O'MEARA, KATHLEEN. - Irish writer, b. in 1839 in Dublin, d. 10 Nov. 1888 in Paris. She first devoted herself to the composition of short stories, then to biography and the treatment of social problems, the investigation of which she pursued from an eminently Christian point of view. Among her literary works may be mentioned Iza: story of life in Russian Poland (London 1877; 1st ed. under the title Iza's Story, 1869) and Narha (ibid. 1888). She was particularly successful in the biographical genre. In 1876 she published a life of Ozanam, Frederick Ozanam, Professor at the Sorbonne, his life and works (Edinburgh 1876), as well as lives of Bishop Tommaso Grant, Thomas Grant, first bishop of Southwark (London 1874), and of the Curé d'Ars, Giovan Battista Vianney, canonized by Pio XI on 31 May 1925, The Venerable Jean Baptiste Vianney (ibid. 1891), published posthumously.
In the three series of The Bells of the Sanctuary she collected profiles of Msgr. Darboy, Archbishop of Paris, Count di Ségur, M.me Le Gras, and others.