Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1890-05-31
DEAD TO TIE WORLD.
Nsnneriea Which Are Closed Even %
Priests and Bishops.

Nsnneriea Which Are Closed Even to
Priests and Bishops.
severe order near enough to Brook
iyn TO have its workings observed by
visitors Is the Sisters OF St Dominic, OF
the converts at Newark, n. j., and \
Hunts Point. n. Y.
This order Is one of the strictest In
the church and the Hunts Point House
will be branch OF the convent estab- I
lished In Newark, n. j., by Archbishop |
Corrigan when he was Bishop of that
see. The sisters are strictly cloistered |
and see visitors through double grill,
there being at least n foot and u half
space between the two lattices, and they
keep their faces vailed while talking.
Their dress consists of white flannel
habit and c black vail. They wear the
babit day and night They sleep In
narrow cell, the furniture Of which
consists Of a wooden bed with husk
mattress and a pillow. wooden table,
large cruciiix and statue Of the blessed
| Virgin and n wooden washbowl. They
go to bed ut $50 o'clock and rise at mid
night to sing the ufatins OF the Office, In
Latin, until two a, m; then they go
back To bed until $40 a. m, when they
attend mass and sing another part OF
the office until eight o'clock. Break
fast Is next served. Ii consists of a cup
of black coffee and piece of bread.
This disposed OF they retire to their
cells until $40 o'clock, when they as
,emble in the community-room 10 work
until 1880. dinner of vegetables, fish
or eggs. and bread is next eaten. They
never use meat The table furniture is
Of wood-botb forks and spoons Every
thing they eat must be begged by the
lay sisters. From one to two p.
m, they keep silence, and then work
and the chanting of the office take up
the rest of the afternoon. After supper
they sing vespcrs and then go to bed at
half-past eight o'clock. No outsiders,
not even the lay sisters, are allowed in
side the cloister, and the Bishop can
enter only once a year. The doors all
have double locks, one on the inside
ana the other on the outside OF the In
closure. Any Catholic who enters the
cloister without permission incurs ex-
communication. The chaplain orpriest
can not enter the part Of the chapel
where the nuns are. Even the Bishop
when the inmates are eleeting their SUI
perior must take the votes 1T the grill.
In case of sickness, when " is necessary
To call priest or doctor tG the cell, they
have to he accompanied by two of the
elder sisters Otherwise no one ever
crosses the line OF the cloister. The
visitation nuns of the Clinton avenue
convent in this city observe these stric,
prohibitions OF the cloister in a modi-
fed manner, so as To be able 10 teach.
The Dominican nuns keep up perpet.
ual alteration OF the Blessed Sacrament
in their chapel, two Of them kneelinp
before the altar in prayer day and night
3 This takes thirty-ive sisters, In addi
tion to this perpetual prayer the work
I these nuns do consist in embroiderins
/ vestmentsand making altar linen. Thel
T wear a peculiar kind OF shoe made o
y hemp. which they manufacture them
u selves.
As in dress and objects OF the severa
orders their methods of receiving postu
lants also differ, but they are essentia
, features common to all. The cutting o
the hair is done in all orders and in
most ancient custom. From the primi
tive times when virgin consecrateS
. herself to God, her hair was cut of
70 This ceremony is mentioned in the live
Of st. Syncletica fourth century, an,
u St Gertrude of Niyelle (seventh cent
:, uryD. Nuns take solemn vows bindinI
: for life. but members OF the moderl
communities, like the Sisters of Char
!, ity, ST. Joseph, etc, take vows only 70
:, year and renew them annually ol
- some special day. In the ceremony 0
:, profession the novice is covered with
pail to signify her death to the world
while the choir and attending nun
chant the DE Profundis and Te neum
That is what probably gave rise 10 tn
:. question about the coffin. In Rom
there is a eontemplative order so strict
:. ly cloistered that they are called Ser
4 ulta viya-the buried alive-so dea
Ir are they to every thing in the outsid
l. world. brooklyn Eagle.