Aurelia Mace

Aurelia Mace (March 6, 1835– March 30, 1910) was a Shaker eldress, thinker, and writer. She is known for her letters and essays which were compiled into the book The Aletheia: Spirit of Truth.

Biography Mace was born on March 6, 1836, in Strong, Maine to Universalist minister Marquis de Lafayette Mace and Sarah Norton Flint. She was the youngest of six girls and two boys. When she was a year old, her family joined the United Society of Believers In Christ. Lafayette Mace later left the Shaker community with his wife and son. Aurelia helped her mother return when Sarah found it difficult to live in the outside world. Mace continued to care for her in the nearby Poland Hill Village as she aged. This filial bond was uncommon in the nineteenth century Shaker community.

Mace studied with the Shakers at East Canterbury, New Hampshire. At twenty-three years old, she officially joined the Society of Believers in Sabbathday Lake. Mace taught from 1853 to 1880. As a teacher, Mace advocated for a modern schoolhouse, leading to the construction of one in 1880.

In 1896, Mace became a trustee, a position she held until her death. As a trustee, she worked with the external community and helped manage finances. Notably, Mace held an active role in the establishment of the Shaker brush industry. She also introduced Shaker lemon syrup and balsam pillows to the public. She regularly wrote for the Shaker Manifesto and published several letters in the Messenger. This book, which speaks extensively of Shaker founder Ann Lee, became one of the primary theological Shaker texts of its time. Its success established Sabbathday Lake as a part of the Shaker intellectual community. A second edition was published in 1907.

Mace also kept a journal as a part of her personal practice. She corresponded regularly with many people, including Leo Tolstoy. Notably, she spoke to a Baháʼí Faith audience in Eliot, Maine in July, 1904.

Theology and views Mace ardently believed in the Shaker view that God was both male and female.

Mace was disappointed by the general Shaker reluctance to reflect Ann Lee's concept of equality between the genders. Socrates, "Plato the Christ", and Tolstoy as others the Christ spirit had descended upon. While Mace listed Lee as the first female manifestation of the Christ spirit, she described a common spirit that fused Christ, Lee, and all believers.

With the other Alethians, Mace spoke for tolerance and freedom of thought. The Alethians urged that the Shakers change their name to the Alethians to reflect their understanding of the Christ Consciousness's manifestation on earth.