Catharine Burton (1668–1714), also known by herreligious nameMary Xaveria of the Angels, was an EnglishDiscalced Carmelite.
She was born atBeyton, Suffolk, nearBury St Edmunds, on 4 November 1668 as one of ten children of Thomas and Mary Burton. After his wife died, Thomas Burton brought up the children alone, instead of entering a monastery as a laybrother as he had intended to do. Two of Catharine's sisters became nuns also (one of them entering the same Carmelite convent as Catharine), one of her brothers a priest.
Feeling called to the monastic life, Burton went to theSpanish Netherlands. There she entered the monastery of the EnglishDiscalced Carmelite nuns atAntwerp in 1693. She chose the religious nameMary Xaveria of the Angels and made her religious profession in 1694. Although she repeatedly suffered from severe illness, she was several times electedprioress of her monastery, where she died on 9 February 1714, living a reputation ofsanctity, particularly, as later on her body was found to beincorrupt.[1]
ALife of her, collected from her own writings and other sources by Thomas Hunter, remained in manuscript until 1876, when it was published byBurns and Oates, under the editorial supervision ofHenry James Coleridge.[2] A further edition appeared in 2010 fromCambridge University Press.[3]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: "Burton, Catharine".Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
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