Louise Callan, RSCJ (1893-1966): Historian and Biographer of Philippine Duchesne

As we prepare for the bicentennial of the arrival of Philippine Duchesne to America and the launch of international mission in the Society of the Sacred Heart, remembering Louise Callan and the part she played after half a century is a fitting part of our preparation for remembering the events of two hundred years ago.

Some might view it simply as a gentle irony: a noted historian’s life left untold, despite her painstaking research to tell the story of others. Just before Louise Callan, RSCJ, distinguished historian of the Society of the Sacred Heart in North America, official biographer of Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne, and researcher revered among her contemporaries as an expert on pioneer life, died—the international Society of the Sacred Heart ceased publication of its Annual Letters,

an intra-Society publication that included memorials of the lives of religious who die each year. The account of Louise’s life and death therefore reached only the circle of those who knew her directly. It seems fitting finally to celebrate the historian, dedicated teacher, and unusually gifted woman who was in our midst. The origin of this project rests on a small batch of letters that Louise wrote to her former student and dear friend Margaret Byrne, Religious of the Cenacle, which Margaret made available some years ago. Covering a period of fifteen years between 1952 and 1966, the year of Louise’s death, they document much of her life during those years. In combination with testimonies of others who knew her and evidence of her scholarly achievement, they are the base upon which this biography is built.