Madeleva: A Biography

Born in Cumberland, Wisc., in 1887, Mary Evaline Wolff was baptized in the Church of Saint Mary and, as Mandell (Madeleva: One Woman's Life) puts it, ""from the beginning, the Roman Catholic Church sealed her identity."" Mandell traces the life of this extraordinary Catholic woman from her birth in Wisconsin through her illustrious career as a writer and educator to her death in 1964 in Boston. Not always a practicing religious person, Wolff discovered her vocation at a religious retreat during her first semester at St. Mary's College in Indiana. Up until that time, she had been a precocious girl who had always challenged the rules of the church and school. In 1908, she was accepted into the novitiate of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, where she was given the name Madeleva. During her life in the Congregation Madeleva developed into a skillful teacher and writer. Her greatest accomplishment was the establishment of the School of Sacred Theology at St. Mary's, where she was president, in 1943. This school was the first institution to offer women graduate degrees in theology. Madeleva's writing also brought her into contact with other writers like C.S. Lewis, T.S. Eliot and Edith Wharton. Mandell narrates the life of this fascinating woman with great vitality. (July)