Madame Swetchine

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Madame Anne Sophie Swetchine (1782 - 1857, maiden name Soymanof), was a Russian mystic born in Moscow.

Under the influence of Joseph de Maistre, she became a member of the Roman Catholic Church in 1815. In the following year she settled in Paris where, until her death, she maintained a famous salon remarkable no less for its high courtesy and intellectual brilliance than for its religious atmosphere. Though not physically beautiful she had a personality of rare spiritual charm, nurtured in the private chapel of her house. Her husband, General Swetchine, was 25 years her senior.

Her Life and Works (of which the best known are "Old Age" and "Resignation") were published by M. de Falloux (2 vols, 1860) and her Letters by the same editor (2 vols., 1861).

Madame Swetchine is noted for the quotation: "How easy to be amiable in the midst of happiness and success."

[edit] References

• Sainte-Beuve, Nouveaux lundis, vol. i.
• E Scherer, Etudes sur la littérature contemporaine, vol. i.

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

[edit] External links

•   "Sophie-Jeanne Soymonof Swetchine". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company.