BLACK NUNNERY.
Preparations to become a Novice in the Black
Nunnery--Entrance--Occupations of the Novices--The Apartments to which
they had Access--First Interview with Jane Ray--Reverence for the
Superior--Her Reliques--The Holy Good Shepherd or nameless
Nun--Confession of Novices.
At length I determined to become a Black nun, and called upon one of
the oldest priests in the Seminary, to whom I made known my intention.
The old priest to whom I applied was Father Rocque. He is still alive.
He was at that time the oldest priest in the Seminary, and carried the
Bon Dieu, (Good God,) as the sacramental wafer is called. When going to
administer it in any country place, he used to ride with a man before
him, who rang a bell as a signal. When the Canadians heard it, whose
habitations he passed, they would come and prostrate themselves to the
earth, worshipping it as God. He was a man of great age, and wore large
curls, so that he somewhat resembled his predecessor, Father Roue. He
was at that time at the head of the Seminary. This institution is a
large edifice, situated near the Congregational and Black Nunneries,
being on the east side of Notre Dame street. It is the general
rendezvous and centre of all the priests in the District of Montreal,
and, I have been told, supplies all the country with priests as far
down as Three Rivers, which place, I believe, is under the charge of
the Seminary of Quebec. About one hundred and fifty priests are
connected with that of Montreal, as every small place has one priest,
and a number of larger ones have two.
Father Rocque promised to converse with the Superior of the Convent,
and proposed my calling again, at the end of two weeks, at which time I
visited the Seminary again, and was introduced by him to the Superior
of the Black Nunnery. She told me she must make some inquiries, before
she could give me a decided answer; and proposed to me to take up my
abode a few days at the house of a French family in St. Lawrence
suburbs, a distant part of the city. Here I remained about a fortnight;
during which time I formed some acquaintance with the family,
particularly with the mistress of the house, who was a devoted Papist,
and had a high respect for the Superior, with whom she stood on good
terms.
At length, on Saturday morning about ten o'clock, I called and was
admitted into the Black Nunnery, as a novice, much to my satisfaction,
for I had a high idea of a life in a Convent, secluded, as I supposed
the inmates to be, from the world and all its evil influences, and
assured of everlasting happiness in heaven. The Superior received me,
and conducted me into a large room, where the novices, (who are called
in French Postulantes,) were assembled, and engaged in their customary
occupation of sewing.
Here were about forty of them, and they were collected in groups in
different parts of the room, chiefly near the windows; but in each
group was found one of the veiled nuns of the Convent, whose abode was
in the interior apartments, to which no novice was to be admitted. As
we entered, the Superior informed the assembly that a new novice had
come, and she desired any present who might have known me in the world
to signify it.
Two Miss Fougnées, and a Miss Howard, from Vermont, who had been my
fellow-pupils in the Congregational Nunnery, immediately recognised me.
I was then placed in one of the groups, at a distance from them, and
furnished by a nun called Sainte Clotilde, with materials to make a
kind of purse, such as the priests use to carry the consecrated wafer
in, when they go to administer the sacrament to the sick. I well
remember my feelings at that time, sitting among a number of strangers,
and expecting with painful anxiety the arrival of the dinner hour.
Then, as I knew, ceremonies were to be performed, for which I was but
ill prepared, as I had not yet heard the rules by which I was to be
governed, and knew nothing of the forms to be repeated in the daily
exercises, except the creed in Latin, and that imperfectly. This was
during the time of recreation, as it is called. The only recreation
there allowed, however, is that of the mind, and of this there is but
little. We were kept at work, and permitted to speak with each other
only on such subjects as related to the Convent, and all in the hearing
of the old nuns who sat by us. We proceeded to dinner in couples, and
ate in silence while a lecture was read.
The novices had access to only eight of the apartments of the Convent;
and whatever else we wished to know, we could only conjecture. The
sleeping room was in the second story, at the end of the western wing.
