| Ann Agnes Trail | |
|---|---|
 Sister Agnes Xavier | |
| Born | 17 February 1798 Panbride, Angus, Scotland |
| Died | 3 December 1872 Edinburgh |
| Nationality | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |
| Occupation | nun |
| Known for | Convent in Edinburgh "unique Presbyterian feminist" |
Ann Agnes Trail or Agnes Xavier Trail (17 February 1798 – 3 December 1872) was a British Roman Catholic nun and artist. She took a leading role in establishing St Margaret's Convent in Edinburgh.
Life
Trail was born in Panbride, Angus, in 1798. She came from an unusual family in that her great grandfather, grandfather and father had led the same church in Scotland. Trail was educated at home, but in return she had to teach her ten siblings. She was given an 18-month break when she was seventeen but then returned to teaching her brothers and sisters. She did good works and was a teacher at an Irish charity school.
She decided to be an artist and she was taught these skills before 1824. When she set off for Italy in 1826 having already completed commissions for customers in London. She travelled to paint in Florence and Venice but she returned to Rome twice. She had met David Wilkie and others vied for her attention but she saw her future in the Catholic Church after talking with Augustine Baines.
The following years she was in England where she met Canadian catholic James Gillis in Hammersmith in 1832. He shared his ambition to start a convent and Trail became committed to supporting this plan. The following year she and another Scotswoman entered the Ursuline convent at Chavagnes. Trail became Agnes Xavier and when she returned to Edinburgh in 1834 she was accompanied by two lay sisters and seven French nuns. The convent was established and within months they had enrolled new novices. The original plan had been more ambitious as plans were created for a new cathedral besides the convent. The enterprise was funded by businessperson John Menzies who gave the land. Although St Margaret's Convent was the first new convent in Scotland, nearly twenty new Scottish convents were established in the next 50 years.
Tail would paint miniatures in the convent and teach drawing but importantly she socialised with upper- and middle-class women. Trail also created paintings of leading Catholics including Bishop Gillis.
She took a leading role in establishing the St Margaret's Convent in Edinburgh in 1834.
She joined the Catholic church in 1828 in Italy by Cardinal Carlo Odescalchi. Trail was to later paint his portrait.
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Bishop James Gillis in 1841 by Trail
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St Margaret's Convent today
Death and legacy
She was described as a "unique Presbyterian feminist". She died in 1872 and in 1886 a book was published concerning the history of "her" convent and her autobiography.
References
- ^ Aspinwall, Bernard (2004). "Trail, Ann Agnes [name in religion Agnes Xavier] (1798–1872), Roman Catholic nun and artist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/45566. Retrieved 2019-03-06. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Trail, Agnes Xavier, 1798–1872 | Art UK". artuk.org. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
- Trail, Ann Agnes (2018-02-09). History of St. Margaret's Convent, Edinburgh: The First Religious House Founded in Scotland Since the So-Called Reformation: And, the Autobiography of the First Religious, Sister Agnes Xavier Trail. Creative Media Partners, LLC. ISBN 978-1-377-20919-7.