Maria Francesca Rossetti

In 1874, at the age of 47, she entered the Society of All Saints, an Anglican order of women. Her younger sister Christina devoted her 1862 poem Goblin Market to Maria Francesca, acknowledging the bond between them. Maria Francesca died in November 1876 after a period of illness, leaving a legacy of writing and religious dedication.

• Born — 17 February 1827 • Birthplace — London, England • Died — 24 November 1876 • Place of death — London, England • Occupation — Writer, nun • Notable Works — The Shadow of Dante: Being an Essay Towards Studying Himself, His World and His Pilgrimage. • Parents — * Gabriele Rossetti • Frances Polidori • Relatives — * Dante Gabriel Rossetti (brother) • Christina Georgina Rossetti (sister) • William Michael Rossetti (brother) • Gaetano Polidori (maternal grandfather) • John William Polidori (maternal uncle)

She acted as a governess during the years of family hardship brought on by her father's failing health, and tutored a young Lucy Madox Brown, a future sister-in-law. Her siblings teased her about her plain appearance, nicknaming her 'Moony' for her rounded face. She was a friend of John Ruskin, having visited his home at Denmark Hill, and at 28 she developed romantic feelings for him after his marriage was annulled, though she never married. Her sister Christina volunteered at the London Diocesan Penitentiary in Highgate from 1859 to 1870 and for much of that time Maria joined her there. At the age of 46, Maria joined the Society of All Saints, an Anglican order for women. Lucy Madox Brown wanted to paint her in her habit. She made an English translation of the Monastic Diurnal for her order, The Day Hours and Other Offices as Used by the Sisters of All Saints, which was used by her order until 1922. Maria died of ovarian cancer in 1876, despite drawn-out treatments to try to drain the tumour. She unsuccessfully attempted to convert her agnostic brothers on her death bed. She was buried in the convent plot at Brompton Cemetery.

• Illustration — illustration by Dante Gabriel Rossetti for A Shadow of Dante

• A Shadow of Dante: being an essay towards studying himself, his world and his pilgrimage, Rivingtons, London, 1871, edition HathiTrust Digital Library • Dante's Pilgrimage Through Hell, Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2005, • Dante's Pilgrimage Through Purgatory, Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2005, • Dante's Pilgrimage Through Paradise, Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2010, • Dante's Life Experience, Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2010,

• Exercises in idiomatic Italian through literal translation from the English, Williams and Norgate, London 1867, edition Internet Archive • Aneddoti italiani: Italian anecdotes, selected from "Il compagno del passeggio Campestre", Williams and Norgate, London 1867, edition Internet Archive • Letters to My Bible Class on Thirty-nine Sundays, Nabu Press A, 2011, • The rivulets; a dream not all a dream, A. Dod, London, 1846, OCLC 42216558