=PROTESTANT CHILDREN IN THE CONVENTS AND | NUNNERIES OF ROME.=
We read in the history of Paganism that parents were often, in those
dark ages, slaying their children upon the altars of their gods, to
appease their wrath or obtain their favors. But we now see a stranger
thing. It is that of Christian parents forcing their children into the
temples and to the very feet of the idols of Rome, under the fallacious
notion of having them educated! While the Pagan parent destroyed only
the temporal life of his child, the Christian parent, for the most part,
destroys his eternal life. The Pagan was consistent: he believed in the
almighty power and holiness of his gods; he sincerely THOUGHT that they
ruled the world, and that they blessed both the victims and those who
offered them. But where is the consistency of the Protestant who drags
his child and offers him as a sacrifice on the altars of the Pope! Does
he believe in his holiness or in his supreme and infallible power of
governing the intelligence? Then why does he not go and throw himself at
his feet and increase the number of his disciples? The Protestants who
are guilty of this great wrong are wont to say, as an excuse, that the
superiors of colleges and convents have assured them that their
religious convictions would be respected, and that nothing should be
said or done to take away or even shake the religion of their children.
Our first parents were not more cruelly deceived by the seductive words
of the serpent than the Protestants are this day by the deceitful
promises of the priests and nuns of Rome.
I had been myself the witness of the promise given by our superior to a
judge of the State of New York, when, a few days later that same
superior, the Rev. Mr. Leprohon, said to me: “You know some English, and
this young man knows French enough to enable you to understand each
other. Try to become his friend and to bring him over to our holy
religion. His father is a most influential man in the United States, and
this, his only son, is the heir of an immense fortune. Great results for
the future of the Church in the neighboring republic might follow his
conversion.”
I replied: “Have you forgotten the promise you have made to his father,
never to say or do anything to shake or take away the religion of that
young man?”
My superior smiled at my simplicity, and said: “When you shall have
studied theology you will know that Protestantism is not a religion, but
that it is the negation of religion. Protesting cannot be the basis of
any doctrine. Thus, when I promised Judge Pike that the religious
convictions of his child should be respected, and that I would not do
anything to change his faith, I did promise the easiest thing in the
world, since I promised not to meddle with a thing _which has no
existence_.”
Convinced, or rather blinded, by the reason of my superior, which is the
reasoning of every superior of a college or nunnery, I set myself to
work from that moment to make a good Roman Catholic of that young
friend; and I would probably have succeeded, had not a serious illness
forced him, a few months after, to go home, where he died.
Protestants who may read these lines will, perhaps, be indignant against
the deceit and knavery of the Superior of the College of Nicolet. But I
will say to those Protestants, it is not on that man, but on yourselves,
that you must pour your contempt. The Rev. Mr. Leprohon was honest. He
acted conformably to principles which he thought good and legitimate,
and for which he would have cheerfully given the last drop of his blood.
He sincerely believed that your Protestantism is a mere negation of all
religion, worthy of the contempt of every true Christian. It was not the
priest of Rome who was contemptible, dishonest and a traitor to his
principles, but it was the Protestant who was false to his gospel and to
his own conscience by having his child educated by the servants of the
Pope. Moreover, can we not truthfully say that the Protestant who wishes
to have his children bred and educated by a Jesuit or a nun _is a man of
no religion_? and that nothing is more ridiculous than to hear such a
man begging respect for his _religious principles_! A man’s ardent
desire to have his religious convictions respected is best known by his
respecting them himself.
The Protestant who drags his children to the feet of the priests of Rome
is either a disguised infidel or a hypocrite. It is simply ridiculous
for such a man to speak of his religious convictions, or beg respect for
them. His very humble position at the feet of a Jesuit or a nun, begging
respect for his faith, is a sure testimony that he has none to lose. If
he had any he would not be there, an humble and abject suppliant. He
would take care to be where there could be no danger to his dear child’s
immortal soul.
When I was in the Church of Rome, we often spoke of the necessity of
making superhuman efforts to attract young Protestants into our colleges
and nunneries, as the shortest and only means of ruling the world before
long. And as the mother has in her hands, still more than the father,
the destinies of the family and of the world, we were determined to
sacrifice everything in order to build nunneries all over the land,
where the young girls, the future mothers of our country, would be
moulded in our hands and educated according to our views.
