The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-04-27
CATHOLIC SISTERHOODS
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKiN.

I them whatever is not used in the culinary
| department
From the motherhouse Of the Sisters Of
| Charity Of Nazareth Kentucky. has IA
dated an influence which well illustrates
| the history and growth OF the various sis
| terhoods- It was established in lSlE- with
| Mother Spalding at its head she was
only nineteen years old at the time Inc
! early sisterhoOd spent great deal of
| their time spinning and weaving for the
| seminaTianS. and they we're all trained
! that cooking and such work-the DONG OF
/ common work uncommOnlE Weti-Was ds
I honorable as teaching or as being accom-
/ plished in music
In establishing branch houses the sis
| ters had to undergo many hard expert
/ ences. When the three sisters JOurneyed
/ to Union county IN 1890 to establish What
/ IS now the beautiful st. Nincents acad-
| envy. they travelled 40 miles on horseback,
| carrying across their saddles their Work
| aprons transformed into bags which con-
| tanned their clothing, few Kitchen uten-
sis and schOolrOOm accessories Al the
end of their journey they found the mouse
| they were to occupy not vacated. and they
had to clean out log hut which had been
/ used as chicken house. before they could
rest This hut was their home for some
months They taught out-of-doors for
some time when the weather permitted.
/ From the log house at Nazareth and the
/ hen roOst at St Vincent. the community
/ has grown to the point where Il has "a
members. 20 novices and 16 postulants. 1t
| has So local branch houses in the arch
| diocese of Boston and Baltimore, and IN
the dioceses of Columbus, Covington, Lit
| tie Rock, Louisville, Nashville, Natchez
I and Richmond
The UrsuIine Nuns, the Gray Nuns Of
Canada and the Sisters Of NOtre Dame de
Namur are among the other leading or
| ders of sisterhOOd. 1t was to the latter
order that was entrusted the task of
founding Trinity College for Women at
Washington. the. first church institution
for the higher education Of women The
Little Sisters Of the Assumption. a New
York order, has a beautiful work They
go out into the homes Of the poverty
stricken and nurse, take care of children
and cook. taking no fee therefor. not even
accepting their own food. 1t is their mot
to that the poorer the people the surer
/ the claim on their charity. The Bon Sc
cours are an order of sisters who nurse
in the families Of the well-tO-do, accepting
paw therefor. which goes to the order and
not to the individual sister.
When the Catholic church first tried to
plant sisterhoods in America, they found
great opposition, even among its own peo-
pie. The English Carmelites were the
first 70 arrive reaching Baltimore in l3yJ
But they were a clustered order, and met
with SO many disbursements that they
did not succeed. After them came the
Poor Ciaires. They were also ciOis-
tered order, and failed to gain foothold.
But out Of their efforts grew the new
community to which DR.. Meals gave the
rule OF the Visitation order. which has
flourished ever since. and embraces the
I
BY 1920 only five orders had succeeded
in getting a fOOthOld on American soil
a score of years later the native Ameri-
can spirit began to be felt and 1t re-
suited in the burning of the convent of
the Ursullne nuns in Boston. About this
time there were many people VINO went
about claiming that they had been men,
bers Of the religious orders Of the church,
both for men and women. and pictured
narrowing tales of what had happened
The native Americans were only too glad
to spread these tales. Some of them
were investigated by Protestant newspa-
per men, and found to be without founda-
ton. One OF the women who had taken
a leading role in denOuncing the nuns
and claiming to have been in convent
herself was found to have been a no
tOriOus character who had never been in
side a convent.
The women of the Catholic church are
far ahead of the men in work along these
lines 1t is said there are five times az
many women in American territory who
have devoted their lives to the work Of
the church as there are men. There are
certainly five times as many orders Of
sisterhOOd. Even the negro and the In
dian are not overlooked BY the women.
The sisters Of the Blessed Sacrament look
after the dark races with a particular
care, and there are many beautiful In
dian girls who have Joined the order and
are devOting their lives to its work. 1t
is said that they make excellent sisters,
fully alive to everything that goes to the
uplIU0E OF lNElE race 4 ne ODldte SIS
ters founded in Baltimore many years
ago. was the first order to make the vel
fare Of the negro its special interest.
The Episcopal church has found IL ad-
VantageOus to follow the example of the
Catholics. In England the effort to estab-
fish orders OF sisterhOod has been success
full. and some success has attended sim
liar efforts in America. The DeacOness
Home Of the Lutheran church is another
example of the sisterhOOd principle ap
piled by Professionals
Copyright. 1909. by Frederic J. Hsskin.D
Tomorrow City Beautiful.