Fragments of My Life - Softcover

Doherty, Catherine De Hueck

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0877931941 ISBN 13: 9780877931942

Publisher: Ave Maria Pr, 1986

Synopsis

Catherine Doherty's enthralling and inspiring personal autobiography!

Intensely personal experiences forged Catherine Doherty's heart and spirit--as a child living in exotic places, as a youth caught up in the Russian Revolution, as a young woman struggling as a refugee in foreign lands.

Catherine can be said to have 'done it all' but, unlike many, she 'did it all' for Christ and in some of the most unlikely places--and ways! How, why and where she did it are breathtakingly revealed in Fragments of My Life. The pace of her life never lets up.

The reader meets a woman of joy, humor, suffering and sheer exuberance, who shares, in a conversational and very personal way, her painful, growing experiences as a disciple who attempts to live the Gospel.

Fragments of My Life is really a love story--the story of young love, mature love; love of God and people, person by person. The telling is itself an act of love, uttered in trust, but not without risk. Catherine Doherty emerges from these pages as a woman to contend with, a heroic Christian example for our times.

This handsomely set new edition features 40 photos from Catherine's life, many of which are presented here for the first time in print.

About this title

About the Author

Catherine de Hueck Doherty was born in Russia on August 15, 1896. Her parents, Theodore and Emma Kolyschkine, who belonged to the minor nobility, were devout members of the Orthodox Church and had their child baptized in St. Petersburg on September 15.

Schooled abroad because of her fathers job, she and her family returned to St. Petersburg in 1910, where she was enrolled in the prestigious Princess Obolensky Academy. In 1912, aged 15, she made what turned out to be a disastrous marriage with her first cousin, Boris de Hueck. At the outbreak of World War I, Catherine became a Red Cross nurse at the front, experiencing the horrors of battle firsthand. On her return to St. Petersburg, she and Boris barely escaped the turmoil of the Russian Revolution with their lives, nearly starving to death as refugees in Finland. Together they made their way to England, where Catherine was received into the Catholic Church on November 27, 1919.

Emigrating to Canada with Boris, Catherine gave birth to their only child, George, in Toronto in 1921. Soon she and Boris became more and more painfully estranged from one another, as he pursued extramarital affairs. To make ends meet, Catherine took various jobs and eventually became a lecturer, travelling a circuit that took her across North America.

Prosperous now, but deeply dissatisfied with a life of material comfort, her marriage in ruins, she began to feel the promptings of a deeper call through a passage that leaped to her eyes every time she opened the Scriptures: Arise, go... sell all you possess... take up your cross and follow me. Consulting with various priests and the bishop of the diocese, she began her lay apostolate among the poor in Toronto in the early 1930s, calling it Friendship House. Because her approach was so different from what was being done at the time, she encountered much persecution and resistance, and Friendship House was forced to close in 1936. Catherine then went to Europe and spent a year investigating Catholic Action. On her return, she was given the chance to revive Friendship House in New York City among the poor in Harlem. After that she was invited to open another Friendship House in Chicago. In 1943, having received an annulment of her first marriage, she married Eddie Doherty, one of Americas foremost reporters, who had fallen in love with her while writing a story about her apostolate. Meanwhile, serious disagreements had arisen between the staff of Friendship House and its foundress. When these could not be resolved, Catherine and Eddie moved to Combermere, Ontario, Canada on May 17, 1947, naming their new rural apostolate Madonna House. This was to be the seedbed of an apostolate that now numbers more than 200 staff workers and over 125 associate priests, deacons, and bishops, with 22 field-houses throughout the world.

Catherine Doherty died on December 14, 1985 in Combermere at the age of 89. Since then, the cause for Catherine's canonization as a saint has been officially opened by the Catholic Church.

Review

This autobiography has a special, divinely-touched richness. It reads like an adventure novel. If this were nothing but a work of pure fiction, it would still be extremely intriguing. But because it's all true, it goes beyond intriguing to become enthralling and inspiring. --Br. Larry Holley, OSB, The Pecos Benedictine

This is no dull, date-filled biography, but a deeply personal sharing of the experiences of her life. The book shines with her vision of uncompromising commitment to the Gospel. If you have time to read no other book, read this one. --Sign Magazine

This volume holds many surprises. A clear picture emerges of the strength of character, the intelligence and faith of this remarkable woman. A rich primary source about Russian revolutionary history and American Catholic Church history... for any Christian reader. Catherine's utter dedication, prayerfulness, and loving, warm humanity serve as a bright, steady beacon for us all in an age of confusion and faltering faith. --Sr. Mary Grace Swift, OSU, Review for Religious

Edition details

• Publisher: Ave Maria Pr
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0877931941
• ISBN 13: 9780877931942
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 208