Bethune, Ade, 1914-2002

Ade Bethune was born in Brussels, Belgium on January 12, 1914. Her family emigrated to the United States in 1928. They settled in New York City, where Bethune was educated at Cathedral High School and later the National Academy of Design and Cooper Union. Bethune met Dorothy Day in 1934 and became involved with the Catholic Worker movement. She produced a great deal of original art for the Catholic Worker, including designs for greeting cards for Catholic Worker readers. The demand for these led Bethune to set up an independent mail-order business, which led to the formation of the St. Leo Shop as an outlet for distributing her religious artwork and goods. It also carried a variety of liturgical publications and became the main North American outlet for Maria Montessori's books on education. Bethune published a yearly catalog that from 1957 onwards became the St. Leo bulletin; it included articles by her and other writers on sacred and liturgical arts. The shop served as an outlet for her many ideas on Catholicism, iconography, and religious art and design and led to the formation of the St. Leo League in 1961.

Also through the Catholic Worker Bethune met, worked with, and was influenced by Graham Carey, a co-founder of the Catholic Art Association (CAA). From 1939 through the late 1970s, she was actively involved in the work of the CAA at both the national and regional levels. She was a speaker at several conferences, helped organize conventions, workshops, and exhibitions, served on committees and the CAA's Board of Directors.

Bethune permanently settled in Newport, Rhode Island, and purchased a house in Newport's Point neighborhood in 1953. In the 1950s Bethune became a member of the Point Association and over the years served as a member of the Board and as the chair of the Traffic Committee and the Circulation Committee. For a period in the late 1960s and early 1970s she was chair of the East-West Point Committee, created in response to a proposed highway project that would divide the Point neighborhood. From 1989 to 1991, she worked on the Citizens Advisory Committee of Newport to help draft a comprehensive land use plan under the authority of the Newport City Council. Following final development of the plan a new group, the Foundation For Newport, was formed to help implement recommendations the plan had outlined. She served on the steering committee of the Foundation For Newport from its inception in 1992 until her death. She was also involved with several community organizations and their work related to redevelopment projects. Bethune died in Newport, Rhode Island on May 1, 2002.