The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-03-26
THE BLACK VEIL.

ImprsssIys Csremony 10 BrSckiyS 70 CeEyent
The ceremony of Taking the Black Ven" or
nuns last vows, was witnessed yesterday by
select and invited number of friends at the Con-
vent of st. Francis of Assisium of the Sisters of
Mercy, situated at the corner of Willoughby and
Clausen avenues, Brooklyn. The young ladies
who were the candidates and principal actors In
the ceremony were Miss Margaret Noonan,
daughter of Mr.. Daniel Noonan, of New York,
now known In religion as Sister Mary Paula,
and Miss Mary Fogarty, daughter of Mr.. Ed
ward Fogarty, of Brooklyn, IN religion Sister
Mary Angela.
The services began at 10 A. NJ, by the en-
trance OF the oliciant, the Rev. j. Francis
Turner, Vicar General of the Diocese of brook
lyn, arrayed in cope, mantle, and stole. He
was attended by two acolytes, and the Rev.
Father Taft as deacon. They knelt before the
altar which cleaned like flashing pyramid
composed of glimmering lights, rare eXotics,
and symbolic emDlems ut the opposite end of
the chapel In the meantime while the Veni
Creator, rendered by female voices alone, with
organ accompaniment, swelled in dulcet melody
from the gallery above, the Sisterhood swept
into the isle In ....
SOLEMN PROCESSION
The dress of a Sister of Mercy is one of the
most picturesque and beautiful of the orders OF
the Church. 1t consists of a black habit with
a long sweeping train, white linen cirt aud
gump on large collar, and n gracefully arranged
black veil. To this dress, on ceremonial occa-
sions, Is added floating white mantle of a cir
cular form. In this unique aud medieval cos
tune, thirty or forty nuns bearing lighted can
dies, now entered. One, taller and more grace
ful than the rest, bore the professional cross.
She advanced to the centre of the aisle and re-
mained standing until the others had swept into
the stalls on each side, aud then was seated ia
the centre of the aisle. The candidates wearing
white wells took their seats in front of the altar,
where two chairs had been placed for them
back of two cushioned ''prie-dieus." They
knelt until the hymn was concluded, after which
the Demand" or first part of the ceremony of
profession, was made. The ceremony of
BLESSING THE RINGS AND Wells
with which they were to be invested, followed.
High Mass was next celebrated by the Rev.
Father Danhesse, S. T., of St. Francis Xavier's
College, Sixteenth street. The sermon was
preached by the Rev. DR.. Friel, of the
Church of st. Charles Borromeo Brooklyn. 1t
was an eloquent discourse upon chastity,
poverty, and obedience.
At the conclusion of mass the candidates,
after receiving the Eucharist were conducted
to the altar by the Rev Mother Superior and
Dounced and signed their vows, and were in
vested with their rings and black wells, the
white ones being removed by their attendants.
THE DEATH TO THE WORLD.
Then followed one of those symbolic acts by
which the Church of Rome impresses the minds
of her children. While the music thrilled from
the organ loft, the candidates retired few PAGES
from the altar, and after standing some minutes,
instantly and simultaneously prostrated them
selves, faces downwards, upon the richly car
peted floor The action was so sudden, so
plainly indicative of death, that a Protestant
lady present, who had never witnessed
the ceremony before, murmured audibly,
Death to the world" The two slen-
der young forms remained extended in
deathlike stiffness for fifteen or twenty minutes
Then assisted to rise by the Mother Superior
and her assistant, they received the kiss of
peace from the Sisterhood, and falling into the
procession, left the taper-lighted, fiower-per-
fumed chapel by the same door they had
entered. Some tears dimmed the eyes of the
mother and sisters of Miss Noonan, but they
did not seem tears of sorrow. The occasion was
evidently regarded as one of joyful graduation.