Mary Power

Power, Mary. (Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 24, 1881--January 16, 1957, Halifax). Roman Catholic. Daughter of Lawrence Power, Speaker of the Canadian Senate; granddaughter of leaders in Nova Scotia's politics and overseas trade. University of London, B.A.; Dalhousie University (Halifax), M.A.; Notre Dame, Ph.D.; also studied at Mount St. Vincent University (Halifax) and the Catholic University of America. In 1905 she joined the Sisters of Charity of Halifax, taking the name of Sister Maura. After teaching in the schools run by her Order in Halifax and in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, she returned in 1925 to Mount St. Vincent as professor of English, and taught there until her death. She did much to encourage other local writers, and helped to found the Halifax School of Journalism, where she lectured 1947-1957. Besides Shakespeare's Catholicism (Cambridge, Mass., 1924) and The Sisters of Charity, Halifax (Toronto, 1956), she published several books of verse, notably The Rosary in Terza Rima (Toronto, 1941).

--Hugh D. McKellar, DNAH Archives