The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-08-15
Tho CfacSst Convent case-Relcase Of Z
Nuh afeer . Lengehy ConAnernent,,

Tho CfacoSS Convent Case-Release of a
sNuh after . Lengthy Conflnerncpf.
The latest European papers contain
what appears 70 berather loose details of
the recent release Of the nun at Cracow.
in Polish Austria, in connection with
which. it will be remembered, there were
tumults and exciting demonstrations, as
lately reported in the Atlantic cable de-
spatehes: From these reports it is learn
ed that the name of the nun was Barbara
Ubryk,, and the extraordinary statement
is made that, she had been incarcerated
twenty-one years, though the accounts
imply also that che is insane. All the re-
ports appear with more Or less coloring.
Vienna paper furnishes the following
'On Tuesday. the Goth ult., an anony-
nous letter, in q nwoman's handwriting,
reached the Criminal Court at Oracow, to
the effect that in the convent of the
Carmelite bare footed nuns, one of the
order, named Barbara Ubyrk, had been
forcibly kept in close confinement in O
dark cell for twenty-one years. The
vice-president of, the Criminal Court,
Ritter Won Antoniewicz, Immediately
laid this information before Judge of
enquiry, who, in company with the pub
lie prosecutor, repaired to the Bishop
Won Galecki, with the request to permit
them to enter the convent, which was
granted. A Judge visited the convent
and found in q cell half-naked, half-in-
sane woman. who, at the unaccustomed
view of light, the outer world, and hu-
man beings, folded her, hands and i'm
plored: Il am hungry, have pity on me;
give me meat Oaeisch) and shall be obe-
dient.E There was very little in the cell.
The Judge instantly ordered the nun to
be clothed, and went himself for Bishop
Galecki. The bishop was deeply moved,
and, turning to the assembled nuns, he
vehemently reproached them for their
inhumanity. lis this he said, what
You call love of your neighbor? Is it
thus that you propose to enter the king
dom of Heevenr The nuns ventured to
excuse their conduct, but the bishop
would not hear them. Silence, he ex-
claimed, away, out of my sight.
'"TkG father confessor, Piankiewicz, an
old priest. who was present, dared to OBJ
serve that the ecclesiastical authorities
were aware of this scandal, whereupon
the bishop denied his assertion, and at
once suspended the father confessor, and
also the superioress, who is descended
from an old honorable Polish noble fami-
ly. The bishop ordered nun Barbara
Ubryk to be brought. into q clean cell,
and there to be dressed and nursed,
which the ledy superior obeyed very re-
luctantly. When the unhappy nun was
led away, she asked anxiously whether
she would he brought back to her grave,
and when asked why she had been i'm
prisoned, she answered.: Il have broken
the vow Of chastity, but, pointing with
a fearfuilyi wild gesture, and in great ex-
citement to the sisters, 'they are not
angels The lady superior declared that
Barbara Ubryk was kept in close con-
fnement since 1648 by order of the ply
sician, because of her lunsound mind.
On account of the importance of the
case, the, Attorney. General has taken the
matter in hand. The evaporation of
the people knowsno bounds. IL is stated
that the bishop intends to dissolve the
convent .lt = ,.4.t.,.,..
The London Times, commenting on
the case. thinks that che declaration of
the nun. in regard to her broken VOW
may have been. the effect of her mad
ness. o,iy 80, .,|,
A Vienna correspondent of one of the
London journals furnishes the following
ih AoecASSttSo CshS Suulu5b butst LOlIOWSu the
release of. the nun Barbara Ubryk:
'The knowledge Of the affair began to
spread abroad, and create o sensation
throughout the whole town. On Friday
morning, hundreds OF people had assem-
bled before the convent, smashed all the
windows. and crying Away with the
nunsl had already broken into the inte-
rior, when q body of soldiers arrived in
time to protect them. On Saturday, the
same thing was repeated, in spite of ad-
juratiops of the papers to the people to
wait calmly. By the evening, two de-
taohmehts of soldiers had been called
out-for, the mob, which had swelled to
1000 people, after doing what more mis-
chief it could to the Carmelite convent,
went off to attack that of the Jesuits and
that Of the Franciscnns. It was q criti-
cal hour for the whole monastic orders
OF Cracow. The Jesuit rector was in
suited, many Jesuits wounded with
stones, and every pane of glass in the
monastic house was broken to pieces.
For these manifestations of their indig-
nation, an immense number of people
have been arrested, but n large petition
has been sent up to the Town Council to