Daphne Lady Acton: R.I.P.

Thanks to my friend Kirk for sending along this recent obituary from the Daily Telegraph. Lady Acton was a prominent figure in the history of Catholicism in the 20th century. And a fascinating woman in any event, the kind they don't appear to make any more.

Daphne Lady Acton, who has died aged 91, was an important figure in
the circle of Roman Catholic converts which came to intellectual and
social prominence during the middle third of the last century; she
was also a missionary in Africa and matriarch of a clan of Biblical
proportions.

Described by Evelyn Waugh as "a tall, elegant beauty of strong and
original intellect", the young Lady Acton formed a particularly
fruitful friendship with Monsignor Ronald Knox, the former Catholic
chaplain to Oxford University. While he prepared her for reception
into the Roman Church, she provided him with the opportunity to carry
out his translation of the Bible, employing him from 1939 to 1947 as
private chaplain at Aldenham Park, her husband's family seat in
Shropshire.

The rest of the article is here.