Felicitas Corrigan

DameFelicitas CorriganOSB(6 March 1908 – 7 October 2003,Kathleen Corrigan) was an EnglishBenedictinenun,author and humanitarian.

Biography

Corrigan was born inLiverpoolin 1908 to a large family. She learned to play the organ at an early age and by age 15 was working as an organist at a local church. She then won an organ scholarship from theArchdiocese of Liverpool.While studying Gregorian Chant atStanbrook AbbeyinWorcestershire,she metDame Laurentia McLachan,who would later inspire Corrigan to become a nun.Corrigan read English at theUniversity of Liverpool,delivering a dissertation on the poetCoventry Patmore.

In 1934, the 25 year-old Corrigan entered Stanbrook Abbey as a novice. She became a nun and eventually the Abbeychoir director.One of her projects was to develop an English version of the office ofComplinefor the abbey.

Corrigan wrote the bookThe Nun, the Infidel, and the Superman(1985). It was about the friendships between McLachlan andGeorge Bernard Shawand the scholarSir Sydney Cockerell.The book was adapted intoThe Best of Friends,aplaybyHugh Whitemorethat was staged in theWest Endof London.It also became afilm for televisionstarringWendy Hiller.In the course of her career, Felicitas corresponded with poetSiegfried Sassoon,actorAlec Guinness;and novelistRumer Godden.

Corrigan'sbiographyofHelen Waddellwas awarded the 1986James Tait Black Memorial Prize.Corrigan also wrote aboutHildegard of Bingenand edited publications for the Stanbrook Abbey Press. Her other works include:

• In a Great Tradition: Tribute to Dame Laurentia McLachlan, Abbess of Stanbrook(1956)
• George Thomas of Soho(1970)
• Siegfried Sassoon: Poet's Pilgrimage(1973)
• Benedictine Tapestry(1991)

Corrigan was Stanbrook Abbey's organist from 1933 until 1990. She died atCheltenhamon 7 October 2003.

External links

• Guardianobituary by Peter Stanford