Francis  Marion  Crawford

                         Novelist, b. of American parents at Bagni di Lucca, Italy, 2 Aug., 1854; died at
                         his home near Sorrento, Italy, 9 April, 1909. In early manhood he became a
                         convert to the Catholic Faith. His father, Thomas Crawford, was a distinguished
                         sculptor; his mother, Louisa Ward, was a sister of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe. The
                         greater part of his youth was passed at Rome, and, after having studied in
                         various colleges in America, England, and Germany, he terminated his studies in
                         the Roman University, where he attended the lectures in Sanskrit and
                         comparative philology given by the learned Professor Lignana. At the same time
                         he was already occupied with English literature. He afterwards passed four years
                         and a half in the East Indies and the United States as journalist, critic, and finally
                         novelist, up to the time of his marriage in 1884, when he took up his residence at
                         the villa he had bought and remodelled for himself near Sorrento on the Bay of
                         Naples.

                         With the publication in 1882 of "Mr. Isaacs", his first and in some respects most
                         characteristic novel, he suddenly leaped into fame. While it was running through
                         the press Crawford began a more carefully composed novel, "Dr. Claudius"
                         (1883), which more than repeated the success of "Mr. Isaacs". His third novel, "A
                         Roman Singer", ran serially through the pages of the "Atlantic Monthly" and was
                         published in 1884. It was this third novel which opened out to Mr. Crawford his
                         true field, the description of Italian life and character with its many cosmopolitan,
                         and especially its American and English, affiliations. He was the author of some
                         forty novels and one play, "Francesca da Rimini", and his publications
                         commanded a larger sale than those of any contemporary writer of fiction in
                         England or in the United States. Besides those mentioned his principal works of
                         fiction are the following: "Zoroaster" (1885); "A Tale of a Lonely Parish" (1886);
                         "Saracinesca" (1887); "Marzio's Crucifix" (1887); "Paul Patoff" (1887);
                         "Greifenstein" (1889); "Sant' Ilario" (1889); "A Cigarette Maker's Romance"
                         (1890); "The Witch of Prague" (1891); "Don Orsino" (1892); "Pietro Ghisleri"
                         (1893); "The Ralstons" (1895); "Corleone" (1897); "Via Crucis" (1899); "In the
                         Palace of the King" (1900); "Marietta, A Maid of Venice" (1901); "The Heart of
                         Rome" (1903); "Whosoever Shall Offend" (1904); "Soprano, A Portrait" (1905);
                         "Fair Margaret" (1905); "The Primadonna" (1907); and "The Diva's Ruby" (1908).
                         Crawford did not confine his attention to fiction. History, biography, and
                         description are represented in his: "Constantinople" (1895); "Ave, Roma
                         Immortalis" (1898); "The Rulers of the South" (1900) -- renamed "Sicily, Calabria
                         and Malta" (1904); "The Life of Pope Leo XIII" (1904); and "Gleanings From
                         Venetian History" (1905). In 1904 he published an essay entitled "The Novel:
                         What it is", in which he gives his views upon the art of which he was a master.

                         While Marion Crawford in his public life always professed himself a Catholic, he
                         can scarcely be called a Catholic novelist, and his treatment of Catholic subjects
                         in several of his works does not recommend itself to his coreligionists. In his
                         Philip II, for example, he follows the traditional Protestant view and unjustly
                         represents that monarch as a brutal bully, cruel, sensual, and base. During his
                         last illness, Marion Crawford received all the comforts of religion. He chose the
                         neighbouring chapel of the Franciscans for the ceremonies of his requiem.

                         FRASER, A Diplomatist's Wife in Many Lands, I (New York, 1910), ix; Career of Crawford in Outlook
                         (17 April, 1909); Chronological list of Crawford's Works in Nation (15 April, 1909); Crawford's
                         Influence on Literature in Forum (May, 1909); EGAN, Francis Marion Crawford in The Ave Maria (29
                         Sept., 1900).

                         E.P. SPILLANE
                         Transcribed by Herman F. Holbrook
                         For the glory of God and in honor of Saint Philomena.

                                      The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XVI (Index Volume)
                                        Copyright © 1914 by The Encyclopedia Press, Inc.
                                        Online Edition Copyright © 1999 by Kevin Knight
                                      Nihil Obstat, March 1, 1914. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor
                                     Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

The Catholic Encyclopedia:  NewAdvent.org