The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-03-28
Conventual Prisons.
cincinnati Telegraph. |


Cincinnati Telegraph
To quiet the tortured nerves of the Ohio
Legislator who presented a petition to in
spect converts that the civil law might re-
lease the hundreds of yelled prisoners who
are supposed to be eating their hearts
away In the solitary captivity of convent
ual life, we extract the following description
OF one of these female prisons in Ohio from
the work of DR.. Nichols, entitled Forty
Years of American life" He inspected the
inside of the Ursulnes' happy and beauti-
full home in Brow County, but found it the
very reverse of a prison il it were, it
would materially add to the happiness of
the world if these places of compulsory con
fnement were multiplied in the land. 1t i'm
pressed the writer as being glimpse of a
lost earthly paradise cit happened to
me, he says, at one time to reside for sew
eral months near a large Ursuiine convent
in one of the widest regions of Ohio and
some account of it and it's inmates, as they
appeared to me, may not be uninteresting,
nor, perhaps, wholly unnstructive. My
first visit was made in company of ven
| cradle Archbishop and two Bishops, who
were going on q little pious pleasure ex-
cursion to the convent. We went forty
miles by railway, then six miles by the
very worst wagon road | ever saw, even in
America. 1t was a ravine of mud through
u dense forest. The poor horses sank to
/
Sometimes the driver would pull out of the
track and find his way among trees, over
roots and stumps, and into quagmires. The
best part of the way was where he drove
nearly u mile into the rocky bed of river,
with the water close to the body of the
wagon. The horses after their wallow in
the mud, enjoyed their refreshing bath.
Night came on, and the woods made it
very dark. Suddenly we came to q clear
ing like an island in the ocean, which
lights in the distance. The Ursuliues had
here q domain of 300 acres, half cleared
and cultivated, half a magnificent forest.
In the center of this estate was the COP
vent, q plain, substantial brick building,
about 200 feet in length, and at short dis
lance were two or three cottages for the far m
laborers, priests house, and chapel
for the Irish, German, and Belgian settlers
in the vicinity. Arriving at the front door
of the convent, l followed their Most Rev
erend and Right Reverend lordships into a
large, neatly furnished, and we'll lighted
parlor. They were received by four ladies
| in the black robes and wells OF the nuns of
st. Ursula. AS each one knelt and kissed
the episcopal ring, and received the bless
ing of each of the three Bishops, it was
rather formidable ceremony, but was rap
idly and gracefully performed. Let
me try to give an idea of these four
ladies. The Reverend Mother Superior was
middle aged English lady, who in her
youth had been sent to France for educa-
ton, and had, to the great scandal and
grief Of her English Church relations be-
come convert and nun. The Second,
Ma Mere Stanislaas,' Mother of Novices,
may have been forty years old. 1t is not
easy to tell lsdy's age, especially when
you see only two thirds Of that calm and
passionless face Bnt how beautiful she
was OF noble French birth, che was grace
and elegance to the tips OF her fingers. She
wore her coarse serge habit aud sombre
gail In lnuf harr afr nd hnr nil f
and wooden crucifx, as if they had been the
robes and ornaments of Il princess. The
third was Beige of five and-twenty, pretty,
smiling, busy, with a talent for affairs, and
an equally wonder-power of diffusing sun
shine. She was Sister Xavier, and mer-
Iier spirit never hid itself under black
veil and then away in the dark deep woods.
How shall describe the fourth This rosy
blossom, Sister Alphonse, was an American,
and scarcely twenty, the pet of u fond
father, whom she loved most tenderly. The
table was laid, and we had an excellent
dinner. If the order has any dietetic
asceticisms they are not imposed on its
guests. The food was various and abundant,
and the wine, as usual in religious houses,
pure aud good. The Mother Superior sat
near the table, conVerslng with the Bishops,
the others, assisted by two white veiled
novices, waited upon the guests. When
the dinner was over we were invited into
large saloon and entertained with a mu-
slcaI entertainment by some of the more
advanced pupils. A stage had been pre-
pared, on which were grand pianoforte
and two harps. The playing and singing
were better than / expected-some of the
playing was surprisingly good. Several of
the nuns were accomplished musicians,
and when they found talent in their pupils.
they spared no pains to develop it, and had
consequently produced some brilliant play
ers and tasteful singers. Perhaps the most
effective performance was a duet on a harp
and pianoforte by two little girls of ten
and twelve, of the most delicate and ex-
quisite type of American beauty-two of
three orphan sisters, who had found a