Join us Monday, July 8, at 6:30pm to celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving in honor of Rose Hawthorne, declared Venerable in March 2024.
Venerable Rose Hawthorne was the daughter of novelist and short-story writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne. She and her husband, George Lathrop, converted to Catholicism, but after the death of their young son George’s alcoholism led to violent behavior and they eventually separated. She moved to New York City to dedicate herself to charitable work, studied to become a nurse, and cared for the poor afflicted with incurable cancer. After her husband died, she professed religious vows and became known as Mother Mary Alphonsa as she founded the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, the Congregation of Saint Rose of Lima. She established two homes where the sisters cared for the poor without charge, St. Rose’s in Manhattan and Rosary Hill in Hawthorne, where she died in 1926. You can read more about her life and the continued work of the Hawthorne Sisters at hawthorne-dominicans.org/brief-biography.html.
When Rose chose to become a nurse she trained at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, then called New York Cancer Hospital. It is a great privilege to share our history with her. May the example of her life and heroic virtue be an inspiration and example to us all, and particularly to the nurses and physicians of MSKCC.
We invite you to learn more about this remarkable woman who is on the path to sainthood, to ask for her intercession in your needs, and to pray that she may be beatified soon so that many will find encouragement and inspiration in her.
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Lord God, in your special love for the sick, the poor and the lonely, you raised up Rose Hawthorne (Mother Mary Alphonsa) to be the servant of those afflicted with incurable cancer with no one to care for them. In serving the outcast and the abandoned, she strove to see in them the face of your Son. In her eyes, those in need were always “Christ’s Poor.” Grant that her example of selfless charity and her courage in the face of great obstacles will inspire us to be generous in our service of neighbor. We humbly ask that you glorify your servant, Rose Hawthorne, on earth according to the designs of your holy will.
Through her intercession, grant the favor that I now present (here make your request).
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us! (3 times)