THE FRENCH PERSECUTION A NUN'S PATHETIC STORY

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 16, 18 April 1907, Page 11

THE FRENCH PERSECUTION A NUN'S PATHETIC STORY

The aggressive atheists who are engaged in the task of ' hunting Christ ' out of France are thorough-going m the callous inhumanity of the means which they employ. At one stroke, for instance, they deprive tihe parochial clergy of the slender budget allowance (averaging £36 per annum) which was not a salary^in the ordinary acceptance of the term, but represented interest? at the rate of one per cent, per annum on Church property seized- and devoted to secular uses during the great Revolution. Having thus deprived the clergy of their slender living, the. Christ-hunters drove them from their presbyteries at the' "point of the bayonet, confiscated all their belongings, down to the iron spoons and rendered homeless and penniless, the Government actualit* KP* P. roseci V td <wis against any of them, whom ™LL y nx^ e f . a e? nts succeeded in finding • guilty ' of the «nf nn° f .soliciting or receiving voluntary offerings on any .occasion whatever from- the faithful for their nelw£\rZ P V- a A Si - mi ! ar course °< «**» wa fot lowed under the Associations .Law, in regard to the members of religious Orders. They too were drivS

' Thi * New Year's publications ia Paris included a work entitled , • _, " The Diary of an Exiled Nun," - • which did hot require a preface by one of France's most popular poets, namely Francois Ooppee,,to ensure it being widely read by the public, it is the work of a Sister who veils her personality from the public, and relates in detail those events which " took " place on the eve of the forcible entry by Governmental officials into the convent in order to' eject "the nuns. Father Suau, reviewing the work, in the " Etudes " (Paris), admits that not even Matilda tserao's " lister Paul of the Ccoss " has caused in him so- much emotion as this simple journal. In it, the whole pathos of ejection, or eviction,, is tdldT with an absence of- literary pretension Which gives the _ work" not • only a distinct literary charm, but " a _vivid picture of the whole sordid story of governmental oppression. Here, for instance,, is a' passage" which is typical of many and which fails not to convey the scene depicted in acute realism :' ' The commissary .came to the convent with his' Qlerk, each striving to outdo the otjier in incivility and surliness, ?f bh ™ 4 t yen o taking ~ "° a ' hds ha^»^ior even rising when the Mother-Superior entered the parlor. At the expiration of a few moments, however, the commissary- sent his clerk to the town hall to have some documents stamped. As soon as the clerk had left, the commissary quite - changed his attitude, "becoming studiously polite, amiable;- and~ kind, apologising for the painful task which he had to perform, and further showing his - regret. - When his clerk- returned, t/he commissary resumed his previous rigid- demeanor, and both left the convent, without even a bow or a good-day. ". ' The authoress of the " Diary " when thrown upon' the world, having no dowry, ,a<nd being - Entirely Without Means, -"' : '*'-~ tried ior a long, time to find employment,- subsisting] ori^" a "few/ coins which the Mother-Superior dividedTtoetween " them before parting. Having Some acquaintance with art, she endeavored to interest the superintendents of certain schools. Without .avail, however ; tier-great crime? being that she had once been a nun ! She also hacb/- «- aknowledge of china-painting and wore out her awkward" ; shoes running round" the stores day after day- for employment. Most of them rejected-her offers. With no knowledge of the world,- she was satisfied to sell her work for something like the tenth of its real value, the result being that likely employers thought her' wofk : ' -could be of no value whatever, and did not even give ; her a trial. Yet some were glad to get her .work at the price she agreed to toil for ; and- once she obtained a large- order which took her seventeen hours a- f day to complete tn two weeks. A,t the end" of that period she was paid' a sum of .money which 'did not i suffice to meet her humble liabilities for the fortnight. | A fellow-lodger in her- -house, an old workman - over : seventy years old, took compassion on her helplessness | and, as. he possessed a -knowledge of trade-painting, [ gave her a few lessons, which enabled her to weather the storm, for some time. Another lady of the" same Order was even less fortunate.. Over s»ixty years old she had formerly been rich, but had givencher entire fortune m good works. With no surviving relatives, she was thrown upon the world. She .became' a • Servant in a Family, being subsequently promoted to the position of nurse to an invalid, although almost an invalid herself, bent an(cl -growing rapidly into old age. ' Others, amcng the elderly nuns did not^ quite realise, even when \he police were in the convent-halls, what was about toJhappen ; some thought theJßeverend Mother about to -be arrested for heaven knows what delinquency— but as to themselves leaving the, convent— the old home— the place they had chosen to live and die in— never ! It* was impossible. Many of the poor, ladies „ stood staring a t the blatant officials, not knowing where to turn, or wifiat to do. Numbers Had so little suspected the reality of the official warning, that they had " not even prepared their little baggage: Most of them shrank back helplessly when the police entered and with no male protectors to help or advise them, presented a piteous spectacle' which ' moved even their ejectors to tears: Here and there were shabby -worn trunks lying about the halL containing clothes and little relics; baskets filled with food young nuns tear-stained and mute, waiting for the last --order from the Mother to leave,- elderly lay Sisters ■defiant some of them, others upbraiding the officials! And when J/he moment came for the Mother Superior to count her departing flock, one was found absent. Then, there was a scurrying to and fro, through the familiar Halls, along the well-loved corridors with- their silent . statues in their solemn little l.tches, up the stairs

to the empty dormitories and in and out the mournful class-rooms. And yet the missing one "was not to toe found. Then they reraemtbered— the- chapel. There, indeed, 'they found her"; - ' In the Dim, Denuded Chapel, at the lowest of the altar-steps, praydng her' last prayer in the little! shrine which had meant for her all the happiest moments of her simple - existence and which now looted upon the 1 - tragedy of her empty life. Even when they called her, she was hardly conscious of the truth, and the harsh voice of an official was required to make her -realise that the moment had come for her to bid farewell for ever to her convent-home and all its gentle memories. ' It is to little purpose ', adds the ' Freeman ', ' to continue what can prove but a heart-rending tale. Suffice- it to say with Francois Coppee, who -writes the preface to the work, that posterity will learn frofii these simple pages the truth of the deplorable tragedy which is being enacted at this day in Catholic France Heroism is not the monopoly of- the battlefield, nor are its acts apportioned only to strong men. In the great' sad exodus from the' ccnvents of France, there •_* beat under coarse and unpretentious garbfc (thousands' of hearts courageous, the patient heroism of which, knowing no certainty of future nor term' to suspense and sorrow, was knawable only to the Mind that misses nothing.