Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, also known as Mother Mary Alphonsa, (May 20, 1851 – July 9, 1926) was an American writer and religious leader. She was a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
religious sister
A religious sister (abbreviated ''Sr.'' or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to pra ...
,
social worker, and
foundress of the
Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne.
Early life and education
Rose Hawthorne was born on May 20, 1851, in
Lenox, Massachusetts, to
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
and his wife
Sophia Peabody. Sophia was assisted in the birth by her father,
Nathaniel Peabody. Hawthorne wrote about the infant Rose to his friend,
Horatio Bridge
Horatio Bridge (April 8, 1806 – March 18, 1893) was an officer of the United States Navy who, as Chief of the Bureau of Provisions, served for many years as head of the Navy's supply organization. Appointed by his former college mate, President ...
, comparing her birth to the publication of a book: "Mrs. Hawthorne published a little work, two months ago, which still lies in sheets; but, I assure you, it makes some noise in the world, both by day and night. In plain English, we have another little red-headed daughter—a very bright, strong, and healthy imp, but, at present, with no pretentions to beauty." Rose Hawthorne and her siblings were raised in a positive environment and their parents did not believe in harsh discipline or physical punishment.
On July 28, 1851, Sophia took Hawthorne and her older sister, Una, to visit relatives in
West Newton, Massachusetts
West Newton is one of the thirteen villages within the city of Newton in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States.
Among the oldest of the thirteen Newton villages, the West Newton Village Center is a National Register Historic District. ...
. Growing up, Rose lived in Massachusetts, Liverpool, London, Paris, Rome, and Florence. The family returned to Concord, Massachusetts, in 1860. There, her older brother
Julian was enrolled in a co-educational school run by
Franklin Benjamin Sanborn
Franklin Benjamin Sanborn (December 15, 1831 – February 24, 1917) was an American journalist, teacher, author, reformer, and abolitionist. Sanborn was a social scientist, and a memorialist of American transcendentalism who wrote early biograp ...
. Though their friend, the poet
Ellery Channing, recommended the Hawthorne girls attend the same school, neither was enrolled. Sophia wrote: "We entirely disapprove of this commingling of youths and maidens at the electric age in school. I find no end of ill effect from it, and this is why I do not send Una and Rose to your school." Two years after Nathaniel's death in 1864, Hawthorne was enrolled at a boarding school run by
Diocletian Lewis in nearby
Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by Native Americans, and was firs ...
; she disliked the experience.
After Nathaniel's death, the family moved to Germany and then to England. Sophia and Una died there in 1871 and 1877, respectively.
Marriage
Rose married author
George Parsons Lathrop in 1871. Prior to the marriage, George had shown romantic interest in Hawthorne's sister Una. Their brother Julian Hawthorne used the love triangle as an inspiration for his first novel, ''Bressant'', in 1873. In 1876, the Lathrops had a son, Francis. Rose Hawthorne tried to become an author in her own right, much like her husband, father, and brother. She serialized her novel ''Miss Dilletante'' in the Boston ''Courier'' under George's editorship in 1878 and published a book of poems, ''Along the Shore'', in 1888.
In the spring of 1879, Rose and her husband purchased her family's former home in Concord,
The Wayside
The Wayside is a historic house in Concord, Massachusetts. The earliest part of the home may date to 1717. Later it successively became the home of the young Louisa May Alcott and her family, who named it Hillside, author Nathaniel Hawthorne and ...
, with borrowed funds, where they lived until their son Francis died of
diphtheria
Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...
at the age of five in 1881. They returned to New York City but moved to
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decade ...
, in 1887 for George's health. Following Francis' death George had become an alcoholic and was increasingly unstable.
[Allitt, 143] Una suspected he abused Rose.
[Wineapple, 8] George also competed with Hawthorne's brother Julian for control of Nathaniel Hawthorne's legacy.
[Smith and Himmel, 21] In 1883, Julian planned to publish ''Dr. Grimshawe's Secret'', a manuscript left unfinished by their father, but Rose did not believe in its existence and suspected him of forgery or perpetrating a hoax.
In New London, the Lathrops became involved with the Catholic summer school movement and collaborated on a book, ''A Story of Courage: A History of the
Georgetown Visitation Convent''. Both Hawthorne and Lathrop converted to
Roman Catholicism in 1891. Though "To many of their old friends this conversion came as a shock", Hawthorne's journey to Catholicism had been years in the making.
Their travels through England, Portugal, France and Italy adexposed the Hawthornes to the 'Roman Church,' often misunderstood in the Protestant circles of New England … Hawthorne would write of her experience at the age of seven of seeing Pope Pius IX during Holy Week from his balcony: "I became eloquent about the Pope, and was rewarded by a gift from my mother of a little medallion of him and a gold scudo with an excellent likeness thereon, both always tenderly reverenced by me."
Nevertheless, the Lathrops' marriage continued to suffer and they separated permanently in 1896. George died of cirrhosis three years later.
