Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-07-18
A Religious Who
Was Great in War
and Persecution
Superior-General of the Order
of the Sacred Heart a
Heroine.

From a Frenehman, one who had
fought IN the Franco-Prussian war,
and whose dearest possession was the
bound volume of ILLUSTRATION. con-
tanning the illustrated record Of that
war. We first heard Of the heroic,
though youthful. mother superior of
the House of the Sacred Heart at
Marmutier. This Frenchman, whose
own mother was long one of the
best known teachers of the French
language in New York. was one Of
the soldiers engaged in the defense
Of Tours. which the Germans at
lacked with such ferocity. There
he saw Mother Mabel Digby, TO
whose youthful lot it fell TO face the
perils Of war and organize the care
Of the wounded
The verdict of this man was Of
value when he declared that Of all
the brave officers and men that he
had seen the mother superior was
the peer, for the Frenchman was a
cynic and scoffer, and all who wore
the garb Of monk or nun he regarded,
as rule. with Unrighteous contempt.
There has now been written life
of the superior general by Anne
Potten, and while the author betrays
her devotion 10 the memory OF her
heroine She, as a woman. descends
to TOO much trivial detail and in
vests her book with too trivial tone
to make it a worthy biography OF
a great and wonderful woman.
If the mother superior was cou-
rsgeous in war when aiding the
wounded. her fortitude was not less
remarkable in the last years of the
nineteenth century. when the French
fee no
lentlessly carried out that scheme of
persecution which ended in the ex-
pulsion of the congregations from
France. Then it was that Mother
Mabel Digby exhibited that grand
commixture of bravery and worldly
wisdom which enabled her to steady
the courage of her order. to direct
its conduct and to safeguard its
vows.
The biography of a religious, says
the Athenaeum, must. in most cases
appeal aaply to that somewhat re-
stricted circle of persons who care
for the special aims and practises TO
which its subject is devoted But that
of Mother Digby should interest
much wider public, as may be judged
from the introduction to this article.
In the first place, the manner of her
conversion-while not unexampled.
nor. perhaps. from the point of view
of a nun OF the Sacred Heart. TO be
preferred as a grace from God 10
, many another less startling-has in
IL those characteristics of the mys-
FERROUS and the dramatic which can
not fail TO set anyone musing
Authenticated as the story is, and
what is more. borne out by further
coynate experience in Mother Dtgby 8
I n in
GUIDED by the student of religion IN
his dossier of evidence concerning that
department of human psychology.
She Was of Noble Blood
/ Mother Digby had one great advan-
tege in her life. She came of good
| blood and one may say of her as OF so
many other of the heroic women OF
| France-noblesse oblige. And to this
adv antage of birth Mother Digby un-
tdoubtedly owed much, as well as to
her early training.
As a girl she was a daring eques-
J trienne. and her father, who idolized
her. and yet was severity itself In
teaching such an accomplis hment, as
the manager, once found it in him TO
/ bring the lash of his riding whip
I stingingly down upon her childish
fingers because she dared to clutch
at the pommel of her saddle to save
herself from falling off her FESTIVE
pony.
Mother Digby's family had been
! living for. several years in France
j when. in 1857. she entered the novi-
tiate of the Society of the Sacred
Heart. She became Mother Superior
/ al Marmoutier in 1865, and, in 1877,
\ after the sorrows of the war and stlll
! greater sorrows of the Commune, was
/ transferred to the house at Roehamp-
| ton. which she governed until, In 1898.
she was summoned back to France
| as assistant superior general
Perhaps the most important work
she achieved during her tenure OF
office at Roehampton was the founda-
ton of the Wandsworth Training Col
| lege. to provide Roman Catholic
teachers able to fulfill the demands of
the Board of Education, for elemen-
j tary schools.
In 1895 she was unanimously elected
superior general, and thenceforth her
life was one of incessant and multi
piled care and, as well, of incessant
travelling.
But the great work for which
Mother Digby will be especially re-
membered was her leadership of the
society during the years OF religious
crisis in France. Forever memorable
is her reply to the liquidators IN
Paris. when she said in fiery protest,
all the noble blood in her veins boil
ing with indignation, Our rights are
unprescriptible,"
Under the stress of the persecution
this noble superior general never lost
her heart nor her courage. She carried
out completely the task then laid
upon her. For each of the forty
eight houses she was called upon &c
close, she founded another beyond the
borders of France and not only Sc
cured for each of the professed the
continuance, in its original conditions,
of her life as a religious. but also re-
fused either to disband the novices OF
to send away postulants themselves.
Her good judgment, her foresight
her powers of invention, and her I'M
alterable serenity proved equal tc
, every demand upon them.
That she achieved so much, nay
merely. that she lived to the age OF
seventy-six, is thing to be won
dered at, since her health was of tbs
frailest.
splendid and highly trained
nurse. able TO do anything required oil
her at the most difficult operations
she was held in peculiar esteem by
doctors and surgeons.
She was marked out as leader BY
her extraordinary power in sustaining
others, by her keen, intuitive sympa'
thy. and her splendid memory. IL !:
clear, also, that she had the peculiar
gift of being able to do much and 4
bestow much in short spaces OF time
But she made great demands upoI
her noyices. She would endure M
laundering after petty comforts anS
what may often have been more dim
cult to comply with, no shyness, He
practical wisdom and knowledge o
affairs and of society were great; he
humor ready, her kindness withou
end.