**SWJETSCHIN, ANNE-SOPHIE** – A Russian convert, b. in Moscow on 22 Nov. 1782, d. in Paris on 9 Sept. 1857. Of the noble Sojmonoff family, lady-in-waiting to the Tsarina Maria, wife of Paul I.
Married to General S., she moved to St. Petersburg where her husband was governor and soon entered into relations with the French émigrés, especially Joseph de Maistre; through them she came to know the Catholic religion, to which she converted on 8 Nov. 1815. When the Jesuits were expelled from Russia (1818), she moved with her family to Paris, where her home became a gathering place for distinguished Catholics and men of action intent on a Catholic restoration of France. She was its guiding spirit and inspiration; in 1834 she effectively helped to save Montalembert, Lacordaire, and Guéranger from the danger of losing their faith with their master, Lamennais; in 1835 she promoted the conferences of Fr. Lacordaire at Notre-Dame; and she was always most active in works of charity and in the steady pursuit of conversions. She was moved to tears when discussing the Catholic faith (cf. *L’Examen religieux*, cited by Fr. Rouët de J. [op. cit. in bibl., pp. 385-93], where she speaks of the pros and cons of the decisive step she took under the guidance of Fr. J. L. Rozaven in 1815).
Her works, published posthumously through the efforts of A. F. P. de Falloux, were warmly received and exerted a strong influence on souls both for their lively, delicate, and supernatural style and for the loftiness of their thought: *Lettres* (2 vols., Paris 1862); *Journal de sa conversion* (ibid. 1863); *Correspondance du R. P. Lacordaire et Mme S.* (1864); *Nouvelles lettres* (1875).
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