Venerable Mother Mary Alphonsa

Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, OP, also known as Mother Mary Alphonsa (May 20, 1851 – July 9, 1926), was an American Dominican religious sister, writer, social worker, and foundress of the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne. Rose Hawthorne was born on May 20, 1851, in Lenox, Massachusetts, to Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife Sophia Peabody. Sophia was assisted in the birth by her father, Nathaniel Peabody. Hawthorne wrote about the infant Rose to his friend, 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." Rose Hawthorne and her siblings were raised in a positive environment and their parents did not believe in harsh discipline or physical punishment. On July 28, 1851, Sophia took Hawthorne and her older sister, Una, to visit relatives in West Newton, Massachusetts. Growing up, Rose lived in Massachusetts, Liverpool, London, Paris, Rome, and Florence. The family returned to Concord, Massachusetts, in 1860. There, her older brother Julian was enrolled in a co-educational school run by Franklin Benjamin Sanborn. Though their friend, the poet Ellery Channing, recommended the Hawthorne girls attend the same school, neither was enrolled. 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, Hawthorne was enrolled at a boarding school run by Diocletian Lewis in nearby Lexington, Massachusetts; she disliked the experience. After Nathaniel Hawthorne's death, the family moved to Germany and then to England. Sophia and Una died there in 1871 and 1877, respectively.