Augusta Theodosia Drane

Augusta Theodosia Drane (1823-1894), from A Memoir of Mother Francis Raphael, 1895. Courtesy Internet Archive.

Augusta Theodosia Drane (29 December 1823 - 29 April 1894) was an English poet and prose writer, and a Roman Catholic nun known as Sister (later Mother) Francis Raphael.

Life

Drane was born at Bromley, near Bow, in 1823. her father being managing partner in an East India mercantile house.

Her parents were both Protestants, and Drane was brought up in the Anglican creed, Her remarkable natural gifts were developed by wide reading at a very early age.

In 1837 she moved with her family to Babbicombe, Devonshire, where she read much of the early literature of the Oxford Movement. she fell under the influence of Tractarian teaching at Torquay, and joined the Roman Catholic Church in 1850. She wrote, and published anonymously, an essay questioning the Morality of Tractarianism, which was attributed to John Henry Newman.

In 1852, after a prolonged stay in Rome, she joined the 3rd order of St Dominic, to which she belonged for over 40 years. In 1853 she entered the Stone convent in Staffordshire, where she became prioress (1872-1881), and where she died, aged 70.

Writing

Her chief works in prose and verse are: The History of Saint Dominic (1857; enlarged edition, 1891); The Life of St Catherine of Siena (1880; 2nd ed., 1899); Christian Schools and Scholars (1867); The Knights of St John (1858); Songs in the Night (1876); and The Three Chancellors (1859), a sketch of the lives of William of Wykeham, William of Waynflete and Sir Thomas More.

A complete list of her writings is given in the Memoir of Mother Francis Raphael, O.S.D. (Augusta Theodosia Drane), edited by B. Wilberforce, O.P. (London, 1895).

Publications

Poetry

• Songs in the Night, and other poems. London: Burns & Oates, 1876.

Non-fiction

• The Knights of St. John: With the Battle of Lepanto and Siege of Vienna. London: Burns & Oates / New York: Benzigner, [1858?]
• The Three Chancellors; or, Sketches of the lives of William of Wykeham, William of Waynflete, and Sir Thomas More. London: Burns & Lambert, 1860.
• A history of England for family use and the upper classes of schools. London: Burns & Lambert, 1864.
• The Life of St. Dominic, with a sketch of the Dominican Order. New York: P. O'Shea, 1867.
• Christian schools and scholars; or, Sketches of education from the Christian era to the Council of Trent. London: Longmans Green, 1867.
• Life of Mother Margaret Mary Hallahan: Foundress of the English congregation of St Catherine of Siena of the Third Order of St Dominic. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1869; London: Longmans Green, 1870.
• The History of St. Dominic, Founder of the Friars Preachers''. London: Longmans Green, 1890.
• The Daily Life of a Religious. London: Sands / St. Louis, MO: Herder, 1896.
• The Spirit of the Dominican Order, illustrated from the lives of its saints. London: Art & Book Co. / New York: Benzinger, 1896.
• The History of St. Catherine of Siena and her Companions: With a translation of her "Treatise on consummate perfection". (2 volumes), Longmans Green, 1899. Volume I, Volume II.

Translated

• The Inner Life of the Very Reverend Père Lacordaire of the Order of Preachers (preface by Rev. Father Aylward). Dublin: W.B. Kelly, 1868; London: R. Washbourne, 1878.

Edited

• William Bernard Ullathorne, Letters of Archbishop Ullathorne. London: Burns & Oates, 1892; New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1892.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

WHAT THE SOUL DESIRES by Augusta Theodosia Drane

See also

• List of British poets

References

 Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Drane, Augusta Theodosia". Encyclopædia Britannica. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 546. . Wikisource, Web, Mar. 27, 2020.

External links

Poems

• "Forgotten Among the Lilies"
• "What the Soul Desires"
• Augusta T. Drane at Hymnary.org.

About

• Augusta Theodosia Drane in the Catholic Encyclopedia

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the 1911 Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Original article is at Drane, Augusta Theodosia