The beds were placed in rows, without curtains or anything else to
obstruct the view; and in one corner was a small room partitioned off,
in which was the bed of the night-watch, that is, the old nun that was
appointed to oversee us for the night. In each side of the partition
were two holes, through which she could look out upon us whenever she
pleased. Her bed was a little raised above the level of the others.
There was a lamp hung in the middle of our chamber which showed every
thing to her distinctly; and as she had no light in her little room, we
never could perceive whether she was awake or asleep. As we knew that
the slightest deviation from the rules would expose us to her
observation, as well as to that of our companions, in whom it was a
virtue to betray one another's faults, as well as to confess our own, I
felt myself under a continual exposure to suffer what I disliked, and
had my mind occupied in thinking of what I was to do next, and what I
must avoid.
I soon learned the rules and ceremonies we had to regard, which were
many; and we had to be very particular in their observance. We were
employed in different kinds of work while I was a novice. The most
beautiful specimen of the nuns' manufacture which I saw was a rich
carpet made of fine worsted, which had been begun before my
acquaintance with the Convent, and was finished while I was there. This
was sent as a present to the King of England, as an expression of
gratitude for the money annually received from the government. It was
about forty yards in length, and very handsome. We were ignorant of the
amount of money thus received. The Convent of Grey Nuns has also
received funds from the government, though on some account or other,
had not for several years.
I was sitting by a window at one time, with a girl named Jane M'Coy,
when one of the old nuns cams up and spoke to us in a tone of
liveliness and kindness which seemed strange, in a place where
everything seemed so cold and reserved. Some remark which she made was
evidently intended to cheer and encourage me, and made me think that
she felt some interest in me. I do not recollect what she said, but I
remember it gave me pleasure. I also remember that her manner struck me
singularly. She was rather old for a nun, that is, probably thirty; her
figure large, her face wrinkled, and her dress careless. She seemed
also to be under less restraint than the others, and this, I afterward
found, was the case. She sometimes even set the rules at defiance. She
would speak aloud when silence was required, and sometimes walk about
when she ought to have kept her place: she would even say and do things
on purpose to make us laugh; and although often blamed for her conduct,
had her offences frequently passed over, when others would have been
punished with penances.
I learnt that this woman had always been singular. She never would
consent to take a saint's name on receiving the veil, and had always
been known by her own, which was Jane Ray. Her irregularities were
found to be numerous, and penances were of so little use in governing
her, that she was pitied by some, who thought her partially insane. She
was, therefore, commonly spoken of as mad Jane Ray; and when she
committed a fault, it was often apologized for by the Superior or other
nuns, on the ground that she did not know what she did.
The occupations of a novice in the Black Nunnery are not such as some
of my readers may suppose. They are not employed in studying the higher
branches of education; they are not offered any advantages for storing
their mind, or polishing their manners; they are not taught even
reading, writing, or arithmetic; much less any of the more advanced
branches of knowledge. My time was chiefly employed, at first, in work
and prayers. It is true, during the last year I studied a great deal,
and was required to work but very little; but it was the study of
prayers in French and Latin, which I had merely to commit to memory, to
prepare for the easy repetition of them on my reception, and after I
should be admitted as a nun.
Among the wonderful events which had happened in the Convent, that of
the sudden conversion of a gay young lady of the city into a nun,
appeared to me one of the most remarkable. The story which I first
heard, while a novice, made a deep impression upon my mind. It was
nearly as follows:
The daughter of a wealthy citizen of Montreal was passing the church of
Bon Secours, one evening, on her way to a ball, when she was suddenly
thrown down upon the steps or near the door, and received a severe
shock. She was taken up, and removed first, I think, into the church,
but soon into the Black Nunnery, which she soon determined to join as a
nun; instead, however, of being required to pass through a long
novitiate (which usually occupies about two years and a-half, and is
abridged only where the character is peculiarly exemplary and devout),
she was permitted to take the veil without delay; being declared by God
to a priest to be in a state of sanctity. The meaning of this
expression is, that she was a real saint, and already in a great
measure raised above the world and its influences, and incapable of
sinning, possessing the power of intercession, and being a proper
object to be addressed in prayer. This remarkable individual, I was
further informed, was still in the Convent, though I never was allowed
to see her; she did not mingle with the other nuns, either at work,
worship, or meals; for she had no need of food, and not only her soul,
but her body, was in heaven a great part of her time. What added, if
possible, to the reverence and mysterious awe with which I thought of
her, was the fact I learned, that she had no name. The titles used in
speaking of her were, the holy saint, reverend mother, or saint bon
pasteur (the holy good shepherd).
