Frances Thurber Seal

Frances Thurber Seal (1860–1932) was a Christian Science practitioner and teacher from the United States and one of three people to establish the religion in Germany. She also helped introduce it in Norway.

Life and work Born the daughter of a missionary and a preacher, her father's family was descended from French Huguenots who emigrated to England and later, to the United States. Her maternal side was Scotch Quaker. She was raised in a very religious home, but experienced deep sadness and longing after her mother's years of illness and then death, followed by the deaths of several other family members. As a young woman in New York City, she attended a Wednesday testimony meeting at the local Christian Science church, afterwards learning more of Christian Science through inquiry with Laura Lathrop, a Christian Science teacher in New York who was a student of Mary Baker Eddy. Lathrop lent her No and Yes, a 46-page book by Eddy, which Seal read that evening, three times. Afterward, she found herself no longer suffering from a long-standing stomach ailment or the failing vision she had been told would result in early blindness. She soon obtained a copy of Eddy's major work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures and had class instruction with Lathrop. With financial help from Mary Beecher Longyear, Seal sailed for Germany in December 1897. In 1898, Seal was asked to visit Norway to talk to a woman who had cancer and to some others in Haugesund, a small fishing village.

She returned to Dresden to continue her work as a Christian Science practitioner, but soon had an opportunity to return to New York for a while, enabling her to apply for the first normal class to train new teachers under the newly established Christian Science Board of Education. After she was accepted, a by-law was published, stipulating that normal class students were to have a minimum of three years' experience in the public practice of Christian Science. Seal had only found out about the religion two years prior. The teacher of the class, Edward A. Kimball, a student of Eddy's, wrote to Eddy about the situation and was told to make an exception for Seal. Of the 180 in the class, 21 students, including Seal, were given certificates to teach.

Seal returned to Dresden, remaining through summer 1899, then moving to Berlin. Her work as a practitioner and teacher in both cities led to the establishment of Christian Science churches there.

She again returned to the United States in 1902, visiting Boston and Concord, New Hampshire, hoping to visit Eddy. Told that she was not receiving visitors, Seal was later surprised when Eddy paid an unexpected visit to her at her hotel. Seal moved back to the United States in 1906, In 1931, Seal published a book about her experiences in Germany.

Publications

"Health Revealed" in the Christian Science Sentinel (January 20, 1917) Christian Science in Germany (1931) Wundertaten der Wahrheit im Anfang der Christian Science in Deutschland (1931) - German translation of Christian Science in Germany