author
Augusta Theodosia Drane
1823–1894
Drawn to Catholicism through the Tractarian movement, she became a Dominican nun and went on to write vivid religious biographies, history, and poetry. Her books helped bring figures like St. Catherine of Siena and Henri Lacordaire to a wide English-speaking readership.
2 Audiobooks
Christian Schools and Scholars or, Sketches of Education from the Christian Era to the Council of Trent
by Augusta Theodosia Drane
The Knights of St. John : with the Battle of Lepanto and Siege of Vienna
by Augusta Theodosia Drane
About the author
Born near London in late December 1823, she was raised in a Protestant family and was known for wide reading from an early age. After encountering Tractarian ideas, she entered the Roman Catholic Church in 1850 and, following time in Rome, joined the Third Order of St. Dominic in 1852, taking the religious name Mother Francis Raphael.
She spent more than four decades in the Dominican community at Stone in Staffordshire, where she became an important writer as well as a religious superior. Her best-known books include studies of St. Catherine of Siena and Henri Lacordaire, along with other religious and historical works and poetry.
Her writing is remembered for combining strong research with warmth and conviction, making demanding religious subjects approachable for general readers. She died at Stone in 1894, leaving behind a body of work that reflects both her intellectual range and her deep commitment to Dominican life.