The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-02-06
.URsuuNEs OF NEW ORLEANS
AN INTERESTING FEATURE OF
THE RECENT CENTENNIAL
CELEBRATION


One Of the most interesting features
Of the centennial celebration of the
victory Of General Jackson at the bat
tie of New Orleans, was the unveiling
of a bronze tablet in the old Ursuline
Convent in Charities street, in that
city.
That venerable building, the oldest
within the entire limit of the ancient
Louisiana Purchase, stands a monu
ment to the work of the pioneer edu
Gators of women in the United States
the Ursuline Sisters of New Or
leans. That work began nearly two
hundred years ago. On the night be
fore the Battle of New Orleans, the
good Sisters, who had turned their
school-rooms into hospitals to nurse
the wounded, gathered in the Chapel
of Our Lady Of Prompt Succor I'M re
Spouse to the request of General
Jackson, and prayed for the success OF
the American Army. When the battle
was over and General Jackson re-
New Orleans in the ancient Place
d'Armes and at the Cathedral portals
he failed not, Immediately after the
solemn High Mass, to proceed in per-
son to the old Ursuline Convent and
thank the Mother Superioress and
her noble and devoted nuns for their
prayers and all that they were doing
for their country. It was to com
memorate this event, as well as the
great work of the Ursulines in Loui.
siana, that the bronze tablet was
placed upon it's walls by the Louisiana
Historical Society.
The tablet was presented by Miss
Grace King, the distinguished Loui.
siana historian, herself non-Catholic,
but a writer who has never allowed
a spark of bigotry or prejudice to in
fiuence her in chronicling with fidelity
and accuracy the truths of history. In
speaking of the presentation of the
tablet by the Louisiana Historical So
ciety, Miss King, whose gift it was
to the society, paid this beautiful trib-
ute to the Ursulines:
1--WE are doing this because the his
tory of the Ursulines in New Orleans
is so much a part of that culture and
development which made Louisiana
different from other sections of the
country in those days.
'This is the oldest landmark build
ing in the city, the oldest religious
building still in use in the United
States. 1t was begun in 1927 and fin
ished in 1884, established by Louis
XIV for the education of young ladies
in Louisiana. For ninety years, here
and for the same length of time in
the famous old building down on the
river, the Ursulines conducted their
convent before the changing of the
Mississippi levees necessitated build
ing the new institution in the upper
portion of town.
ct is a most fascinating old build
opric for so many years. On the
third floor one may still sec the beds
occupied by the nuns q hundred years
ago. The timber was cut in our for
ests, the original old stairway is built
with nails forged here in the quaint
old smithies.
"The establishment of this convent
was the beginning of the education of
women in this country. 1t was the
thing that made the difference be-
tween the women of New Orleans and
those of other localities of the new
world.
''Here the young daughters of the
settlers received the same brilliant
and accomplished education that they
would have had in Paris, and the nuns
and their charges lived behind those
quiet walls developing culture and its
polish, while episodes of history pass
ed about them"
In her able book, New Orleans,
the Place and the People" Miss King
gives fascinating account of the old
Ursuline Convent and the work of
this noble order, which still continues
in the magnificent new building to
which it removed lately, its important
labors in behalf of religion and edu-
cation in Louisiana. From the heart
of the new and greater convent rose,
on January s, the grand "Te Deum'
in thanksgiving to God that, through
the intercession of Our Blessed Lady
of Prompt Succor, was vouchsafed
the victory to American arms that has
eliminated in century of peace. And
so may it continue for years to come.