The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-01-25
FRENCH NUNS SUFFER IN EXILE
Sisters Stranded in Belgium Exist in
Poverty Among the Poor and
Aged Whom They Try
to Relieve.

VI the 526 religious communities leg.
islated out of existence in France and
at present located in Belgium many
are today reduced to actual poverty IL
order to assist priests and sisters who
are thus compelled to struggle on I'M
DER the double burden of exile and
! poverty society known as the Asso-
citation for the Relief of Expelled Re
llgious has been established III Brlis-
! sells under the presidency of Countess
Louis de Merode. An official report has
| oeen made of the circumstances in
which the destitute religious find
themselves, from which the following
data are CLEANED. Those who are dis
| posed to come to the aid of the suffer
ing communities may forward their
| contributions to the Countesse Giul-
loume de la Roche-Ayman, Al Rue st.
Dominique, Paris.
The committee of Brussels Includes
countess Louis de Merode, nee Roch-
echuart-Montemart, president; Count
Eugene Lur, Sauces. The committee
OF Paris comprises Prince Henri di
| LlSne, president: Countess G.. de la
Roche-Aymon, treasurer.
nave known one of those commune
ties whose distress was heartrending.
Ihese poor nuns having come tC 4
small town of Brabant, &ented d mouse
winch they wretchedly Furnished. and
divided up into narrow compartments.
instead of regular cells, by means of
OLD pieces of packing canvass: there
were three or four of them in a room
not large enough for one person.
When the reports of such a situation
reached me, l went for information
and satisfied myself that this commit
nifty was actually periSh.pg in mise
ry The food had to be sparingly p0r-
uoned out and what wretched food,
Scans, canned vegetables, and with all
these privations they could not even
pay the rent of the house The rules
forbid to heat The rooms, but III the
heart of winter. always severe for per-
sons unused to our climate, q light
blanket would not have been a luxury,
but there was not enough to give one
to each person.
The aged, the sick. the infirm we're
literally freezing Thanks to the gem
crosby of kind neighbour they We're
given the use of an annex and of a
small oratory-chapel; a lady of the
committee of Paris informed by lis %
Such distress, had blankets sent to
them, stove for the sick room and
the lnflrmary and money to bug some
coal. Our committee repeatedly helped
them and continues doing so, but alas,
our resources are diminishing and we
ask ourselves how as the winter sets
m we are going to manage providing
Tor this and many other cases of dis
tress brought to our notice
Except few of the clOistere / COM
munities which are so situlted as to
be able to provide for themselves, the
majority are in straits Of misery.
frlghttul indeed was tha DISTRESS of
another community we were called to
assist Sheltered in a private lodging
(maison bourgeoise) to the number. of
twenty, among whom one-:hirc at
least were sick, aged or infirm. after
selling, to secure their daily subsist-
ence, the furniture and other objects
that could hardly be spaced those re-
hslous women were reduced II such a
condition as to be unable to pay the
rent of the house and were Offering for
sale their sacred vessels, ,.halice cib,-
rum, relic case, ostensoriuu. these nh
Jects being their last fortune and n,ost
dear to them not on account of thei
intrinsic value, but of their sacred
service, and also because they were
gifts bestowed upon their community
by the Duchess of Montmorency.
Another one given up by its henc-
factors iD-FSance. having no other re- |
sources than the value of some posted |
money orders that reached them after
many letters sent to France. and the
few francs, morsels of bread. vrgsta-
bles and remnants of food collected by !
their two lay sisters O)u.ieses): since |
this community unable to maintain lis |
two lay sisters, was obliged t. rart |
with them; and the rules forbiddiug |
them to go out, they found themselves |
IN perfect seclusion and with no other
resource than waiting until some
neighbor might come in the morning |
and help them in their distress.
Another writes US: so far we had
been able to do some work CT embroi-
derry and other needle work for scne
families in France devoted to us. We
lost, three weeks ago, one of our most
Skilltul hands, good sister who GER
-alnly overworkad herself, Increasing
thereby the stomach complain. that
carried her away after incredible suf-
-erings; we have still certain num-
Der of sick, the others work even dur
ng the night but women's labor is So
cheap; and the profit is still Iessened
~ correspondence, transportation and
ariff expenses. Our religious excr
Uses do not allow us to work the
whole day, and so, IN spite of all orr
Efforts, we are unable to provide fo~
)ur wants"