The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-01-11
THE HEROINE OF THE CRIMEA

lHE HtRUINE Ut IhE GRIMtA
Sister Mary Stanislaus Joseph, who
was Florence Nightingale's right hand
throughout the noble work of nursing
in the Crimea, celebrated her nine
tieth birthday recently in the Convent
of St. John and st. Elizabeth, at st.
Johns Wood, London, N. w. In self
sacrifice and in what proved far more
useful talent for organization and
management-Siste Stanislaus was
not whit behind the noble woman
upon whose name has been showered
all the glory of that crusade of the
Crimea.
Florence Nightingale herself was
never slow to speak, with gratitude of
the devoted band of Sisters of Mercy
who enabled her to crown her great
enterprise with success, and until her
death she was a firm friend Of the
venerable lady who is now spending
her declining years in St. Johns
Wood.
| Deaf and Almost Blind.
Sister Stanislaus is deaf, and her
sight in going, but her eyes light up
when visited by the few intimate
friends of her old age, and with them
she manages to carry on lively con-
versation. She celebrated her nine
tieth birthday by coming out of her
retreat and joining all the Sisters at
dinner, and there were some speeches
by the Sisters in honor of their guest.
This gave the venerable woman great
pleasure.
There are few women who can look
back upon such life, so crowded
with work of public usefulness. 1t
was largely through her aid that Flor
ence Nightingale achieved so much;
it was largely through her efforts that
the Hospital of st. John and st. Eliza
beth was established, and it was she
who set going st. Mary's Orphanage
at Walthamstow.
She entered the convent of the Ber-
mondsey Sisters of Mercy on August
81, 1916, and made her religious pro-
fession at the hands of Bishop Wise
man, afterward the celebrated Car
dinal In the movement for succoring
the British troops in the Crimea, Bish-
op Grant enlisted the aid of the Ber-
mondsey Sisters, and several of them,
including Sister Stanislaus, embarked
on October Is, 1854, for France
through which they travelled to Mar
settles.
She arrived with Miss Nightingale
at Scutaria the day before Inkerman,
choked with wounded and disease
stricken soldiers. She often stood
guard over dying soldier. There
were no chairs She sat on the mud
floor in some of the hospital shanties,
and protected her charge from the at
tacks of rats. Many a melancholy
testament did she send home to sor-
rowing relatives, written by the dim
light of an oil lamp. She stayed in
the Crimea administering to the sick
right up to the end of the war, return
ing to England in 1856.
Hospital in London.
She soon found fresh outlet for
her energies, for Cardinal Wiseman
and the late Duke of Norfolk invited
the Sisters of ST. Elizabeth to found
hospital for women and children.
This they did, with Sister Stanislaus
as the leading spirit in the enterprise,
and for years the hospital did good
work in Great Ormond Street, w. G.
Then the Hospital of St. Elizabeth
of Hungary became associated with
the Order of st. John and took the
double name, the Sisters wearing the
maltese cross-eight points of silver
on black field. The development of
the children's hospital necessitated
the removal in 1898 Of the st. John
Hospital to st. Johns Wood. With it
went the church, stone by stone and
brick by brick, and now hospital, con-
vent and church lie compactly and
conveniently facing Lords cricket
ground
For many years she was superin-
tendent of this hospital, which now
comprises six wards and a fine fiat
roof affording a splendid view of the
metropolis.
For two long periods Sister Stanis-
laus was superintendent of St. Mary's
Orphanage, where she first went in
1884.
One of Florence Nightingale's acts
on reaching her golden jubilee was to
send a gift of $500 to her old friend
of the Crimea, and Sister Stanislaus
devoted the money to the orphanage.
She is now the sole survivor of the
English Sisters of Mercy who accom-
panied Florence Nightingale to the
Crimea.