Cassandra and Jane were sisters. In a family of six brothers, they became close, virtually inseparable. They shared a room and attended boarding school together. While they were both at one time engaged, neither married. When they were apart, they wrote letters back and forth. Cassandra destroyed most of them, claiming they were too personal. I don’t doubt it. Their one hundred sixty surviving letters make frequent reference to various family dramas and inside jokes. When Jane died in 1817, Cassandra wrote, “I have lost a treasure, such a sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed. She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure. I had not a thought concealed from her, and it is as if I had lost a part of myself.”
Jane Austen (1775-1817) wrote six major novels that are still widely read. Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility are the most well-known. Religious themes play a significant role in her novels but her Christian faith, in the words of one biographer, “is not obtrusive.” She received little acclaim or fortune, since her novels were published anonymously, as was the custom for female writers of her time. Biographers tend to overlook her strong, vital faith.
Three prayers written by Jane, likely in the 1790’s, were kept by Cassandra. Her prayers are expressed in plural form since they were included in family prayers. The Austen family regularly gathered for evening prayer, utilizing The Book of Common Prayer as their guide. While Jane’s prayers borrow phrases from the Anglican prayer book, they are personal and sincere. Self-knowledge and integrity are consistent themes as is the interplay between faith and morality.
An evening prayer by Jane is included here: