Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/666

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Catholic Women in America
625


upon the same basis. All during this time, Mrs. Seton had continued her devotion as mother to her own children, and she says, in writing to a friend, "By the law of the church I so much love, I could never take an obligation which intertered with my duties to the children, except I had an independent provision and guardian for them, which the whole world could not supply to my judgment of a mother's duty." This and every other difficulty in the adoption of the rules was, however, at length arranged by the wisdom of Archbishop Carroll, and in January, 1812, the constitutions of the community were confirmed by the Archbishop and Superioress of St. Mary's College in Baltimore. In 1820 Mrs. Seton's health failed, and her lungs became so seriously affected that medical attendance gave her no hope of recovery. Her death occurred January 4, 1821. 1821.

MARY HARDEY.

As we trace the lineage of Mother Mary Aloysia Harley we turn to one of the brightest pages in the history of America. It records the eventful day when under the leadership of Leonard Calvert a company of English Catholics sailed from their native land to lay the foundation of civil and religious liberty in the new world. Among these high-souled pilgrims was Nicholas Hardey, a man of undaunted courage and of unflinching fidelity to his faith. Another, the grandfather of Mary Hardey, came in direct line from this loyal son of the mother church and was well-known in the colonial times throughout Maryland and Virginia. He lived near Alexandria and was an intimate friend of George Washington. Frederick William Hardey was the third son of Anthony Hardey and inherited the winning qualities of his father. In 1800, he married Sarah Spalding. The year 1803 is noted in the history of America as the year of the Louisiana Purchase. When this