Women of Catholicity

This is the golden thread interwoven with the noble life-work of an Isabella of Castile-a princess of great renown in her own and all succeeding times, on account of the masculine energy of character which impelled her to high heroic deeds for the glory of God and the defence of His Church, softened and refined by the gracious sweetness and womanly tenderness which made all hearts her own. Turning from this grand and queenly figure we find the same all-pervading supernatural element in the lovely and loveable Margaret Roper, the perfect daughter of the saintly Sir Thomas More, her filial devotion to whom, in circumstances the most trying, forms the brightest gem in her immortal crown of glory. On the other hand, we have here Fannie Allen, the great, enlightened daughter of the infidel Ethan Allen, the sweet odor of whose truly Christian virtues won all hearts to Christ and brought many of her relatives and friends to embrace the true faith. In her, we behold the first scion of the New England stock, the first daughter of the Puritans, who took the monastic habit and consecrated herself to God in holy religion for the service of His suffering members-the Hospital Sister of St. Joseph whose memory is in benediction amongst her Sisters in religion. Another striking example we have here in Margaret O'Carroll, an illustrious Irish lady of the fifteenth century, the daughter, wife, and mother of heroic chieftains who fought and, in some instances, fell, for their country and their God. A woman of a princely race, endowed with rare beauty of person and with all the accomplishments usual at that time, assisting her brave and pious husband alike in the government of his principality and in the management of their temporal affairs, promoting, at the same time, all works of public utility, -yet, amid all this multip1icity of occupation, finding time for the exercises of piety and even for the making of pilgrimages to distant countries-incalculably more of an undertaking then than now. Truly, the valiant woman of Holy Writ was this magnificent Irish princess of an elder day! Lastly, the author has placed before us, in life-like reality, the two greatest women of Canadian-we might say of American history, the celebrated Ursuline Mary of the Incarnation, not inaptly styled the St. Teresa of Canada, because of her high and mystical endowments, and the no less illustrious Marguerite Bourgeoys, the foundress of the great teaching order known as the Congregation of Our Lady. These two admirable religious, daughters of France, were not only great in religion, but great in the management of temporal affairs, wise and prudent beyond conception, and so eminently practical in the conduct of all matters of business appertaining to the public interest that they might be, and, indeed, were considered, the one in Quebec, the other in Montreal, as the Providence of the infant colony of New France. Both will, in due time, be raised to the altars of the Church, and, therefore, scarcely come within the sphere which the author had designed for her work in these volumes, viz., that of eminent Catholics, men and women, not canonized saints, yet whose lives were modelled in the sublime teachings of the Church. It is, however, on account of the important parts they played in the history of their adopted country and the benefits they conferred on their compatriots, that these two remarkable women are presented to the readers of this volume