The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1870-12-03
T From the Chicago Tribune, Rad.
CONVENT LIFE.
LECTURE By MISS EDITH O>GORMAN.

MISS TLllVl " WIN >'7>'f'~'
nun, delivered a lecturer Farwell Hall,
last evening, entitled " Convent Life,
and the Romish School System" There
were about four hundred people present,
a fair proportion of them ladies.
The lecturer commenced by referring
to the wild enthusiasm which prompted
la young girl to embrace the life OF Il
nun. Anxious to make sure of her re-
ligious salvation. She became an i'll
mate of st. Elizabeth's Academy, ut
Madison, N. j., on the End of October,
1852, and a member of an order founded
in 1888 in France, and introduced into
this country in 1872 by Mother f. Sea-
ton. Prior to the reception into the
convent, the candidate was required to
make general and full confession of all
the sins of her past life to the priest, in
order that he might be acquainted with
the experience of the mind he was to
guide: and when in the convent she
| was taught to believe that the highest
| holiness consisted in the entire surren-
der of the will-physical, moral, and
spiritual-to the Superior; was requir-
ed to renounce father, mother, sister,
and brother; to stif1e every earthly tie,
and bid farewell to home, country, and
friends.
The lecturer believed, from having
read of the pious lives of nuns, that
they were devoted, and had dedicated
themselves to the Almighty from pure
and unselfish motives; but this delusion
was dissipatetl-her great anticipations
were one by one falsitietl, and her ardent
enthusiasm, in which she had her
home, soon cooled down tC zero Yet
she was sincere and conscientious to the
practice of appointed devoions and
the discharge Of her various duties.
ness, and folly among the nuns, that
pity could not fail to be excited in an
enlightened mind. After describing
the ceremony Of taking the vail, she
repeated the curse which the Bishop
uttered upon all those who attempted
to induce the nuns to leave the convent
life. She then asked if there were no
provision in the laws of the country by
which the confined nuns could leave
the convent and return to their homes.
The rules and the vows We're very strict.
Under the vow of poverty, the nuns
were not allowed to give away anything
She had given fifty cents to il starving
family, and was obliged to subsist for
two weeks on bread and water. If a
pin, or IL piece of thread, or any small
| thing, was seen upon the floor, it must
be carefully put away. If Il nun wan
l ted Il new dress, she must not make
known her wish for one, but must wait
patiently till it was given to her. They
were taught to consider that nothing
| they had was their own, not even their
| body. 1t was Il moral sin to use per-
] fumery, and distinguishes We're en-
! tirely forbidden. She did not see her
| face for six years, and almost forgot how
| she looked. To stop and admire Il
l han,pfifil1 AnyCnr n hrn.lk the
Of poverty, as it involved loss OF time.
The vow of chastity forbade Il sister
to love any of the opposite sex, except
Christ, her spouse. She must not look
into a gentleman's face, or suffer her
I thoughts to dwell upon the other sex.
When led to her father, she must not
| take his hand. She could not look out
of window or toward Il door, to see
! who passed or came III, and must not
look ut strangers Il second time. When
the Superior said she must do anything
she had to obey. If IL priest took the
| hand of Il sister, with whatever intcn-
ton, she need not withdraw it. If in
love with Il priest, she was bound to
| tell him. and obtain his advice about it,
and thus informed, the priest could take
advantage of it. The sisters were for
hidden to clress Il baby, for fear mater
nal sympathies might be excited. There
were sisters i'm the converts who prefer
red a terrestrial to Il celestial spouse,
and who had their lovers among the
priests and laymen. The lecturer had
| known six sisters to be in love with Il
| priest at once. In listening to the
commands of the Superior, they kncit
at her feet Once for having screamed
upon seeing a worm i'll the garden, she
was compelled to eat the nasty, squirm-
ing thing because she had broken silence.
The convent was world which she
compared to one wherein dWcllcd cross
old maids and old bachelors.
She next gave an account of the daily
life in Il convent, and spoke of the con-
fessional, where the priest could pro-
pound questions which would be con-
sidered insults if asked by another.
Owing to this, she asked, how easy it
was for an evil-diSposcd father toinstil
Thoughts into the mind of the nun
which would lead to her moral death.
There were envy, malice, jealousy, and
kindred passions in the convent, and
| the sisters became, in time, hardened
hypocrites. Partially, f;,voritiSn, pref
udice, and cruelty exhibited their banc-
full influence throughout the cloister.
The lecturer then spoke on the school
system, claiming that the children We're
not properly taught, and the orphans
and those who attended the parochial
schools were treated with barbarity.
! little ones being inhumanly punished,
and intimated, but did not say in so
many words, that they had been muir
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