Sr Marianna, Strengthened

Back in 2023, I wrote a piece about Sr Marianna and Sr Eleanor. But recently I have come across some more information about Sr Marianna, related to her life in Community, and it feels appropriate to share it with you. Sr Marianna, a farmer’s daughter, never married, but joined the Community late in life. Born in 1820, she was 50 when professed in 1870. She died aged 83 in 1903, after 36 years in religion (this dates from her clothing).  She is unusual in that there was an ‘In Memoriam’ piece published about her in our Community magazine East and West, which is very rare, and gives more of an insight into who she was than we have with most of our earlier Sisters.

We find her in the 1871 Census, registered at the House of Mercy at Ditchingham. This was before the Community House was built, so the House of Mercy was the mother house of the Community and Sr Marianna may or may not have been working directly with the women and girls there. By 1881, she has moved to become Sister in Charge at All Hallows Farm. There are two other Sisters present, plus three children as boarders, and a servant. As a farmer’s daughter, Sr Marianna was a likely choice for running the farm, although it was not to be her main work. One of the other Sisters present, Sr Emmeline, took on the running of the farm, although often it was a lay Sister who had the day to day charge of it. Sr Marianna moved to Norwich, and it was here that her life’s work was to be fulfilled. In 1891, she is head of Greyfriar’s Lodge, a rescue home for girls. It was a place where they stayed, often for only weeks or months, before being sent to a longer stay place, such as our House of Mercy. It would have been hard work.

It is here we pick up the story with that In Memoriam piece, written by the Rector of St John’s Timberhill, one of the parish churches in Norwich (pictured). Written after her death in 1903, the Rector had known her for more than twenty years. I only made notes from this piece, so do not have the original, but there is enough to give some sense of her life and character. The rector states that Sr Marianna had been at the Rescue Home under Sr Elizabeth. This was a different home to Greyfriar’s Lodge, although with a similar purpose. This does slightly conflict with the Census, but it is not an issue. Sr Elizabeth died in 1882, so it seems that Sr Marianna must have worked at Caernarvon Road before moving to Greyfriar’s Lodge. St John’s was one of the parishes in which she sought the lost; looking for girls and young women who were in need of the help given by the home. “Her kindly smile and pleasant greeting” put her on friendly term with those in the parish and she would visit regularly, spending time in the most forlorn homes. She came to work more regularly in the parish, spending several hours a week there; about seven years before her death started to spend her whole time in the parish.

This does agree with what we find in the 1901 census. She is registered at 14 Colegate Street in Norwich, together with several other Sisters. This was the Norwich Mission House, where the Sisters who worked in the parishes of Norwich lived together. It was also the base for some of their work. For Sr Marianna, this meant a daily walk of nearly a mile, mostly uphill.  By 7.30am, she was in church for the Eucharist, whatever the weather. She was usually present for Evensong, and rarely missed Sunday services. This meant that she was spending the whole day in the parish, leaving early in the morning, and getting back home in the evening. Quite what work she did, other than visiting, we are not told. But we are told of her character. Her aim was to bring the poorest and most ignorant into their Father’s house. She brought to this work plenty of perseverance, along with a spirit of loving hopefulness – but also plain speaking where it was needed. However, she never despaired of backsliders, and her work was much appreciated. During her last illness, and after her death, her goodness and kindness were much talked of. Her kindly look and word were missed. But even in her pain, she did not forget them. She was dedicated to this work, and could only with difficulty be persuaded to leave Norwich for rest and a change of air. She did not leave it in her last illness, as her death record states that she died in Norwich, although she is buried in Ditchingham Cemetery, along with our other Sisters. We also have a mention of her in the Mission House report. “No-one rejoiced more, when the [Mission] House was paid for, than the dear old Sister whom God called home two months afterwards”. Those who knew her marvelled at the grace and strength given her to fulfil her work up to the last, in spite of her 83 years.

What strikes me about Sr Marianna is her loyalty and dedication to her work and the people she laboured among; people in a parish that it seemed she came across simply due to her work at the Refuge, but whom she continued to stay in contact with, until moving to work amongst them full-time. Her aim, of bringing the poorest and most ignorant into their Father’s house, would not have been easy, as that comment about backsliders implies. It may have been a work for which she was uniquely fitted, but it was not a work she did alone. Yes, of course, there was the rector of the Parish, and also the love and support of her Sisters, some of whom would have worked in similar places elsewhere in Norwich. But, above all, it was the grace and strength given to her by the God whom she sought to bring to others that enabled her. We are not all called to walk a mile uphill every day in our 80s; indeed, for some of us, it may be a struggle to walk at all. But the grace and strength that was there for Sr Marianna is there for us as well, whatever the reality of our day to day circumstances.