Lavinia Crosse (16 December 1821 – 26 June 1890) was an English

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

nun and foundress. She founded the

Community of All Hallows The Community of All Hallows is an Anglican religious order based in Ditchingham, near Bungay, Suffolk, under the jurisdiction of the Church of England. The religious sisters lead a life of prayer and service providing hospitality and spiritual ...

Ditchingham Ditchingham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Ditchingham is located north of Bungay and south-east of Norwich, along the course of the River Waveney. History Ditchingham's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and d ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

in 1855.

Biography

Crosse was born on 16 December 1821. She was the daughter of the Norwich surgeon and physician

John Green Crosse John Green Crosse, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, FRCS, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (6 September 1790 – 9 June 1850) was a well-known English surgeon of his day, at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. After completing his apprenti ...

(1790–1850) and his wife Dorothy Crosse (, 1792–1870), the daughter of Thomas Bayly of

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. She had three sisters and four brothers. Alongside Catherine Hansell, Crosse volunteered as a district visitor among the poor in the parish of

St Peter Mancroft St Peter Mancroft is a parish church in the Church of England in the centre of Norwich, Norfolk. After the two cathedrals, it is the largest church in Norwich. It was originally established by Ralph de Gael, Earl of East Anglia, between 1066 and ...

. In March 1854, Crosse heard John Armstrong speak at the Norwich Assembly Rooms in support of the founding of a penitentiary at

Shipmeadow Shipmeadow is a village and civil parish located in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is in the East Suffolk district, east of Bungay and the same distance west of Beccles on the B1062 road. Norwich is to the north-west. At the ...

, near

Beccles Beccles ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . The town is located along the A145 r ...

in Suffolk, to rescue girls and women in "moral danger." Shortly after, on 9 January 1855, Crosse was asked by the council of the penitentiary to supervise this home, as the founder wished to withdraw.Bonham, Valerie. (23 September 2004). Visits to similar penitentiaries and convents on the European continent convinced Crosse that the best way forward was as a religious sisterhood, and she founded the Anglican Community of All Hallows near Ditchingham, which was constructed by Henry Woodyer. New Year's Eve 1855 saw the inauguration of the community by

Thomas Thellusson Carter Thomas Thellusson Carter (19 March 1808 – 28 October 1901), often known as T. T. Carter, was a significant figure in the Victorian Church of England. He was responsible for reintroducing some Catholic practices to the church and bei ...

Clewer Clewer (also known as Clewer Village) is an ecclesiastical parish and an area of Windsor, in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England. Clewer makes up three wards of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, namely Clewer North, Cle ...

, with Mother Lavinia and two novices being received. The original community could receive 30 penitents and worked in conjunction with the Church Penitentiary Association. Mother Lavinia remained as mother superior throughout her life, overseeing the addition of an orphanage (for girls aged 3 to 10), a school, and a hospital which could hold 20 patients to the community. Crossed died on 26 June 1890,

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the English county, county of Suffolk, England, north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the comp ...

, Suffolk, after a long illness. She was buried at Ditchingham parish cemetery in Norfolk, the parish adjacent to the Community of All Hallows.

References

External links

Lavinia Crosse and Community of All Hallows
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crosse, Lavinia 1821 births 1890 deaths People from Ditchingham English nuns Anglican nuns 19th-century English women