Nobody can deny that this is supreme wisdom. Who will not admire the
enormous sacrifices made by Romanists in order to surround the nunneries
with so many attractions that it is difficult to refuse them preference
above all other female scholastic establishments? One feels so well in
the shade of these magnificent trees during the hot days of summer! It
is so pleasant to live near this beautiful sheet of water, or the rapid
current of that charming river, or to have constantly before one’s eyes
the sublime spectacle of the sea! What a sweet perfume the flowers of
that parterre diffuse around that pretty and peaceful convent! And,
besides, who can withstand the almost angelic charms of the Lady
Superior! How it does one good to be in the midst of those holy nuns,
whose modesty, affable appearance, and lovely smile present such a
beautiful spectacle, that one would think of being at heaven’s gate
rather than in a world of desolation and sin!
O foolish man! Thou art always the same—ever ready to be seduced by
glittering appearances—ever ready to suppress the voice of thy
conscience at the first view of a seductive object!
One day I had embarked in the boat of a fisherman on the coast of one of
those beautiful islands which the hand of God has placed at the mouth of
the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In a few minutes the white sail, full-blown by
the morning breeze, had carried us nearly a mile from the shore. There
we dropped our anchor, and soon our lines, carried by the current,
offered the deceitful bait to the fishes. But not one would come. One
would have thought that the sprightly inhabitants of these limpid waters
had acted in concert to despise us. In vain did we move our lines to and
fro to attract the attention of the fishes; not one would come! We were
tired. We lamented the prospect of losing our time, and being laughed at
by our friends on the shore who were waiting the result of our fishing
to dine. Nearly one hour was spent in this manner, when the captain
said, “Indeed, I will make the fishes come.”
Opening a box, he took out handfuls of little pieces of finely-cut
fishes, and threw them broadcast on the water.
I was looking at him with curiosity, and I received with a feeling of
unbelief, the promise of seeing, in a few moments, more mackerel than I
could pick up. These particles of fish, falling upon the water,
scattered themselves in a thousand different ways. The rays of the sun,
sporting among these numberless fragments, and thousands of scales, gave
them a singular whiteness and brilliancy. They appeared like a thousand
diamonds, full of movement and life, that sported and rolled themselves,
running at each other, while rocking upon the waves.
As these innumerable little objects withdrew from us they looked like
the milky way in the firmament. The rays of the sun continued to be
reflected upon the scales of the fishes in the water, and to transform
them into as many pearls, whose whiteness and splendor made an agreeable
contrast with the deep green color of the sea.
While looking at that spectacle, which was so new to me, I felt my line
jerked out of my hands, and soon had the pleasure of seeing a
magnificent mackerel lying at my feet. My companions were as fortunate
as I was. The bait so generously thrown away had perfectly succeeded in
bringing us not only hundreds, but thousands of fishes, and we caught as
many of them as the boat could carry.
The Jesuits and the nuns are the Pope’s cleverest fishermen, and the
Protestants are the mackerels caught upon their baited hooks. Never
fisherman knew better to prepare the perfidious bait than the nuns and
Jesuits, and never were stupid fishes more easily caught than
Protestants in general.
The priests of Rome themselves boast that more than half of the pupils
of the nuns are the children of Protestants, and that seven-tenths of
those Protestant children, sooner or later, become the firmest disciples
and the true pillars of popery in the United States. It is with that
public and undeniable fact before them that the Jesuits have prophesied
that before twenty-five years the pope will rule that great republic;
and if there is not a prompt change their prophecy will probably be
accomplished.
“But,” say many Protestants, “where can we get safer securities that the
morals of our girls will be sheltered than in those convents? The faces
of those good nuns, their angelic smiles, even their lips, from which
seems to flow a perfume from heaven—are not these the unfailing signs
that nothing will taint the hearts of our dear children when they are
under the care of those holy nuns?”
Angelic smiles! Lips from which flow a perfume from heaven! Expressions
of peace and holiness of the good nuns! Delusive allurements! Cruel
deceptions! Mockery of comedy! Yes, _all_ these angelic smiles, all
these expressions of joy and happiness, are but allurements to deceive
honest but too trusting men!
I believed myself for a long time that there was something true in all
the display of peace and happiness which I saw reflected in the faces of
a good number of nuns. But how soon my delusions passed away when I read
with my own eyes, in a book of the _secret rules_ of the convent, that
one of their rules is _always_, especially in the presence of strangers,
to have an appearance of joy and happiness, even when the soul is
overwhelmed with grief and sorrow! The motives given to the nuns for
thus wearing a continual mask, is to secure the esteem and respect of
the people, and to win more securely the young ladies to the convent!
