The convent of the Esperanza enclosed within its gloomy walls one of the
fairest forms that nature ever moulded. Her name was Claudia; she had just
completed her sixteenth year, and now shone forth in all the bloom of
health and beauty. Her full black eyes, and her long dark hair, which,
partly concealed by her religious dress of a pensioner, escaped in flowing
ringlets over her snowy shoulders, embellishing a countenance whence
beamed such harmony of features and enchanting delicacy of expression, as
indicated the purity and peace that reigned within. The Esperanza soon
became my favourite spot, and I felt convinced nature never formed this
angel to be immured within the walls of a convent; nor would she have been
destined to pass the remainder of her life in its obscure recesses, but
for the unnatural avarice of her parents--a custom still too prevalent, to
secure the wealth of a family to one branch.
During my stay in this town, I had an opportunity of witnessing the
ceremony of a girl taking the habit of a nun. After mass, the grate of the
chapel of the Esperanza was thrown open, and there appeared all the holy
sisters dressed in black. The girl alone who was about to take the habit
was in white; and, in front of all the others, knelt down before a table,
on which was placed the cross. The abbate, from the outside, now addressed
her in a long extempore charge, in which he pointed out the duties of the
situation she was about to enter, and forcibly set forth the advantages of
it; while he painted, in the strongest and most seducing colours, the
superior happiness of renouncing the profane world, and of passing her
time in a quiet and religious way, alone devoted to the service of her
Maker. She was not more than twenty years of age, and, during the whole
ceremony, her countenance, which was pleasing, bore the evident marks of
inward satisfaction and holy veneration. The nuns, who before had been
standing round the chapel, each holding a burning taper, now tenderly
embraced their intended sister, and placed the crown of virginity upon her
temples, when an anathema, was with great solemnity, pronounced against
all who should attempt to make her break her vows. The impressive ceremony
which thus excludes youth and beauty in a cloister, closes with the solemn
notes of the organ, accompanied by the harmonious voices of the nuns as
they conduct their new sister to her lonely cell.
This awful solemnity wears a supernatural grandeur. The gloom of the
chapel is faintly relieved by the tapers of the sisters; the vaulted roof
is just discernible in a pale blue light, rendered terrific by the
splendour of the altar blazing with a hundred illuminated torches; while
the lofty peals of the deep-toned organ, swell round the echoing cloisters
with "_Il cantar che nell' anima si sente_;" and the "rapt senses are
confounded in idolatrous wonder."
_Peninsular Sketches_.
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