Katherine Burton
Encyclopedia
Katherine Burton was an American Roman Catholic convert who became renowned in her post-conversion years as a religious biographer. She was also a prominent social activist campaigning for family rights, a poet
and a short story
writer.
Lutheran family who rarely went to church. Apart from Sunday School it is thought that in her childhood she had little interest in religion. She graduated in the late 1900s from Western Reserve College
. At that time she considered herself an agnostic and never attended religious services, even after marrying Harry Payne Burton, a journalist and failed Episcopal minister
in 1910. Harry was to have considerable trouble during his marriage - which produced three children - eventually committing suicide
, Burton was the first major Catholic woman journalist in the United States. In 1933, at the same time as Day established the Catholic Worker, Burton wrote a journal Woman that was published by the Passionist Fathers and advocated motherhood as the greatest possible vocation at a time when it was becoming very difficult for women to raise children due to economic conditions. On the other hand, Burton believed that women should be aided as much as possible if they were forced to seek paid employment outside the home. Katherine Burton in fact believed that balancing work and family was an extremely rich reward for any woman who could do so. Like Day, Katherine Burton was initially a pacifist, but in contrast to Day's consistent stance, Burton relented from pacifism during World War II
because she feared the result of the spread of totalitarianism
if the US did nothing about it.
Burton was, even before her conversion, interested in the problems women faced with large families, and even before it become the only method of birth control approved by the Church, she was a developer and advocate of the rhythm method of contraception, having known about the fertile and infertile periods of the menstrual cycle
ever since her days at college during the 1900s. She also believed that most Roman Catholic writers of her time were stylistically flawed because they were "too arrogant and preachy", with the result that she wrote biographies that read more like fiction.
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and a short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
writer.
Early years
Burton was originally the daughter of a GermanGermans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
Lutheran family who rarely went to church. Apart from Sunday School it is thought that in her childhood she had little interest in religion. She graduated in the late 1900s from Western Reserve College
Western Reserve College
Western Reserve College may refer to:* Western Reserve Academy, a private, mid-sized, coeducational boarding and day college preparatory school located in Hudson, Ohio...
. At that time she considered herself an agnostic and never attended religious services, even after marrying Harry Payne Burton, a journalist and failed Episcopal minister
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
in 1910. Harry was to have considerable trouble during his marriage - which produced three children - eventually committing suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
Conversion to Catholicism
During the following decade, she travelled frequently, in the process coming into contact with Selden Delany, the assistant rector at an Episcopal Church in New York City, who was to lead her journey to Catholicism in the coming years. Delany, who died in 1935, converted to Catholicism in the late 1920s and his book Why Rome?, published in 1930, convinced Katherine to convert immediately. She was received into the Church on September 8, 1930, but even before that she wrote two poems, "So Died a True Christian" and "A Prayer for Ronald" (both 1927) that had a strongly Catholic flavour.After conversion
Along with her close friend and fellow convert Dorothy DayDorothy Day
Dorothy Day was an American journalist, social activist and devout Catholic convert; she advocated the Catholic economic theory of Distributism. She was also considered to be an anarchist, and did not hesitate to use the term...
, Burton was the first major Catholic woman journalist in the United States. In 1933, at the same time as Day established the Catholic Worker, Burton wrote a journal Woman that was published by the Passionist Fathers and advocated motherhood as the greatest possible vocation at a time when it was becoming very difficult for women to raise children due to economic conditions. On the other hand, Burton believed that women should be aided as much as possible if they were forced to seek paid employment outside the home. Katherine Burton in fact believed that balancing work and family was an extremely rich reward for any woman who could do so. Like Day, Katherine Burton was initially a pacifist, but in contrast to Day's consistent stance, Burton relented from pacifism during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
because she feared the result of the spread of totalitarianism
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
if the US did nothing about it.
Burton was, even before her conversion, interested in the problems women faced with large families, and even before it become the only method of birth control approved by the Church, she was a developer and advocate of the rhythm method of contraception, having known about the fertile and infertile periods of the menstrual cycle
Menstruation
Menstruation is the shedding of the uterine lining . It occurs on a regular basis in sexually reproductive-age females of certain mammal species. This article focuses on human menstruation.-Overview:...
ever since her days at college during the 1900s. She also believed that most Roman Catholic writers of her time were stylistically flawed because they were "too arrogant and preachy", with the result that she wrote biographies that read more like fiction.
Books
- Sorrow Built a Bridge: A Daughter of HawthorneNathaniel HawthorneNathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
(1937) - According to the Pattern (1946)
- The Next Thing: Autobiography and Reminiscences (1949)
- The Great Mantle (1954)
- a biography of Giuseppe Sarto (Pope Pius XPope Pius XPope Saint Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 257th Pope of the Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914. He was the first pope since Pope Pius V to be canonized. Pius X rejected modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, promoting traditional devotional practices and orthodox...
)
- a biography of Giuseppe Sarto (Pope Pius X
- Paradise Planters (1956)
- Witness of the Light (1958)
- a biography of Pope Pius XIIPope Pius XIIThe Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
- a biography of Pope Pius XII
- Make the Way Known (1959)
- The Dream Lives Forever (1960)
- Woman to Woman (1961)