Mary Anne Sadlier

Who was Mary Anne Sadlier?

Mary Anne Sadlier was an Irish author.

Born Mary Anne Madden in Cootehill, Co. Cavan, Ireland, Sadlier published roughly sixty novels and numerous stories. She wrote for Irish immigrants in both the United States and Canada, encouraging them to attend mass and retain the Catholic faith. In so doing, Sadlier also addressed the related themes of anti-Catholicism, the Irish Famine, emigration, and domestic work. Her writings are often found under the name Mrs. J. Sadlier.

Upon the death of her father, Francis, a merchant, Mary Madden emigrated to Sainte-Marthe, Quebec in 1844, where she married publisher James Sadlier, also from Ireland, on November 24, 1846. Sadlier published much of her work in the family's Catholic magazine, The Tablet. Sadlier experienced her most productive literary period after her marriage and was most creative after about the time all of her children were born. While living in Canada, Sadlier published eighteen books—five novels, one collection of short stories, a religious catechism and nine translations from the French—in addition to assorted magazine articles she contributed to the Pilot and American Celt free of charge.