Biography
Miss Benedicion Santa Ana de Branconiere was born the daughter of a British nobleman during the 18th century. Her father was a well-read and educated man, and at the time was the owner of one of the finest private libraries in the world. At a fairly young age, Miss de Branconiere was found to suffer from tuberculosis of the bone. After English medical science failed to cure her, Miss de Branconiere set out with her father to search the world for treatment. They finally found help in India, from spiritual healer and great religious figure Swami Vivekananda. To display her gratification for his assistance, Miss de Branconiere began to study under Swami Vivekananda in the hope of one day helping to spread his word to the western world. His doctrine was one of bringing together people of all religions to recognize that the God they worshiped was one. At the conference of World Religions held in Chicago in 1893, he said "People born in different religions finally reach the same God, as rivers born in different places finally reach the sea." To carry out her promise, Miss de Branconiere studied at the School of Illumination in Paris (Brotherhood of Light), where she later taught. After her tenure there, Swami Vivekananda sent her to spread the word, as he had briefly, in still-developing America. Miss de Branconiere acquiring a position at the University of California, Berkeley, teaching religion, philosophy, and literature. She also instructed evening classes to a private study group in Alameda. Through her teachings, Miss de Branconiere examined the sacred books of the world's four great religions, as well as the classic literary works of the time, seeking what common truths they held that could assist the plight of man. The central point of her teachings, as is any serious pursuit of the truth, was the discovery and salvation of the individual human soul.
From the guide to the Branconière, Benedicion Santa Ana de. Lecture notes taken by Josephine Robinson, 1906-1910, (Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.)
