Dominican Artists
October 2nd, 2007 by Fr. Pius, OP
Recently, a man from England contacted our house enquiring about a painting that has long hung in our refectory. It is an image of Christ crucified surrounded by a host of Dominican Saints, seen in the image above. Each night, after formal meal, we sing the “Ecce Fidelus” (an antiphon in honor of St. Joseph, the patron of our Province) facing this image of the cross. It seems that this particular work of art was painted by a woman who hailed from his parish in Pinner, England. He was writing a book on the history of the parish and some of its noteworthy members. This summer, he completed the book and sent us a copy. Below is the section of his book on this painting and on the artist who made it, known in the world as Constance Mary Rowe.
St. Luke’s Catholic Church, Pinner, The Story of a Parish
By Mr. Bernard A. Harrison
From Chapter 7, “Artists”
Our next artist is someone we shall hear more about in the chapter on St. Philomena and her shrine. She was Constance Mary Rowe, the daughter of Victor Weston Rowe, a Music Hall Artiste and Melfredine Josephine Fournier Rowe (nee Kershaw). In fact the name our artist was given at birth (17th March 1908) was Constance Dorothy but, when we meet her at St. Luke’s she is known as Constance Mary and lives in East End Way. She showed great promise as an artist and, after the Clapham School of Art, studied at the Royal College of Art in London. While there, she took instructions in the Catholic faith at Brompton Oratory and was baptised at the Oratory on 8th September 1931 as Constance Dorothy Mary Rowe.
Constance had a particular talent for mural painting, as we shall see later when we come to the shrine of St. Philomena. In 1932 she won a major international art prize, the Prix de Rome, for mural painting. In addition to a cash award, the prize gave her a further two years’ tuition in Rome.
But what became of Constance Mary Rowe? 
In the course of my researches I saw vague references to her having joined a religious order in the U.S.A., but nothing specific. Then I found a newspaper cutting from 1935 with a picture showing a stylish young woman waving good bye from a train window. The accompanying story said this was the brilliant young English artist, Constance Mary Rowe, leaving Waterloo Station on the boat train to Southampton en route to New York where she had been commissioned to paint a number of pictures.
Some time later, I came across a postcard containing a pen and ink drawing of Blessed (now Saint) Martin De Porres, O.P., with Constance Rowe’s name below the picture and an address in New York. A picture of a Dominican — could this be the lead I was looking for? Yes, it was. First, a search on the internet came up with a Dominican monastery in Summit, New Jersey, with a telephone number. My call there was answered by a most helpful Sister Maria of the Cross OP, who had actually known out Constance Mary and told me how she had entered an enclosed Dominican monastery in Union City New Jersey as Sister Mary of the Compassion OP
A letter to the Prioress of that monastery was followed by a long period of silence, after which I learned that this lady, aged 93, had died shortly after I had spoken and written to her. My informant was a man, now a teacher and a professional Librarian, who had known the Union City monastery since he served in the chapel there as a young altar boy. He had recently been asked to sort out papers left by the Prioress where he became aware of my interest. He actually found me through the internet where he looked up the web-site of the Pinner Association who pointed him in my direction. I owe a huge debt to Clifford Brooks who has fed me with all I could wish to know about Sister Mary of the Compassion, as we must now refer to Constance Mary Rowe.
Sister Mary never returned from that 1935 visit to New York. She became an enclosed Dominican Sister, entering the Community of the Dominican Nuns of the Perpetual Rosary, Union City — known as the Blue Chapel - in April 1937, making her Religious Profession in 1938. There, she had the good fortune to come under the authority of a Prioress who encouraged her to continue the development of her artistic skills. In subsequent years, she produced a range of high quality artistic work. She studied mosaic design and produced a beautiful mosaic reredos for the monastery chapel. Another major work was a picture of the Crucified Christ surrounded by Dominican saints. This work, which measures 8 ft. x 4 ft., hangs in the refectory of the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. (see the reproduction below).
Sister Mary’s talents did not end there. She had paintings and embroidered panels exhibited in galleries and undertook commissions for institutions and private individuals. Pictures of hers were included in a 1939 New York exhibition of work by Catholic artists staged for the benefit of refugees who had arrived in the USA from Germany. Another of her ventures was the design of costumes and sets for an opera performed by the Music Department of Hunter College, New York. She also wrote a short book (60 pages) in which she gave her thoughts on how art should be approached and how she approached it, offering occasional comments on the work of some artists. The book, An Artist’s Notebook was dedicated TO MY MOTHER AND FATHER MELFREDINE AND VICTOR ROWE AND TO ENGLAND MY COUNTRY.
Later in life, she learned silver smithing and set up a workshop in her cloistered monastery where she designed and made jewellery, some of it in silver and occasionally gold, which was sold on the commercial market to help the finances of her monastery. This aspect of her work was pursued in some detail in an article published in the New York Times on 14lh March 1972, based on an interview she had given through the grille, when she had explained that members of her order did not do teaching or nursing, so they had to find other ways of earning their living. Other comments also reflected this practical approach to the religious life. The report commented on “her brisk British accent”. Sister Mary of the Compassion (our Constance Mary Rowe) died aged 69 on 6lh December 1977, just a week after her annual medical check when she had been told that she was in good health. Reproduced here are some pictures which sum up her remarkable life.
We offer our gratitude to the author, Mr. Bernard Harrison, for his work on this story and his generosity in sending us a copy of his book. To obtain this book, please contact the publisher or the parish in Pinner, whose addresses are below:
Published by Mark/Lucy Enterprises
2, Ashridge Gardens, Pinner HA5 1DU
Tel. 020-6666-7719
St. Luke Church
28 Love Lane, Pinner, HA5 3EX
England
Tel. 020-8866-0098
