Lilias Trotter
1853-1928 19th century
A brilliant future set aside for a harder calling, patience among communities others had given up reaching, decades of quiet translation work instead of the fame she could have had.
Who was Lilias Trotter?
A gifted young painter in Victorian London whom the critic John Ruskin told could become one of the greatest artists of her generation if she gave herself to it fully, she chose instead to give her life to missionary work in Algeria, spending decades among Muslim communities most missions had written off as unreachable, learning Arabic, translating texts, and never returning to the art career Ruskin believed she was abandoning.
In their own words
Focus your gaze on Christ, and look, look again. A strange dimness will cover everything that is not him.