It is wonderful that we could have carried our reverence for the
Superior as far as we did, although it was the direct tendency of many
instructions and regulations, indeed of the whole system, to permit,
even to foster a superstitious regard for her.
One of us was occasionally called into her room, to cut her nails or
dress her hair; and we would often collect the clippings, and
distribute them to each other, or preserve them with the utmost care. I
once picked up all the stray hairs I could find, after combing her
head, bound them together, and kept them for some time, until she told
me I was not worthy to possess things so sacred. Jane McCoy and I were
once sent to alter a dress for the Superior. I gathered up all the bits
of thread, made a little bag, and put them into it for safe
preservation. This I wore a long time around my neck, so long, indeed,
that I wore out a number of strings, which, I remember, I replace with
new ones. I believed it to possess the power of removing pain, and
often prayed to it to cure the tooth-ache, &c. Jane Ray sometimes
professed to outgo us all in devotion to the Superior, and would pick
up the feathers after making her bed. These she would distributed among
us, saying, "When the Superior dies, reliques will begin to grow
scarce, and you had better supply yourselves in season." Then she would
treat the whole matter in some way to turn it into ridicule. Equally
contradictory would she appear, when occasionally she would obtain
leave from the Superior to tell her dreams. With a serious face, which
sometimes imposed upon all of us, and made us half believe she was in a
perfect state of sanctity, she would narrate in French some
unaccountable vision which she said she had enjoyed. Then turning
round, would say, "There are some who do not understand me; you all
ought to be informed." And then she would say something totally
different in English, which put us to the greatest agony for fear of
laughing. Sometimes she would say that she expected to be Superior
herself, one of these days, and other things which I have not room to
repeat.
While I was in the Congregational Nunnery, I had gone to the parish
church whenever I was to confess; for although the nuns had a private
confession-room in the building, the boarders were taken in parties
through the streets on different days by some of the nuns, to confess
in the church; but in the Black Nunnery, as we had a chapel and priests
attending in the confessionals, we never left the building.
Our confessions there as novices, were always performed in one way, so
that it may be sufficient to describe a single case. Those of us who
were to confess at a particular time, took our places on our knees near
the confessional-box, and after having repeated a number of prayers,
&c., prescribed in our books, came up one at a time and kneeled beside
a fine wooden lattice-work, which entirely separated the confessor from
us, yet permitted us to place our faces almost to his ear, and nearly
concealed his countenance from view, even when so near. I recollect how
the priests used to recline their heads on one side, and often covered
their faces with their handkerchiefs, while they heard me confess my
sins, and put questions to me, which were often of the most improper
and even revolting nature, naming crimes both unthought of and inhuman.
Still, strange as it may seem, I was persuaded to believe that all this
was their duty, or at least that it was done without sin.
Veiled nuns would often appear in the chapel at confession; though, as
I understood, they generally confessed in private. Of the plan of their
confession-rooms I had no information; but I supposed the ceremony to
be conducted much on the same plan as in the chapel and in the church,
viz. with a lattice interposed between the confessor and the confessing.
Punishments were sometimes resorted to, while I was a novice, though
but seldom. The first time I ever saw a gag, was one day when a young
novice had done something to offend the Superior. This girl I always
had compassion for; because she was very young, and an orphan. The
Superior sent for a gag, and expressed her regret at being compelled,
by the bad conduct of the child, to proceed to such a punishment; after
which she put it into her mouth, so far as to keep it open, and then
let it remain some time before she took it out. There was a leathern
strap fastened to each end, and buckled to the back part of the head.