Writings, Ade Bethune Papers

Ade Bethune was born in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels on January 12, 1914. A few months after her birth, her father left for WWI while the rest of the family continued to live with her mother’s father. Bethune did not see her father for over four years and did not know him when he returned. Also during the war, her mother was arrested for underground work and was in jail for about a month. In 1928, the family immigrated to New York, where Bethune attended Cathedral High School in New York City and the National Academy of Design as well. During this period she became interested in the Catholic Worker Movement and met Dorothy Day, a lasting influence on her life.

Bethune loved writing stories as a young girl. In 1933, her first article was published in Stained Glass. Titled “A Dream Come True,” it described how she learned stained glass techniques from Charles J. Connick in Boston. She also tried to publish a couple of children’s books in the early 1930s. One, “Mademoiselle Boshapo,” was based on a story she’d written as a child. In the mid-1930s, Maurice Lavanoux, the editor of Liturgical Arts, invited her to write for this journal. He had been the editor of Stained Glass when Bethune's article was published there. Graham Carey drew her into activities of the Catholic Art Association, publisher of Catholic Art Quarterly. In 1938, she began to publish in Orate Fratres, the herald of the Liturgical Movement. Although Bethune published in many journals, she published most often in these three.

In 1948, Bethune agreed to volunteer as the editor of Catholic Art Quarterly. At first, there was some controversy because she wasn’t a priest and might allow heresies to be published. She used this position as a forum to explore her own vocation as a Christian Artist. She was editor from 1949 to 1950. During this time, the journal won a graphic design award from the American Institute of Graphic Arts in 1951 for the Easter 1950 issue.

Bethune began writing about church architecture in 1954 with the article “Font and Altar” for Catholic Art Quarterly. She also published a series of five articles in Church Property Administration on the need for church architecture to support the liturgy: "Celebrating the Mass Facing the People," 1955; "The Church as Mother in Architecture," 1956; "Planning the Church Sanctuary," 1958; "Altar and Tabernacle in a People-Minded Age," 1959; "The Central Altar and the Church in the Round," 1962; and "The Place of the Tabernacle," 1966. These articles were widely reprinted and, while most of them were published many years prior to the Second Vatican Council, they foreshadowed some of the changes brought about by it.

Her many articles on the subject of church architecture became very influential and earned Bethune a reputation as one of the few liturgical consultants in the country with a wide range of expertise. Some other articles she wrote on the subject are: “Philippine Adventure,” 1951; “Can You Make Walls Speak?,” 1955; “Acoustics, Light and Seating for the People’s Participation in the Mass,” 1962; and “Some Plans on Renovating the Sanctuary for the Renewed Liturgy,” 1965. These were all published in Liturgical Arts.

Bethune's classic is the booklet Work, first published in 1939. It was part of a series of pamphlets published by John Stevens University and went through at least four printings. In it, she distilled her philosophy of work into a love of work and doing things well. One of her favorite efforts was Uniscript, published in 1964. This booklet on teaching handwriting grew from Bethune's interest in the history of the alphabet as well as the Montessori teaching methods.

Bethune died in her long time home of Newport, Rhode Island on May 1, 2002.