montfort ...

as their

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

. Families associated with the St. Benedict Center moved to the religious community. Clarke served as a community leader of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and taught the children at the community's school. She followed

Feeneyism Feeneyism is a Christian doctrine, associated with Leonard Feeney, which advocates an interpretation of the dogma '' extra Ecclesiam nulla salus'' ("outside the Church there is no salvation") which is that only Catholics can go to heaven and tha ...

, a doctrinal position taught by Father Feeney that took the Catholic doctrine ''

Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus The Latin phrase (meaning "outside the Church here isno salvation" or "no salvation outside the Church") She also reportedly taught that "

martyrdom A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...

is the surest way to get into Heaven." Clarke died from complications related to cancer on May 8, 1968.

Allegations of abuse

The

has been accused of being a

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...

by former members. In May 2020, Patricia Walsh Chadwick, a former member of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, accused Clarke of physically abusing her and other children that grew up in the religious community. Chadwick wrote about the alleged abuse in her memoir titled ''Little Sister''.

Selected works

Clarke wrote multiple books on Catholic history, theology, and spirituality including ''Our Glorious Popes'', ''Charlemagne and the Finding of the Body of St. Anne'', ''The Pontificate of Pope Saint Leo the Great'', ''The Life of Saint Gregory the Great'', ''Gate of Heaven'', ''The Failure of Interfaith'', ''Love Is The Spirit Of Truth'', and ''The Loyolas and the Cabots''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Catherine Goddard 1900 births 1968 deaths 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American Roman Catholic nuns American Roman Catholic religious writers American traditionalist Catholics American women essayists American women historians Catholics from Massachusetts Historians of the Catholic Church Religious leaders from Massachusetts Roman Catholic religious educators Traditionalist Catholic nuns and religious sisters Traditionalist Catholic writers