Ade Bethune (January 12, 1914 – May 1, 2002) was an American liturgical artist. She was associated with the

Catholic Worker Movement The Catholic Worker Movement is a collection of autonomous communities founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in the United States in 1933. Its aim is to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ". One of its guiding prin ...

, and designed an early masthead of its publication, the '' Catholic Worker'', first used in 1935. She later re-designed this in 1985, replacing one of the men with a woman. Bethune was an advocate of traditional

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

in the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. She was inducted into the

Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame was established in the State of Rhode Island in 1965. Mission The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame Officers The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame is managed by a president, vice president, recording ...

in 1990.

Life

Born

Baroness Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knight ...

''Adélaide de Bethune'' to a noble Belgian family, her parents were Gaston and Marthe Terlinden. She emigrated with the family after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Her mother Marthe was daughter of

Viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is ...

Terlinden.

Career

Bethune volunteered her illustrations to improve the quality of the '' Catholic Worker'' when she was a nineteen-year-old art student, impressed with the work of

Dorothy Day Dorothy Day, Oblate#Secular oblates, OblSB (November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980) was an American journalist, social activist and Anarchism, anarchist who, after a bohemianism, bohemian youth, became a Catholic Church, Catholic without aba ...

. This was preparation for her later illustration for Catholic liturgical works such as ''My Sunday Missal'' in 1937, and similar works such as ''My Lenten Missal''. De Bethune also worked closely with Graham Carey and with the

Catholic Art Association The Catholic Art Association (CAA) was founded in 1937 by Esther Newport, Sister Esther Newport as an organization of artists, art educators and others interested in Catholic art and its philosophy. The CAA published the ''Catholic Art Quarterly'' ...

, founded in 1937 by Sister Esther Newport. Beginning in the 1960s, she was the artistic director of the Terra Sancta Guild, a commercial firm that produced religious art works for many Christian denominations.

Social activism

Ade was interested in the

's work with hospitality for the poor when she was an art student. She continued this interest throughout her life, and became interested in the issue of providing housing for the elderly, particularly the poor elderly. In 1969, she founded the Church Community Housing Corporation in

Newport County, Rhode Island Newport County is one of five counties located in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. As of the 2020 census, the population was 85,643. It is also one of the seven regions of Rhode Island. The county was created in 1703. Like all of the counties i ...

, to design and build housing. In 1991 she founded Star of the Sea to renovate a former

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

convent into an

intentional community An intentional community is a voluntary residential community designed to foster a high degree of group cohesiveness, social cohesion and teamwork. Such communities typically promote shared values or beliefs, or pursue a common vision, wh ...

and state of the art housing for the elderly, where she lived until her death in 2002. She is buried at Portsmouth Abbey,

Portsmouth, Rhode Island Portsmouth is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 17,871 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census. Portsmouth is the second-oldest municipality in Rhode Island, after Providence Plantations, Provide ...

Artistic works

* Crucifix, St. Paulinus Parish,

Clairton, Pennsylvania Clairton is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located along the Monongahela River and is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 6,181 at the 2020 United States ce ...

* Design of St. Leo Church in

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 311,527, making it Minnesota's second-most populous city a ...

, including revival of a central altar * Altar chapel and stained glass oculus at the

Chapel + Cultural Center at Rensselaer A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

* Mosaic wall of the Baptistery, Church of the Angry Christ, Victorias City, Philippines * Mosaic murals and lacquer tabernacle in collaboration with the Czech architect

Antonin Raymond Antonin Raymond (or ), born as Antonín Reimann (10 May 1888 – 25 October 1976)"Deaths Elsewhere", ''Miami Herald'', 30 October 1976, p. 10 was a Czech American architect. Raymond was born and studied in Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic ...

, and Filipino American artist, Alfonso Ossorio, Chapel of Saint Joseph the Worker,

Negros Island Negros (, , ) is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . The coastal zone of the southern part of Negros is identified as a site of highest marine biodiversity importance in the Coral T ...

, Philippines

Biography

* Judith Stoughton: ''Proud Donkey of Schaerbeek: Ade Bethune, Catholic Worker Artist''

St. Cloud, Minnesota St. Cloud or Saint Cloud (; ) is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest population center in the state's central region. The population was 68,881 at the 2020 census, making it Minnesota's 12th-largest city. St. Cloud is the c ...

, North Star Press of St. Cloud, 1988
On-line short biography
* James A. Meroll

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080514015735/http://www.catholicworker.org/bethune.htm Information from the ''Catholic Worker''

Sources

The Ade Bethune Collection
* ''The Long Loneliness: The Autobiography of Dorothy Day''; illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg; introduction by Daniel Berrigan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bethune, Ade Cooper Union alumni Catholic Workers Belgian emigrants to the United States American draughtsmen Draughtswomen Artists from Rhode Island Roman Catholic activists People from Schaerbeek 1914 births 2002 deaths