The Irish standard., 1909-04-24
GIFTED SON OF THE NOTED AMERICAN SCULPTOR
Convert to Catholcity at the Age of Twentysx, the
Prolific Novelist Used Catholic Characters
in His Creations.

Francis Marion Crawford, the nov,
elist, died at Crawford Villa, SORRENTO,
on Good Friday; April 9, after a long
illness. His family, all but one son
who was in the Far East, and a Capu-
chin Father from the church near by,
to which he had been a constant bene-
factor, were at his bedside.
Mr.. Crawford's one regret in dying
was that he had been unable to finish
his history of Medieval Italy. When
he realized that the end of this life
was approaching, he comforted his
Borrowing family, and mindful of the
Great Day on which it was his priv
ilege to pass away, he said: Il die
with Christ .... I enter serenely
into Eternity"
Mr.. Crawford was born in Lucca,
Italy, on August 2, 1854, and was con-
sequently nearing his fifty-fifth year
at the time of his death. His father,
Thomas crawford, the sculptor, whose,
Washington Monument is one of the
proudest adornments Of Richmond,
Va. was born in New York, Of Irish
parents. His mother, Louise Ward,
was 9 sister of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe,
and of direct descent from General
Francis Marion of Revolutionary fame,
whose exploits inspired Bryant's ia
NOUS ballad:
Well knows the fair and friendly moon
The band that Marion leads.
The future novelist, left fatherless
at the. age Of three, spent all Of his
youth in Rome, except the time from
his twelfth to his fifteenth year, when
he was g. pupil at st. PauIs, Concord,
N. H. Later he studied under a tutor
at Sussex, Eng, and then spent
year at Trinity College Cambridge.
We find him for a while at Harvard.
Mathematics, at first, seemed to be
his forte, and he was passionately
fond of travel. Before he had come
to the end of his twenties he had
Travelled extensively in Europe and the
East being at one time editor of
paper at Allahabad, India. He ac-
quired languages easily; and was thus
enabled to penetrate the intimate life
of any place in which it pleased him
to set up his tent.
What especial influences moved him
to the Catholic Church in the day Of
his youth and strength, when religion
has comparatively little attraction for
so many young men Of the world, VIC
know not, but we know that he be-
came Catholic in 1880, at the age
of twenty-six, writes Miss Catherine
f. Conway in the Boston Republic.
Two years later he entered on his
literary career with "Mr. Isaacs," a
story Of the occult, which had an i'm
mediate and great success. Thence
forward no year went by without at
least one novel from his versatile pen.
Sometimes. he returned to themes
kindred to that which first moved his
pen; but his fame will rest, we be-
lieve. on his long series of novels OF
Roman life, beginning with the "Sar-
acinesca' books. He was intimate with
the most distinguished persons in &C.
clesiastical and civil life in the Eternal
City, and consequently had the OPP
portunity Of describing conditions in
to which none other who could equally
profit by it had any but the most sur
face glimpses. The first Of the "Sar-
acinesca" stories introduces the
beautiful character of Corona, who is
it's heroine as we'll as the heroine of
the one Immediately following, "san
'Ilario." She appears in at least a
dozen of his subsequent volumes, so
that we know her from young girl
of seventeen to a woman approaching
old age. He has lavished his finest
touches on this charming creation,
who could not be imagined apart from
her religious faith.
In the first "Saracinesca" we find
her seeking counsel in the confessional