Response to Prof. R. Gascoigne by Sr Pauline Robinson mfic

I wish to thank Professor Robert Gascoigne for situating Elizabeth Hayes in her times.

On behalf of the Missionary Franciscan Sisters, I wish to acknowledge Elizabeth Hayes, a remarkable woman for her times. Up until the publication of this book: Elizabeth Hayes Pioneer Franciscan Journalist, we have known very little about the extent of the “power of good” that resulted from her journal – the Annals of Our Lady of the Angels. Our earliest, non-published writers on the life of Elizabeth saw her Annals mainly as a source of income for her fledgling Institute. Only with the publication of this book by Pauline J Shaw (Sr Francine) have we, as Missionary Franciscan Sisters, gained a whole new understanding of this enterprising, truly Franciscan Religious. We did not understand the journalistic period in which she found herself and took full advantage of through her own journal. Having not read the earlier Annals, written in her life time, we were not aware of the great thrust of the “Apostolate of the Press”. However we were aware of her sound education and friendship with other women of the Oxford movement who were skilled writers and translators. We now discover that Elizabeth was strongly and absolutely committed to the Apostolate of the Press as it became a central strategy of the Church’s evangelizing mission in her time.

It was truly a revelation to me, and no doubt to the majority, if not all of our Sisters, to discover through this publication that Elizabeth was the:

• First person to edit and publish a Franciscan Journal in English
• First Editor-publisher of a Franciscan Journal in America
• First Franciscan woman to edit and publish a Catholic Journal

To quote from Chapter 4 – Pioneer in the Franciscan Periodical press, we read Her early work spearheaded American Franciscan journals and later her Annals took its worthy place among respected European publications. Elizabeth was aware that the Franciscans not only did not have their own journal in North America but that they did not produce one anywhere in the English language.

The research that Pauline Shaw has undertaken in preparation of her doctoral thesis and consequently this publication has revealed information about Elizabeth Hayes that has never been contained in other documents. For this we as an Institute of Religious Women, Missionary Franciscan Sisters, owe a debt of gratitude to Pauline. The woman, Elizabeth Hayes, our Foundress, has grown in stature because of this painstaking research over a period of many years. Elizabeth did not leave many personal writings, except for a small note book, that we affectionately call her Diary. However, we now have 21 years of Annals that she edited, these Annals reveal both new insights and factual details about Elizabeth. We also meet many of her contemporary writers and friends of great renown. These also included important figures in the Catholic hierarchy, namely Cardinal Parocchi, Vicar General of His Holiness the Pope, who became Elizabeth’s great supporter and friend.

Elizabeth Hayes was certainly a remarkable woman, a woman with a vision who surmounted seemingly insurmountable obstacles. By the mid 1880’s her circulation had grown to 10,000 copies. The author of this book: Elizabeth Hayes Pioneer Franciscan Journalist, is also to be commended for the extent and depth of her research and untiring dedication in making this woman better known for our own religious community and other readers, particularly people like yourselves interested in Church History, especially that of women of the Church. For this we congratulate and salute you Pauline J Shaw.