10/01/2026
Today, with the City of New York, 68th Street between 1st and York Avenue was co-named as Rose Hawthorne Way. We were joined by Speaker of the New York City Council, Julie Menin, and Mother Marie Edward, O.P., General Superior of Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne.
Venerable Rose Hawthorne, born in 1851 and daughter of author Nathaniel Hawthorne, gave up a life of privilege to care for destitute persons afflicted with incurable cancer. She founded the Dominican Sisters Congregation of St. Rose of Lima, also called the Hawthorne Dominicans, who continue her mission providing care for those diagnosed with terminal cancer free of charge.
When Rose chose to become a nurse, she trained at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, then called New York Cancer Hospital. She accepted her first patient in her own home on October 1, 1896, and soon after was encouraged to become a Dominican Tertiary by Fr. Clement Thuente, O.P., a priest of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena. In celebration of her dedication to caring for cancer patients and her concern for the poor, New York City co-named 68th Street next to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and St. Catherine of Siena Church in her honor.
