Drane, Augusta Theodosia (1823–1894)
Drane, Augusta Theodosia (1823–1894)
English writer. Name variations: Mother Francis Raphael. Born at Bromley, near Bow, England, on December 29, 1823; died at the Stone convent in Staffordshire, England, on April 29, 1894.
Brought up Anglican, Augusta Drane was influenced by Tractarian teaching at Torquay and joined the Roman Catholic Church in 1850. Her essay questioning the Morality of Tractarianism, published anonymously, was incorrectly attributed to John Henry Newman. Following a prolonged stay in Rome, she joined the third order of St. Dominic (1852), to which she belonged for over 40 years. From 1872 to 1881, Drane served as prioress of the Stone convent in Staffordshire, where she died on April 29, 1894. Her books include The History of Saint Dominic (1857), The Life of St. Catherine of Siena (1880), 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.
suggested reading:
Wilberforce, B., O.P., ed. Memoir of Mother Francis Raphael, O.S.D., Augusta Theodosia Drane. London, 1895.