Career
![RoseHawthorneLathrop1897](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/RoseHawthorneLathrop1897.png)
Hawthorne sought greater purpose in her life and spent time with the
Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul
The Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul were founded on May 11, 1849, when the four founding Sisters of Charity arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from New York City; this has been designated a National Historic Event.
History
The story of ...
in
Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts
Wellesley () is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Wellesley is part of Greater Boston. The population was 29,550 at the time of the 2020 census. Wellesley College, Babson College, and a campus of Massachusetts Bay Commu ...
, becoming inspired by their motto, "I am for God and for the poor."
[O'Malley, 255] She was further inspired by her relationship with
Emma Lazarus
Emma Lazarus (July 22, 1849 – November 19, 1887) was an American author of poetry, prose, and translations, as well as an activist for Jewish and Georgist causes. She is remembered for writing the sonnet " The New Colossus", which was inspire ...
, whom she befriended in 1881. After Lazarus's death from cancer at age 38, Hawthorne recalled that she was at least comfortable, unlike others who were poor. She wrote later, "Though I grieved deeply for her, I would not pity her, for she never knew unaided suffering, but every amelioration." As a source for her motivation to work with incurable impoverished people, she cited the story of a young seamstress who was too poor to afford medical treatment and instead had herself admitted to an institution for the insane on Blackwell's Island.
[
In the summer of 1896, Hawthorne trained as a nurse at the then–]New York Cancer Hospital
The New York Cancer Hospital (NYCH) on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City was a cancer treatment and research institution founded in 1884. The building was located at 455 Central Park West between West 105th and 106th Streets, and ...
, the first institution in the United States to provide training in treating cancer at a time when general hospitals in the city did not admit patients with cancer.[Smith and Himmel, 23] Later that year, she founded a charitable organization named after Rose of Lima, Sister Rose's Free Home, to care for impoverished cancer patients.[ At first, she visited patients at their homes. In October 1896, she rented three rooms in a tenement on Scammel Street on the Lower East Side, a poor immigrant neighborhood, with the help of an assistant named Alice Huber.][ A Dominican ]priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...
, Clement Thuente, witnessed their work in February 1899 and encouraged them to join the Dominican order as tertiaries (Third Order Dominicans).[O'Malley, 257]
On December 8, 1900, Hawthorne founded a new religious order, with the approval of Archbishop Michael A. Corrigan
Michael Augustine Corrigan (August 13, 1839May 5, 1902) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the third Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, archbishop of New York from 1885 to 1902.
Early life
Michael Augustine ...
of New York.[ The order was named the Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer; she became its first Mother Superior, with the name Mother Mary Alphonsa.][ Alice became known as Mother Rose.] The order—now known as the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne—opened a facility called St. Rose's Home on Water Street in Manhattan; it then moved to Cherry Street, before settling north of New York City in what is now Rosary Hill Home in Hawthorne.
Hawthorne's brother, Julian, considered her decision to be a martyrdom, writing, "Nothing less than the extreme would satisfy her thirst for self-sacrifice."[ When he was imprisoned for mail fraud, she traveled to Washington, D.C., on April 3, 1913, to ask President ]Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
to pardon him. Julian was angered by her intervention, and no pardon was granted.
Death and legacy
On July 8, 1926, Hawthorne 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 have been her parents' 84th wedding anniversary.[ She was buried on the grounds of the motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters in Hawthorne, N.Y.
Hawthorne received a medal from the National Institute of Social Sciences for "notable achievement" in 1914. In 1925, she was awarded an honorary ]Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...
from Bowdoin College. 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".
The Rose Hawthorne Guild was established to promote her cause for canonization. In 2003, Cardinal Edward Egan
Edward Michael Egan (April 2, 1932 – March 5, 2015) was an American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport in Connecticut from 1988 to 2000 and as archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York i ...
, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York
The Archdiocese of New York ( la, Archidiœcesis Neo-Eboracensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in the State of New York. It encompasses the boroug ...
, approved the movement for Hawthorne's canonization. She now has the title " Servant of God" in the Catholic Church.
Selected works
* ''Miss Dilletante'', 1878 * ''Along the Shore'', 1888
* ''A Story of Courage: A History of the Georgetown Visitation Convent''
* ''Memories of Hawthorne''[ ]
References
Sources
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External links
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Ibiblio: Rose Hawthorne Lathrop / Mother Alphonsa
Rosary Hill Home
official website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lathrop, Rose
1851 births
1926 deaths
19th-century American poets
19th-century American women writers
20th-century American Roman Catholic nuns
19th-century American Roman Catholic nuns
American Servants of God
American women poets
Catholics from Massachusetts
Converts to Roman Catholicism
Dominican Sisters
Founders of Catholic religious communities
People from Lenox, Massachusetts
People of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York
Poets from Massachusetts
Poets from New York (state)
Religious leaders from Massachusetts
Writers from New York City