All know the sad end of life of one of the most celebrated female
comedians of the American theatre. She had acted her part in the evening
with a perfect success. She appeared so handsome and so happy on the
stage! Her voice was such a perfect harmony; her singing was so merry
and lively with mirth! Two hours later she was a corpse! She had
poisoned herself on leaving the theatre! For some time her heart was
broken with grief which she could not bear.
Thus it is with the nun in her cell! forced to play a sacrilegious
comedy to deceive the world and to bring new recruits to the monastery.
And the Protestants, the disciples of the gospel, the children of light,
suffer themselves to be deceived by this impious comedy.
The poor nun’s heart is often full of sorrow, and her soul is drowned in
a sea of desolation; but she is obliged, under oath, always to appear
gay! Unfortunate victim of the most cruel deception that has ever been
invented. That poor daughter of Eve, deprived of all the happiness that
heaven has given, tortured night and day by honest aspirations, which
she is told are unpardonable sins, she has not only to suppress in
herself the few buds of happiness which God has left in her soul, but
what is more cruel, she is forced to appear happy in anguish of shame
and of deception.
Ah! if Protestants could know, as I do, how much the hearts of those
nuns bleed, how much those poor victims of the pope feel themselves
wounded to death, how almost every one of them die at an early age,
broken-hearted, instead of speaking of their happiness and holiness,
they would weep at their profound misery. Instead of helping Satan to
build up and maintain those sad dungeons by giving both their gold and
their children, they would let them crumble into dust, and thus check
the torrents of silent though bitter tears which those cells hide from
our view.
I was traveling in 1851 over the vast prairies of Illinois in search of
a spot which would suit us the best for the colony which I was about to
found. One day my companions and myself found ourselves so wearied by
the heat that we resolved to wait for the cool night in the shade of a
few trees around a brook. The night was calm; there were no clouds in
the sky, and the moon was beautiful. Like the sailor upon the sea, we
had nothing but our compass to regulate our course on those beautiful
and vast prairies. But the pen cannot express the emotions I felt while
looking at that beautiful sky and those magnificent deserts opened to
our view.
We often came to sloughs which we thought deeper than they really were,
and of which we would keep the side for fear of drowning our horses.
Many a time did I get down from the carriage and stop to contemplate the
wonders which those ponds presented to our view.
All the splendors of the sky seemed brought down in those pure and
limpid waters. The moon and the stars seemed to have left their places
in the firmament to bathe themselves in those delightful lakelets. All
the purest, the most beautiful things of the heavens seemed to come down
to hide themselves in those tranquil waters as if in search of more
peace and purity.
A few days later I was retracing my steps. It was daytime, and following
the same route, I was longing to get to my charming little lakes. But
during the interval the heat had been great, the sun very hot, and my
beautiful sheets of water had been dried up. My dear little lakes were
nowhere to be seen.
And what did I find instead? Innumerable reptiles, with the most hideous
forms and filthy colors! No brilliant stars, no clear moon were there
any more to charm my eyes. There was nothing left but thousands of
little toads and snakes, at the sight of which I was filled with disgust
and horror!
Protestants! when upon life’s way you are tempted to admire the smiling
lips and unstained faces of the pope’s nuns, please think of those
charming lakes which I saw on the prairies of Illinois, and remember the
innumerable reptiles and toads which swarm at the bottom of those
deceitful waters.
When, by the light of divine truth, Protestants see behind these perfect
mockeries by which the nun conceals with so much care the hideous misery
which devours her heart, they will understand the folly of having
permitted themselves to be so easily deceived by appearances. Then they
will bitterly weep for having sacrificed to that modern Paganism the
future welfare of their children, of their families and of their
country!
“But,” says one, “the education is so cheap in the nunnery.” I answer,
“The education in convents, were it twice cheaper than it is now, would
still cost twice more than it is worth. It is in this circumstance that
we can repeat and apply the old proverb, ‘Cheap things are always too
highly paid for.’”
In the first place, the intellectual education in the nunnery is
completely null. The great object of the pope and the nuns is to
captivate and destroy the intelligence.
The moral education is also of no account; for what kind of morality can
a young girl receive from a nun who believes that she can live as she
pleases as long as she likes it—that nothing evil can come of her,
neither in this life nor in the next, provided only she is devout to the
Virgin Mary?
Let Protestants read the “Glories of Mary,” by St. Liguori, a book which
is in the hands of every nun and every priest, and they will understand
what kind of morality is practiced and taught inside the walls of the
Church of Rome. Yes, let them read the history of that lady who was so
well represented at home by the Holy Virgin that her husband did not
perceive that she had been absent, and they will have some idea of what
their children may learn in a convent.