Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, later known as Mother Mary Alphonsa, was an American writer, social worker, and religious sister. Born in Lenox, Massachusetts, she was the youngest daughter of the renowned novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne and Sophia Peabody. Her early life was shaped by her family's literary environment and travels in Europe. In 1871, she married author George Parsons Lathrop, with whom she collaborated on various literary projects, including writing for periodicals and publishing her own poetry collection, Along the Shore, in 1888.
Following personal tragedies, including the death of her young son and her husband's struggle with alcoholism, Lathrop converted to Roman Catholicism in 1891. After her husband's death in 1898, she dedicated her life to charity, focusing on the care of impoverished cancer patients, a disease then considered contagious and highly stigmatized. She trained as a nurse and established a free home for incurable cancer patients in New York City.
To sustain her charitable mission, Lathrop founded a new religious congregation, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne (originally the Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer). As Mother Mary Alphonsa, she directed the community and its homes, combining her literary legacy with lifelong humanitarian service. Her memoir, Memories of Hawthorne, published in 1897, remains an important source of insight into her father's life and her family's intellectual circle.
