The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-10-14
Centennial Of the Order to be Cele-
brated in Baltimore Octo-s :
Der 18th.
How and When the Carmellites
Were Established in the
United States.
The Most Ascetio Of All the s,sterhood,-
They Eat NO Meat, Wear Coarse
Clothing.

the centenary OF their fOu008tl0n IN Thu
country on October Is. This city has tn
Oldest convent of the order, and here th,
principal celebration will be held. Their,
are but three other converts in the United
States, one in st. Louis, one in New Orleanl
and one in Boston. the latter having beer
established only month ago.
The Carmelite sisterhood is perhaps tn.
strlctest of any. The nuns are cloistered
and once they enter their convent they
never leave it. To properly celebrate the
centennial, Cardinal Gibbons has applied tc
Rome for the necessary indulgences that
will admit of the departure from the regular
routine of convent life. Before the indul-
gences from Rome can be availed Of they
will be preceded by novena, or nine days
devotion, in which the nuns will prepare
themselves by PRAYER.
Although the centenary will be commem-
grated on Oct. 15. the foundation of the
first convent IN the United States was on
July IL, 1850, when four women, three of
whom were Americans who had taken nuns
vows in Belgium, landed in Maryland and
took up their abode in Charles county, near
Port Tobacco. The three Americans were
natives of Maryland, an aunt and her two
nleces of the name of Mathews. The fourth
founder was native of London. They
were accompanied to America by the Rev.
Charles Neale. y. j., brother of Archbish-
op Neale, of Baltimore, and he gave his en-
tire patrimony in Maryland to begin the
foundation. Until his death in 1923 he de-
voted himself to the spiritual and temporal
welfare of the Carmelites.
Since the landing of the first nun, the
Baltimore community have had three habi-
tations. the one in Charles county. the con-
vent in Aisquith streat, upon the site now
occupied by the German orphan asylum,
and the present convent in Biddle street.
The present home of the nuns was first &C.
cupied on March q, 1873. The st. Louis
Carmelite convent was founded in 1868 by
five nuns from the Baltimore Carmel at the
invitation of Archbishop Kendrick, the
present venerable head of the st. Louis
archdiocese. The convent in New Orleans
was established in 1877 by the first four
professed nuns of the St. Louis Carmel.
The Carmelite order is devoted to relig-
ious meditation and does not. as rule, give
instruction to the young or engage in pub
lie work as do the other more familiar
orders. The Maryland Carmelites, how
ever. having become Impoverished after
the death of Rev. Charles Neale, obtained
upon their removal to Baltimore an indul-
Quoted school in Aisquith street for
twenty years, giving it up in 1850.
One of the chief essentials of the order is
that the members shall be clustered and
neither permitted to leave the premises
throughout their lives nor to have any deal
nary walks Of life. Their lives are spent in
contemplation and prayer, the manual la
bors being limited to such light work IA
embroidery and the making of vestments
and other religious articles.
Outsiders are permitted to attend mass
in the chapels of the nuns convent, but
they do not see the sisters who are separ-
ated from them by grating in the rear of
the chapels. Each convent has what is
called 'speak room" It is separated
from the inner portion of the convent by a
grating: A near relative or friend Of a
and be received by the nun at the other
side of the grating. During the progress of
the interview the nun remains yelled. The
face is uncovered only in exceptional cases,
such as the reception of a priest.
According to the rules of the order, one
inmate of each convent is allowed to leave
the pre- misses. The transaction Of house.
hold business makes this necessary. Every
thing pertaining to the domestic arrange
ments OF each convent is conducted very |
simply. The food is of the plainest de-
scrlptlon. and In some cases is furnished by |
charitably disposed people. In the early |
history of the order in this country, the |
nuns were often obliged to fast whole DAYS
because they had no food. They have been
known to assemble in the dining room, to |
say grace, SIT IN silence over an empty |
board and retire to their cloisters. The
nuns never eat any flesh, and their habits
are of the coarseet serge. Their beds are
made of straw and are covered with serge,
The ceremony of admitting novice into
this order is 9 peculiarly Impressive one.
1t Is performed after mass. at which the
postuiant assists, arrayed as a bride and at
tended by maids. After listening to an ex-
hortation ON the life she is about to enter,
the novice, accompanied by her maids, and
bearing with her the habit and scapular Of |
the order, blessed by the celebrant Of the
mass, approaches the door Of her cloister,
bids adieu to her relatives and friends, and
then the door opening to receive her, passes
into the cloieter, whose portals are closed
to her until death.
The reception of nun into the CARMEL
ito order is rare occurrence in this coun-
try, owing to the fact that the order has 10
few c0nvents here and also to the circum-
stance that each separate convent can only
receive eighteen sisters. As consequence.
Carmelite reception never fails to attract
large congregation whenever it occurs.