Rose Hawthorne Lathrop

Rose Hawthorne Lathrop (May 20, 1851 – July 9, 1926) was an American Roman Catholic religious sister and social worker.

Biography

Born in Lenox, Massachusetts, to Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife Sophia Peabody, she was educated in London, Paris, Rome and Florence. She married author George Parsons Lathrop in 1871; both converted to Roman Catholicism in 1891. The couple had a son, Francis, who died of diphtheria at the age of five. Rose and George separated permanently in 1895.

After her father's death in 1864, she tried to become an author, like him. She did write a handful of poems, but she was never very successful as a writer. She later decided to rededicate her life to restoring her family's reputation after her brother's illegal activities.

She was known for her service near and within New York City, caring for impoverished cancer patients by founding St. Rose's Free Home for Incurable Cancer in the Lower East Side. After George's death in 1898, she became a nun, and as Mother Mary Alphonsa, OP, she was inspired by "The New Colossus", a poem penned by her close friend Emma Lazarus, to found a community of Dominican religious, now known as the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne.^[1]

Rose Hawthorne Lathrop was awarded an honorary Master of Arts (postgraduate) from Bowdoin College in 1925. She died a year later on July 9, 1926. In 2003, Edward Egan, Cardinal 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.

References

1. ^ "Exhibit highlights connection between Jewish poet, Catholic nun". The Tidings. Catholic News Service (Archdiocese of Los Angeles): p. 16. 17 September 2010. http://www.the-tidings.com/2010/091710/exhibit.htm. Retrieved 20 September 2010. 

External links

• Works by Rose Hawthorne Lathrop at Project Gutenberg
• Ibiblio: Rose Hawthorne Lathrop / Mother Alphonsa
• Concord Magazine Blog: rose hawthorne, candidate for sainthood

Persondata
Name	Lathrop, Rose Hawthorne
Alternative names
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Date of birth	May 20, 1851
Place of birth
Date of death	July 9, 1926
Place of death