Maria Rosina Giberne (1802−1885) was a French-English artist and convert to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

Early life

The seventh of thirteen children, Giberne was born in

Clapton, London Clapton is a district of East London, England, in the London Borough of Hackney. Clapton is divided into Upper Clapton, in the north, and Lower Clapton to the south. Clapton railway station lies north-east of Charing Cross. Geography and origin ...

in 1802, the daughter of wine merchant Mark Giberne and Rebecca Sharp.Joyce Suggs, "Giberne, Maria Rosina" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004 https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/51387 Her brother George Giberne married Maria Smith, an aunt of

Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame placed him among leading Victorian poets. His prosody – notably his concept of sprung rhythm – established him as an innovato ...

, and her sister Sarah married Walter Mayers, an Anglican clergyman who taught and influenced

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...

. She became part of Newman's social circle, and his brother

Francis Newman Francis Newman (circa 1605 – 18 November 1660) was an English colonist in America. He served as Governor of the New Haven Colony from 1658 to 1659. Early life and career Newman was born in England in 1605 and married Mary Newman Street Leete i ...

proposed marriage to her twice.

Work

Giberne spent the late 1840s and 1850s in Rome working as an artist, living first with the Colonna and then the Borghese families. She produced portraits in chalk and then in oils, of members of those families and of subjects including

Henry Wilberforce Henry William Wilberforce (22 September 1807 – 23 April 1873), was a Church of England clergyman, a Tractarian, a convert to the Roman Catholic Church, and thereafter a newspaper proprietor, editor and journalist Life Henry Wilberforce wa ...

, and

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

. When

was raised to the cardinalate, she produced a portrait of Saint Francis de Sales for his private chapel.Shawn Tribe, "Some Liturgical Effects of Blessed John Henry Newman," Liturgical Arts Journal 12 October 201

/ref> Giberne professed vows as a sister of the Visitation at the convent in

Autun Autun () is a subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of central-eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the early Roman Empire by Emperor Augustus as Augustodunum to give a Ro ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, in 1863,

taking Taking or takings may refer to: * Theft, illicit taking * The acquisition of land under eminent domain * Take (hunting) or taking, an action that adversely affects a species * Kidnapping of persons See also

* * * * Take (disambiguation) * ...

the name Maria Pia in honour of Pius IX. She died at the convent in 1885.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giberne, Maria 1802 births 1885 deaths English expatriates in France English people of French descent 19th-century English Roman Catholic nuns 19th-century French nuns Nuns and art People from the London Borough of Hackney