Growing up traveling Europe, living a remarkably privileged life by the standards of the time, Rose was rst exposed to Catholicism in the course of her travels, even seeing Pope Bl. Pius IX during Holy Week. She would later write, “I became eloquent about the Pope, and was rewarded by a gi from my mother of a little medallion of him and a gold scudo [coin] with an excellent likeness thereon, both always tenderly reverenced by me.” Both parents died when Rose was in her teens. In 1871, age 20, Rose married George Parsons Lathrop, the editor of Atlantic Monthly, and they had one child, Francis. Sadly, he died at the age of 4. Conversions In 1891, while living in New London, Connecticut, both George and Rose converted to Catholicism. “To many of their old friends this conversion came as a shock; but to Rose and George it was grace lled,” according to the Rose Hawthorne Guild. “In their new lives as Catholics, George and Rose attempted to devote themselves to work for the Church.” But a happy ending was not to be. George slid into alcoholism, which made his behavior more and more erratic till the couple separated with the permission of the Church. He died in 1898. At age 45, Rose decided to dedicate herself to one of the works of mercy, so she studied nursing at New York Cancer Hospital. “A re was then lighted in my heart, where it still burns,” she wrote. “I set my whole being to endeavor to bring consolation to the cancerous poor.” Working on the lower east side of Manhattan, Rose attracted companions to join her in her labors. “While this work took up a great portion of her strength and time, she records in her diary daily Mass attendance, frequent confession, the recitation of litanies and novenas, and spiritual direction,” notes the Rose Hawthorne Guild. Cancer victims Inspired by a young Dominican priest, Rose became a third-order Dominican and, taking the name Mary Alphonsa, went on to found the Hawthorne Dominicans, dedicated to caring for the destitute enduring cancer, which was then seen as a contagious, dangerous disease. On Dec. 8, 1900, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Archbishop Michael Corrigan of New York approved the new community of Dominican Sisters. Under Mother Mary Alphonsa’s leadership, the Congregation expanded its good works to several care homes. She carried on with her heroic work till her death in 1926, at the age of 75, at her motherhouse in Hawthorne, New York. She was declared Venerable by Pope Francis on March 14, 2024. Mother Mary Alphonsa died the same year that the Marian “Renovator,” Bl. George Matulaitis made his tour of America, but two decades before the Marians arrived in Stockbridge. She was ministering to the poor in New York City at the same time as Mother Frances Cabrini, recently in the limelight in the Angel Studios movie Cabrini (and who had a much harder time with Archbishop Corrigan). Mother is also a distant cousin of the actor Mark Wahlberg (Father Stu) and his brother, producer/ director Jim Wahlberg, who spoke at the National Shrine of e Divine Mercy this past Divine Mercy Weekend. Saintly religious ank God for Mother Mary Alphonsa, and for all the heroic, saintly women religious who’ve served the poor and those most in need in our country, and all across the life of the Church. ey’ve answered God’s call, and we are all the better o for it. ank God for men and women of God who do the works of mercy, and show to the world that Jesus truly is the Divine Mercy Incarnate. When next you come on pilgrimage to the National Shrine of e Divine Mercy, say a prayer to Mother Mary Alphonsa, a hero of the works of mercy, who was born so near to an international center of the Divine Mercy movement. Mother Mary Alphonsa, OP, pray for us! For more information on Ven. Mother Mary Alphonsa, OP, and her cause for canonization, visit the Rose Hawthorne Guild: Hawthorne-Dominicans.org. “Many Catholics are unfamiliar with the life and influence of Rose Hawthorne, and yet there is scarcely one who could not identify with Rose.” A re-creation of the Hawthorne home is located on the grounds of Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts. MARIAN HELPER • SUMMER 2024 • MARIAN.ORG 29
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