THE INCARCERATED NUN.

Southland Times, Issue 1149, 18 October 1869, Page 3

THE INCARCERATED NUN.

(From the European Mail). All who live in what is called " the world" are accustomed to look with solemn awe upon the inner life of a convent, and the nun perhaps wins more sympathisers amon? those to whom she is an utter stranger, when persecuted or oppressed, by reason of her self-sacrifice. It is from this point of view that " the world is likely to regard tfte disturbances -^ I have' lately taken place in front ot the Carmelite Convent in Cracow as vernal, especially when it is considered that in the horrible cruelties of which Sister Barbara Übryk was the victim, there was cause sufficient to disturb even the best balanced minds. For twenty-one year* had this poor creature been the mhaoi taut of a cell situated between "the pantry and a dung-hole ;" the window was walled up, and the cell which might have been her grave, was " but seven paces long by six paces wide." Here she lingered out in utter darkness — save when a ray of light flashed through the grating of the door when her persecutors supplied her with food — the re- j meinbrance" of her former self, so that when the poor creature was discovered she was found to be insane. The eell — for it cannot be called a chamber— to which we have alluded, contained all kinds of dirt and filth ; it was neither warmed by a fire nor by the rays of the sun, and was quite innocent of table, bed, or chair. Such was the den which had been selected by women who call themselves the spiritual wives and brides of heaven for one of their sisters. This horrible affair was first brought to the notice of the Vice- President of the Criminal Court on July 20 by an anonymous correspondent, and it is to the credit of the Vice-President that he lost no time in inquiring into the truth of the charge, and took steps to have the matter investigated. When the authorities discovered the poor woman, she folded her arms, and pitifully implored food. " I am hungry," she said, "have pity on me !" and then added, " Give me meat and I shall be obedient." The ju ; ge — who was deeply moved, as well he might be — instantly ordered the nun to be clothed and went himself for Bishop G-alecki. The bishop blushed for the sisterhood, and, turning to the assembled nuns, he vehemently reproached them for their inhumanity. "Is this," be said, what you call love of your neighbor ? Furies, not women, that you are, is it thus that you purpose to enter the kingdom of heaven ?" The nuns ventured to excuse their conduct, but the bishop would not hear them. " Silence, you wretches !" he exclaimed ; away, out of my sight, you who disgrace religion." The bishop and prelate at once suspended the father confessor, and also the superioress, who is descended from an old lionorabie Polish noble family. He then ordered Nun Barbara Übryk to be brought into a clean cell, and there to be dressed wad nursed. When the unhappy sister was led away, she asked anxiously whether 3he would be brought back to her grave. To an inquiry why she had been imprisoned, she answered, '" I have broken the vow of chastity, but," pointing with & fearfully wild gesture, and in great excitement to the sisters, added, " they are not angels." 'lhe investigation has commenced. The lady superior declared that Barbara Übryk was kept in close confinement since 1848, by order of the physician, because of her unsound mind. But this physician died in 1848, and the present physician, Dr Babrzynski, who has been practising in the convent for the last seven years, has never seen Barbara Übryk. Such treatment, in the opinion of the doctors, is sufficient to drive a person mad. On account of the importance of the case, the Attorney- G-enerai has taken the matter in hand. The exasperation of the people knows no bounds. It is stated that the bishop intends to dissolve the convent. The Czar, of Cracow, announces the sudden death of the confessor of the Carmelite nunnery, the principal witness in the affair of Barbara Übryk, by whom indirectly the barbarous imprisonment of the nun was revealed. This man, who is called Father Lewkowicz, lately visited the parish priest of Trzebinia in a state of intoxication, and betrayed tbe secret. The priest, who is a very worthy man, made it immediately known to a cousin of his own in Cracow, and the latter wrote the anonymous letter to the Minister of Justice. The excitement of the people is still so great that the authorities have found it necessary to protect all tbe convents of the town by giving each of them a military guard. The judicial convuissioa appointed to investigate this affair commenced their researches on the 28th July, by going over the convent in company with an escort of police. In passing through a refectory, they discovered, according to a Cracow paper, a secret chamber containing a whole collection of mediaeval instruments of torture. Amongst these are two huge crosses, weighing BOlb. each, which guilty nuns had to wear on their backs as a punishment, two heavy stones of marble to be placed on the chest, and a number of " crowns of thorns" with long and sharp iron nails. There were also several girdles, also fitted with nails pointing inwards, which it is said were worn next the skin by penitents, and a sort of knout for flogging the refractory. The commissioners next proceeded to the chapel, and found in the choir four coffins containing the bodies of former abbesses. The corpses are well preserved, and can be seen through the upper surfaces of the coffin, which are of glass. The inquiry lasted all day, but nothing else worth noticing was discovered. The Krajt a paper published in Cracow, pretends to tiace in the following Btory some connection with the above : In the month of April, 1848, a patrol of the National Guard remarked, about one o'clock in the morning, a travelling j carriage before tbe entrance door of the j Carmelite nunnery* Cariosity and §v*

picion induced the young men on guard to stop the carriage, which was just starting. Two of them went to tbe carriage door, and saw in the carriage two men, one of whom held on his knees a woman in a nun's dress, and having a nightcap on her head ; and when they interrogated th« men in the carriage, the woman jumped out and ran into the courtyard of the convent. One of the guardsmen ran after her, and, in spite i of tier entreaties, would noG let ncr go. The noise awoke the nuns and servants of the convent, and when the nun remarked this. she cried out, "I am lost!" and fainted;. What happened to her afterj wards is unknown. The patroKarrested the two men, and led them towahds the town, but, moved by their entreaties, and seeing in the whole matter but a. love adventure, the patrol, consisting of students of the University, let them go. The Cracow paper now thinks that there i may be some connection between this i adventure, which happened in 18-13, and I the horrible circumstance just discovered, j and that by looking over the lists of the National Guard then existing, and tracing those who were on duty, the connection between the two mieht be established.