“La Signora”: Ella B. Edes, Roman Agent (1832-1916)

Today marks the death of Ella B. Edes (1832-1916), convert, journalist and Vatican lobbyist. Born in Massachusetts, she inherited a considerable estate from her merchant father. In 1852, she converted to Catholicism. After her mother died, she moved permanently to Rome, where she got a job as secretary to Cardinal Alessandro Barnabo, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, which oversaw the Church’s missionary activity. (Until 1908, the United States was classified as mission territory.) She translated apostolic declarations from Italian and compiled dossiers on priests around the world. And she got to know people in the Vatican. Edes grew to have enormous influence in Vatican circles. A strong Ultramontanist, she championed the cause of the conservative American bishops against their liberal confreres as tension between the two groups heightened. She was “an agent with an agenda,” and she was not above using any means to advance it. Known to her enemies as “La Signora,” she also wrote columns from Rome for the English-speaking press. Clergy from around the world paid homage to her at her book-strewn Roman apartment. By 1900 she was an invalid, and she moved to northern Italy where she died in 1916.