Cornelia Connelly

One of the more curious stories of virtue in Catholic life concerns Cornelia Connelly, the daughter of a wealthy family in Philadelphia. She was born in 1809 as Cornelia Peacock and in 1831 married an Episcopal priest named Pierce Connelly. Herself a member of the Episcopal Church, Cornelia and Pierce became Roman Catholics after he renounced his Anglican orders. In 1839 he decided to seek ordination as a Catholic priest. He went to Rome, received approval and eventually called his family to be with him. Cornelia was told she would have to enter a convent.

Only two of five children the Connellys had given birth ultimately survived. Cornelia obediently took a vow of chastity when her husband was ordained and she moved to England with her children to establish a religious congregation (known as the Society of the Holy Child Jesus) for the education of girls under the direction of a local bishop who eagerly sought her assistance. Her own children were placed in boarding schools.

Some details of Cornelia’s life growing up seem similar to that of Elizabeth Seton. She would have been about 12 years of age when Seton died. She began as a Protestant and found solace in Catholic Italy after her husband’s death. Cornelia accepted the requirement of chastity for herself after her husband became a Catholic priest.

Cornelia’s ministry acquired some eminence in the English Catholic Church and within a few years was flourishing. Plans were made to establish a foundation in America. Pierce, though, became disillusioned with the Roman Catholic priesthood, renounced it, and wanted his family to return to him. By that time, however, Cornelia was firmly committed to her adopted faith and to the work she was doing educating young girls. Pierce brought a lawsuit against her. Though she won the lawsuit, it came at a great cost. Much public opinion sided against her. Pierce removed the children from the boarding schools and took them to America.

Cornelia continued her work and died April 19, 1879. A biography composed by one of her sisters in 1922 indicated that her two remaining children did visit her as adults but that relations were never completely healed as the two sided with their father. The daughter Adeline though eventually returned to her Catholic faith.

One has to wonder about the feelings that roller coasted throughout Cornelia’s life – in herself, her husband, and two children who grew to adulthood. A rigid discipline dictated that Cornelia take up religious life as a nun, and it is her positive response that sets her apart as a courageous woman, much as Mary said “yes” to the angel who announced a life-changing event to her.