Catherine Goddard Clarke

Catherine Goddard Clarke , also known as Sister Catherine, (August 21, 1900 – May 8, 1968) was an American Traditionalist Catholic writer, educator, and lay religious sister. She was the founder of the Saint Benedict Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts and, alongside Father Leonard Feeney, a founder of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Biography In 1940, Clarke sought permission from Cardinal William Henry O'Connell, Archbishop of Boston, to establish an educational center near Harvard University. Cardinal O'Connell granted her permission, and so she started Saint Benedict Center in Harvard Square, Cambridge. She led the center with the help of Avery Dulles, then a Harvard law student, and Christopher Huntington, a Harvard dean. Saint Benedict's provided religious instruction to Catholic students at Harvard and Radcliffe College. Dulles, who would later become a Cardinal, asked Clarke to serve as his godmother upon his conversion to Catholicism.

In 1942, Father Leonard Feeney, a Jesuit priest, became associated with the center. Clarke invited him to serve as the spiritual director of the center in 1943. Clarke, as one of the teachers, gave weekly evening lectures on church history at the center.

On January 17, 1949, Clarke, Father Feeney, and Fakhri Maluf founding the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a Traditionalist Catholic religious community. She also reportedly taught that "martyrdom is the surest way to get into Heaven." Chadwick wrote about the alleged abuse in her memoir titled Little Sister.

Selected works Clarke wrote multiple books on Catholic history, theology, and spirituality including Our Glorious Popes, Charlemagne and the Finding of the Body of St. Anne, The Pontificate of Pope Saint Leo the Great, The Life of Saint Gregory the Great, Gate of Heaven, The Failure of Interfaith, Love Is The Spirit Of Truth, and The Loyolas and the Cabots.