Cornelia Connelly
Organization founder
1809 – 1879
Who was Cornelia Connelly?
Cornelia Connelly, born Cornelia Peacock, was the born founder of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, a Roman Catholic religious institute. She was born in Philadelphia in 1809, began her conversion to Roman Catholicism in the southern US, and in 1846 founded the first of many Holy Child schools, in England.
After both her parents' deaths, she came to live with her older sister and her sister's husband. She married Pierce Connelly, an Episcopal priest, despite her family's protests, in December 1831, and the two moved to Natchez, Mississippi, where Pierce had accepted the rectorship of the Holy Trinity Episcopal church. During this time their family grew, and experienced tragedy. In early 1840, still grieving the death of a baby daughter while living in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, Cornelia made her first retreat of three days. God touched her deeply, and her interior life was profoundly changed. In February, her two-year old son John Henry was playing with his dog when the dog accidentally pushed him into a vat of boiling sugar. He died of severe burns in Cornelia's arms after 43 hours.
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- Born
- Jan 15, 1809
Philadelphia - Religion
- Catholicism
- Nationality
- United States of America
- Lived in
- Philadelphia
- Died
- Apr 18, 1879
St Leonards-on-Sea
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
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