The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-11
CATHOLIC NUNS
 LEAD HARD LIE The PenitentiaI AusteritieS of
 the Order FAMOUS WOMEN ENTERED Young and Beautiful Women Have Given Order Romantic Fasoina- tion-Relleious Duties lm-
 pose Hardships.
FAMOUS WOMEN ENTERED

From the San Francisco Call.
 The Carmelite nuns, famous even in the Dark Ages for the strict and secluded life they led, are to found a nunnery in San Francisco. And to house the sisters who never come beyond the cloister walls once they have entered, one of the most TO- mantle spots in the city has been chosen. The Mrs Robert Louis Stevenson home, simple and austere, battled with modest entrance sunk into the wall on steep street. is to be the place of purifeaton for the living sacrifices.
 Standing at Hyde and Lombard streets. on the far edge of Russian hill, where the slope begins it's plunge and where the golden gate and busy beneath appear far away and unreal, the Stevenson house would appear to be the ideal place for women who have consecrated their lives to the uplifting of the spirit and the moval of every earthly desire. And when one considers that the nuns must not lift their eyes to face the glory of the setting sun or drink in the lovely playland be- low--for by that they would be indulging in a pleasure-the wonder grows.
 People passing the Stevenson house have long looked upon it curiously and won dered what it might be- Now, indeed they will have occasion to marvel, for inside the gray walls will be enacted spiritual wonders. What goes on inside those walls will be sacred and known to none outside And within earshot of the merry children who play upon the side walk will be women undergoing lasts, beautiful women chastening themselves by bearing heavy weights and holding aloft until they suffer terrible pain skulls which symbolize to them the death they would prepare for by life of such sacri- flee and saintliness as no other monastio order practices.
 To See Her Child Through Grating.
 San Francisco Is about to have num- nery of the order through the fact that a daughter of Mrs. Francis J. Sullivan has entered a Carmelte convent in the east. Wishing to have her child near her, where she can at least go to look upon her through an iron grating once in long time, Mrs. Sullivan has purchased the Stevenson house and turned 1t over to Archbishop Riordan for the use of the Carmelite nuns.
 Only women whose spiritual life domi- mates completely could live the life of the Carmelites. It Is fact that those who enter it are usually from the richer fami-
 
 wealth could produce. In the convent they have nothing, and the extent of their self-denial is shown by the limited state of their wardrobe. They enter with but few coarse white pieces of clothing, and they never get new article of clothing. They wash and mend these clothes until often they are all patches and 20 years Is a short life for a dress
 Many famous and brilliant women have ba ali iUht be said that the nuns are mainly women who have known the depths of sorrow and those who had never known any sor- row at all. Two renowned women who entered Carmelite conyents were Louise de la Valiere, favorite at the court of Louis XIV and heroine of Dumas, known after she renounced the world as Louisa de la Misericordie, and Mme Louise de France, daughter of Louis XIV.
 Order Has Romantic Fascination.
 The number of young and beautiful women who have entered Carmelite con vents has given the order romantic fas- cination for the thought of the tortures to which they inflict their delicate souls and bodies appeals strongly to the imag- nation. The girls who have never had occasion to wish to turn their backs on the world, such as the famed La Valiere, find in the order possibilities for their spiritual growth without ever realizing the loss of the pleasures of life, they have seen so little of it. Most of the novi- tiates are, in fact, young girls, but it is hard to say whether the thought of them or of their slightly older sisters who have found the world too hard for their deli cate natures will make the gray walls of the Stevenson house the more fraught with pain.
 In Europe there are many Carmelite re- treats, and they are usually in lovely spots, which makes the absolute exclu- sion of even enjoying the beauties of na- ture more pointed. But in this young land where life is lived physically and in the open, there have been very few convents established. This will be the eighth. The first was established in 1790 in New York; the next in ISIS in Boston. Later, Baltimore New Orleans and Montreal were chosen for convents, and this is the first to be established on the Pacific coast.