Rose Hawthorne Lathrop

Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, OP, religious name Mary Alphonsa, (May 20, 1851 – July 9, 1926), was an American Dominican religious sister, writer, social worker, and founder of the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne.

Early life and education

Rose Hawthorne was born on May 20, 1851, in Lenox, Massachusetts, to the author Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife, the artist Sophia Peabody. Sophia's father, the physician Nathaniel Peabody, assisted in the birth. Nathaniel wrote about the baby to his friend, the US Navy officer Horatio Bridge, 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." In July 1851, Sophia took Rose and her older sister, Una, to visit relatives in West Newton, Massachusetts. That same year, the Hawthorne family moved to Concord, Massachusetts, Nathaniel's former home. When Rose turned three, her father was named as the American consul in Liverpool, England. During this time in Europe, the family made several trips to Rome, along with visits to London, Florence and the German states.Rose was very impressed at seeing Pope Pius IX speak from the balcony of his apartment in Vatican City.

The Hawthorne family returned to Concord in 1860. Many literary figures visited the Hawthorne home, including the novelist Herman Melville and the essayist Henry David Thoreau. According to authors Peggy Miller and Grace Cho, Rose and her siblings were raised in a positive environment as Nathaniel and Sophia did not believe in harsh discipline or physical punishment.Rose was very closed to her father and shared his sadness at the plight of the poor. Her mother told Rose once It is not what you want to do for the sick poor, but what they want to do or have you do that matters. And you must never make them feel that there is anything distressing to you in their appearance or actions. Rose's older brother, the future author Julian Hawthorne, was enrolled in a co-educational school run by the author Franklin Benjamin Sanborn. The family friend, the poet Ellery Channing, recommended that Nathaniel and Sophia send the Hawthorne girls to Julian's school. The parents ignored her advice. 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, Sophia enrolled Rose at a boarding school run by the physician Diocletian Lewis in Lexington, Massachusetts; she disliked the experience and did not remain there very long.Dealing with a loss of income from Nathaniel's death, Sophia took the children to Dresden in the Kingdom of Saxony (present-day Germany) in 1865 to complete their education. While in Dresden, the family met the future poet George Parsons Lathrop, the son of a doctor from New York City. The start of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 forced the Hawthorne and Lathrop families to move to London. While in England, Rose took art classes at the Government School of Design in London