Belloc, Elodie Hogan, 1868-1914

Elodie Agnes Belloc
<p>'Pray for the soul of Elodie Agnes Hogan, the wife of Hilary (sic) Belloc of this parish. She left this life on Our Lady's Feast of the Purification, 2nd. Feb 1914, aged 45 years. "Her children shall arise and call her blessed." And also of her husband Hilaire Belloc, on the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 4th. July 1953, aged 83 years.' Elodie Hogan was a native of Napa, in California, although both of her parents were born in Ireland. In 1889, she was on her first visit to Europe, with her sister and her parents, when she met and fell in love with the young Hilaire Belloc. When she returned to California, Belloc sailed to New York and crossed the continent in order to be with her ; but, on her mother's urging, she refused him. They continued to correspond throughout Belloc's service in the French Army and his time at Oxford University. After this, he returned to the States, only to find that Elodie's parents had died and that she was on the point of becoming a nun. Happily, he persuaded her against this course of action, and they were married on the 15th. June 1906, at St. John the Baptist's Church in Napa. </p>
<p>After a brief honeymoon in Geysers, Sonoma County, they returned to England. They had five children : Louis, Eleanor (who married Rex Jebb, q.v.), Hilary, Elizabeth and Peter (q.v.). At the end of 1913, Elodie was taken ill what was, presumably, cancer. During this illness, her English accent, which she had taken some pains to cultivate, disappeared and she reverted to her Californian tongue. By the 23rd. December, she was unable to swallow her food; and, on the 2nd. February, she died. The next day, the door to her room was locked. For the remaining 39 years of Hilaire Belloc's lifetime, no-one entered her room, and he never passed her door without pausing to kiss it and trace upon it the sign of the cross.</p>

She and Hilaire had five children - three sons and two daughters: Louis (1897), Eleanor (1899), Elizabeth (1900), Hilary (1902) and Peter (1904). Elodie Belloc fell ill quite suddenly in December 1913 and died on February 2, 1914 at the age of 45.