Hosmer, Rachel Elizabeth

(May 15, 1908-Dec. 23, 1988). Educator and founder of the Order of St. Helena. She was born in Everett, Massachusetts. Hosmer attended Smith College, 1926-1927, and the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, 1927-1928. In Aug. 1928 she entered the Convent of St. Anne, Boston, and took the name Rachel. In 1933 she received her B.A. in ancient languages from Boston University. That same year, with four other sisters, Hosmer reopened Margaret Hall School in Versailles, Kentucky, and in 1934 she became the principal. She professed life vows on July 26, 1936. In 1938 she became reverend mother of the Convent of St. Anne in Versailles. On Nov. 8, 1945, nine sisters of the Order of St. Anne at Margaret Hall School, led by the superior, Mother Rachel, formed the Order of St. Helena. Sister Rachel served from 1962 to 1971 at various mission schools in Liberia, West Africa. She taught at several schools after returning to the United States. In 1976 she became the associate director of the Center for Christian Spirituality at the General Theological Seminary. Hosmer was ordained deacon on June 14, 1975, and priest on Apr. 25, 1977. In 1979 she joined the faculty of the School of Theology at the University of the South as lecturer in spiritual theology. In 1979 she coauthored (with Alan Jones) Living in the Spirit, a volume in the second Church's Teaching Series. She died in Vails Gate, New York. See St. Helena, Order of (OSH).