ANOTHER NUN POET- A BENEDICTINE

 

I recently came across another nun writer and this one was a Benedictine.  MARIELLA GABLE, OSB was an American academic, writer, poet, and literary critic.

She was born Mary Margaret Gable in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin in 1898, the second of three children. After attending public schoo, she came to St. Benedict's Academy and entered the convent in her senior year. She made first vows on in 1917, and celebrated her Golden Jubilee in 1967.

In 1934 she received her PhD from Cornell University, and took a position as chair of the Department of English at the College of Saint Benedict, where she remained until 1958. The years from 1958 to 1962 were spent teaching at colleges in Oregon and Missouri.

She was the editor of several anthologies of short stories, including Great Modern Catholic Short Stories (1942), Our Father's House (1945), and Many-Colored Fleece (1950), and wrote numerous essays.

At one point in her career she was banished from the campus for four years by the local bishop for allowing the inclusion of  "A Catcher in the Rye" on a suggested reading list for S. Kristin Malloy's course in contemporary American literature. 

She played a large role in shaping mid-century opinions of Catholic fiction in the United States and in Europe. She felt that fiction about religious and moral subjects should possess literary value, not merely serve as sentiment.

She loved teaching Teilhard de Chardin and Dante's "Divine Comedy" and was still being asked to give courses on them in St. Cloud at age 80. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and other national honor societies and listed in many directories of eminent educators and writers including "Outstanding Educators of America in 1972" and the first edition of "The World's Who's Who of Women in Education."

Among authors whose work she respected were J. F. Powers and Flannery O'Connor.  She also introduced such writers as Frank O'Connor, Sean O'Faolain, Mary Lavin, and Bryan MacMahon to American audiences.

She remained on the faculty of the College of Saint Benedict until 1973 and is honored on campus with a residence hall and a literary prize, both named in her honor.

Sister Mariella was faithful to these words of Jesus that she quoted to an alumnae group in 1975, "The gift you have received, give as a gift."