Frances Allen, Daughter of Ethan Allen, First U.S. Citizen to Become a Nun

She was not the first American to become a nun. That was the convert Lydia Longely of Groton, Massachusetts. Lydia was born in 1674. At the age of twenty, after being ransomed from the Indians who slaughtered her parents some months before, she ended up in Canada living with the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame in Montreal. She came into the Catholic Church in 1696 and joined the convent shortly afterwards.  Lydia  served God and the holy congregation for sixty-two years until her death. Her astounding story is related here by Dr. William Fahey of Thomas More College in New Hampshire.

After our nation was established in 1776, Frances Allen (1784-1819), daughter of Ethan Allen of the Green Mountain Boys, also ended up in Montreal having been sent there by her mother and stepfather to learn French. Her parents (Ethan, a deist, died when Frances was only a child) and family were Protestants. Frances was converted to the true Faith while living with the same order of Sisters as Lydia Longely. She, too, entered a convent. She took solemn vows with the Hospitallers of St. Joseph in 1811, taking the name Sister Saint Magdalene (Soeur Sainte-Madeleine). What I did not know was that Frances Allen had a visionary experience with Saint Joseph when she was only eleven years-old. That is why she joined an order dedicated to Saint Joseph. She also had a supernatural experience while still a Protestant (of sorts)  trying to place flowers on the altar of the convent chapel in obedience to the sister sacristan.  Well, that is enough of an introduction hopefully to arouse your interest. Here is her story written by Stephanie Mann for the National Catholic Register.

Stephanie Mann: Sister Frances Margaret (Fanny) Allen of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph died on September 10, 1819 in Montreal at the Hotel-Dieu, the hospital and convent founded by Venerable Jerome Le Royer, Venerable Marie de la Ferre, and Jeanne Mance.

She was a Vermonter in Canada, the first woman from New England to become a Catholic religious, and the daughter of deist, rationalist, and American Revolutionary hero, Ethan Allen. Read the full story here.

My Note: The Episcopalian minister who “attempted” to baptize Frances Allen in Vermont also converted, along with his whole family, to the Catholic Faith. His name was Daniel Barber and his wonderful story is recounted here in a long article on our website. That article is a must-read for those who want to know more about the history of the Church in America.