Caryll Houselander (29 September 1901 – 12 October 1954) was a British lay Roman Catholic ecclesiastical artist, mystic, popular religious writer and poet.
This may have partly influenced her decision to leave the Catholic Church as a teenager, and may have contributed to a sense of isolation she would feel at times.
The mystical experiences she claimed to have experienced convinced her that Christ is to be found in all people, even those whom the world shunned because they did not conform to certain standards of piety.
She met and fell in love with Sidney Reilly, a famous spy, but he left her broken-hearted when he married another woman.
Even though she lacked formal education in this area, she seemed to have a natural empathy for people in mental anguish and a talent for helping them to rebuild their world.
A psychiatrist, Eric Strauss, later president of the British Psychological Society, said of Houslander: "she loved them back to life... .she was a divine eccentric.