A Fire Was Lighted

Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, the daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne, was the foundress of the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne. Her religious name was Mother Mary Alphonsa.


"Rose Hawthorne (1851-1926) was born in Lenox, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of American author Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), who was known for the probing psychological aspects of his writing derived from his Puritan upbringing. In 1871, Rose married editor George Parsons Lathrop. Sadly, their only child died at the age of five in 1881. A writer in her own right, Rose published Along the Shore, a book of poems, in 1888. In 1891, Rose, along with her husband, converted to Roman Catholicism.


In 1895, Rose formally separated from George, who died in 1897. Rose then embarked on a career nursing people afflicted with cancer. In 1899, she established St. Rose's Free Home for Incurable Cancer, in New York City. Rose became a Catholic nun and founded the Dominican Congregation of St. Rose of Lima, later changed to the Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer. Rose's religious name was Alphonsa. In 1901, she opened Rosary Hill Home in Hawthorne, New York, a town named after her."-Georgetown.