The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-01-09
THE SILENT SISTERS.

A Remarkable Community OF SlSterS III, the 1yre-
nees Mountains Who Never Speak.
A writer in the Chicago Record-Herald is struck
by the remarkable lives of the silent Sisters OF
St Bernard who dwell on the Pyrenees mountains,
and who never break except to pray, their life
rule of silence She describes visit to their con-
vent:
Not many miles from Biarritz among the pines
that clothe the lowest slopes of the Prenees, is the
nunnery of Anglet the home of one of the most
remarkable bodies of women in the world, who have
voluntarily deprived themselves of their sexs most
cherished privilege, the use of tongue and eyes
To steal away from Biarritz with its gay crowds,
whose days are passed in pursuit of pleasurco this
home of silence at the foot of the equally silent
hills is to touch within few hours the two ex-
tremes of human life and the contrased picture to
those who have seen it is that fingers lnetface
ably in the. memory.
One might think that such place as this re-
treat of the Sisters of st. Bernard would be Jea-
olsy guarded from the world of curious observers;
but it is not so. The only condition imposed on
visitors is the notice that greets them at the en-
trance to the nunnery grounds request to speak
in low voice The first glimpse that the writer
got of the mysterious occupants of this retreat
was when he was conducted into the garden, sur
rounded on three sides by plain, one-sorled build
ings, and OH the fourth by the convent chapel,
Scattered over this square garden were about
thirty women robed in loose-httng white garments,
with the sabots of the peasant on their feet, and
black hoods concesling their faces and bearing a
large white cross where they flowed down the back.
A few were pacing up and down the paths bowed
in deep meditation, but the majority were busy
with spade and rake, working on the soil. Most
remarkable of all, although these women must have
been aware that a stranger was gazing at them not
a single movement of the head, much less glance
showed the slightest consciousness of the TACT.
While ] was taking i'll this strange spectacle my
cicerone told me, in a whisper how the convent
was founded sixty-four years ago by the Able Ces
ofR
and pety; and now the nuns many of whom en-
tered as young and beautiful girls, pledged to
| lifelong solitude and silence, holding no commun-
cation whatever even with, each other, although
constantly thrown together at meals, work and at
religious exercises. ~
SO complete is this isolation that the Sisters of
St Bernard are always cut off by curtains from
the neighborng Sisters of St. Mary, who occa-
sionaly worship in the same chapel; and stories
arc told of women who in the other world had been
close friends and relatives living Tor years
together in the convent without even knowing OF
each others presence.
This state of things is rendered more bearabe
by the constant work that occupies every hour OF
the day. Except at meals or deyotons each nun
must never spend an idle moment. They are famed
for the beauty of their needlework, and many of
the most lovely trousseaux in Europe are wrought
by the hands of these silent women
The refectory in which they take their meals
and which was permitted to see Is long, matched
building, with whlteWashed walls ana an carmen
floor and It's furniture consists of wooden table
and benches. Dry bread, vegetables and water In
an earthenware jug constitute each days MENU
with the exception of a small quantity of meat on
alternate days This refectory and many of the
original convent buildings. it is interesting to re-
cord were built by the nuns themselves, who can
thatch roof, drive pillow or do exquisite piece
of embroidery with equal skill
/, Devotion naturally enters largely into the lives
/ of these Sisters of St Bernard Every hour, the
clock strikes they cease whatever work they are
engaged on and, dropping on their knees spend
few minutes in prayer, and much time is spent in
religious services in the chapel, with its beautiful
image of Our Lady Of Sorrows" of which ro-
mantle story is told, or in PRAYER at the shrine OF
"Our Lady of Pity" in the garden.
To each nun is allotted one of two rows of tiny,
narrow, whitewashed cells. containing only a hard,
| rough bed and wooden chair, and opening into
long, dreary corridor, which is the only drawing
and reception room the convent boasts; and so Spar
tan is these Sisters that in the coolest weather a
fire is unknown.