National Catholic Register, Michael O’Neill: Venerable Cornelia Connelly is an odd case of vocational discernment. She was a mother, wife of an Episcopal minister, wife of a Catholic priest, and foundress of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, although she took on the last two roles reluctantly. She and her husband, Pierce Connelly, had converted to Catholicism in 1835, long before Episcopal minister converts were allowed to become priests without having to give up their marriages. Exchanging family life for consecrated life wasn’t Cornelia’s idea, but rather one she gradually accepted as the will of God in the face of Pierce insisting on his own vocation to the priesthood.
Ironically, though, she was the one who persevered in both her new faith and new vocation. Full story here.
