Frances Margaret Allen (1784 - 1819)

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Frances Margaret ("Fanny") Allen (b. November 13, 1784 – d. September 10, 1819) was the first New England woman to become a Catholic nun.[1][2]

The daughter of Revolutionary War General Ethan Allen, she converted to Catholicism and entered the convent of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph in Montreal in 1811.

Sister Frances Margaret "Fanny" Allen

Religion: Roman Catholic

Born: November 13, 1784, Sunderland, Vermont

Died: September 10, 1819 (aged 34), Montreal, Canada

Profession of Vows: May 18, 1811.

Biography

Fanny Allen was the daughter and eldest child of American Revolutionary War leader, Ethan Allen, and his second wife Frances Buchanan Allen. She was the first woman of New England birth to become a Roman Catholic nun.

In 1807, upon asking for permission, Fanny went to Montreal to study French, where she converted to Catholicism. Fanny became a sister in the Religious Hospitaliers of St. Joseph and spent the rest of her life nursing the sick and indigent. She was, however, noted to be the official hospital chemist.

Like other members of her family, she died of consumption on September 10, 1819 at the Hotel-Dieu. She was 34.

The Fanny Allen Hospital in Colchester, Vermont, run by her order, the Religious Hospitaliers of St. Joseph, was named in her honor.

Image Citation

• Fanny Allen Hospital: School of Nurses Training - Graduation, Louis L. McAllister Photographs, Box B19, Folder 07, Item 03, http://cdi.uvm.edu/collections/item/mcalB19F07i03 (accessed September 03, 2014)

Sources

References:

• "The Allen Family". Ethan Allen Homestead Museum. 2010. Retrieved June 21, 2011. A'Becket, John (1907). "Frances Allen". The Catholic Encyclopedia

1. Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved June 21, 2011.

• Byrne, William (1899). "History of the Catholic Church in the New England States"

2. Hurd & Everts. pp. 487–490.

• De Goesbriand, Louis (1886). "Catholic memoirs of Vermont and New Hampshire." Burlington, Vermont: R. S. Styles. pp. 12–28.

Clifford, Deborah (2003).

• "Allen, Frances Margaret". The Vermont Encyclopedia. University Press of New England. p. 38.
• "Our History". Fletcher Allen Health Care. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
• "Quick Facts". Fletcher Allen Health Care. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
• "Fanny Allen Cemetery." Find A Grave. Retrieved June 22, 2011.

External links:

• Fanny Allen at Find a Grave
• VT Women: Fanny Allen (by Cyndy Bittinger), a feature from Vermont Public Radio on Allen's life

Last update 10 February 2024 . Accessed 03 Sep 2014. Content available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless otherwise noted

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