How Some French Nuns Live

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 22, 4 June 1908, Page 19

How Some French Nuns Live

It was shown "recently (says"Hhe°keV York ' Freeman s Journal ') Uut ,many of the priests^ Qi • France * wnen thrown upon their own rcsources'^/o'wirig^ to- the ; ' Law of Separation^more tha'n^contrived- to make ends meet some of them being able, e\ en to come to the' aid ot their less fortunate brethren -in other parts of the country. It is inle.resti«g>-to. .no.te.-.too, that many of the dispossessed nuns who "fcacTnOt" Taken their vows and whom it w-as^Jround-- by ;^the -heads vof -various Or~~ ciers impossible ■jjo-.fchous.e, ..owing, : /to : the restricted apace" at their disposal, consequent on ,the exodus of so many religious .trom France,,, are .'.also, doing muclilDetieTthan might have been expected under the 'Unto ward" ' circumstances. '. •> LIt is quite "certain, says 'a writer ±rr 'La Croix' that the great majority of -those t who found it ; necessary to earn -.their livelihood haye^ailoptedV sucti^profesi' sions as- were kindred to the yocati'ons which 'they had " originally wished ] to espouse." 7 'Many, '" for example crossed the Channel and betook, themselves -to training establishments for nurses in junglamL where the profession of hospital nurse ; is" -not"^o'nly held in?- liigh esteem, but is also fairly remunerative. Among the nurses of Great Britain may .be found- members of the nobility and considerably greater numbers of 'tfie" daughters of the middle classes' and the - wen-to-do, than there are in the Protestant convents,, relatively, to the small number .of the latter.- The French Catholic hospitals of London and the greater cities have given positions to many nuns who have been forced to leave their houses in France. Many have '^crossed the -frontier into Belgium, ''where they have, however, met with a certain amount of persecution, which- if not - overt,has at least caused them many - annoyances. The anti-Catholics of Ghent are clamoring for -the visitation by municipal -authorities- of all the houses, and those scenes of anti-clericalism which we read of as being enacted at the present moment in the Eternal Cityj are frequently being repeated ' even among the "people of I this most Flemish and Oathblic of '"Belgian, citi.es. ,-' • Teaching has naturally claimed many of them. There are at present teaching- jn minor schools "of Rhenish Germany, and also in England, lay Sisters who had taken advantage of their "convent days to acquire a fuller knowledge of their" own' and other "languages. China-painting seems to have been chosen by many of the dispossessed ladies as a means of enabling them to live. Many in Lyons and Paris have • obtained positions as pattern-drawers, and not a -few have been employed as embroiderers in many of the churchvestment houses of London," Brussels, Aix-la-Chapelle and Cologne. It is of interest to learn that the anti-clerical spirit stops where the possibility of gain enters into the calculations' of -proprietors' of -large business establishments; and employers of-'. labor.. . The services of former lay Sisters are found by many of the houses to be. thoroughly reliable, and where expert handiwork is- available, it is found -that^fcheir ability exceeds that of the ordinary young women, by many measures. Thus where gold-embroidery + work is called-, for, the deft fingers of the former nim- often,, if not always, excels that of the professional expert.' And the wage.s ? Naturally, advantage^ is taken of the lack of business - experience of " these poor ladies;, and the salaries paid them for -their - ; labor rarely amounts to 'more than a living- =wage.;,, air most cases, indeed, the figures do not allow the. wage-earner to\ indulge in the: luxury of a ■ full -meal ..more than' twice or three times a week, after she has, paid for the rent of her naturally humble lodging..- Thus 15 francs a week, or 12s Gd, .is considered'; an- acceptable. , figure by these . ladie% who ,can-,only jgLve,j:as .-their experience that which was acquired inside the convent walls. In the majority pf ; cases, however, .50.. francs- a^ month — or £2 — is considered acceptable ; sb-.the existence of such laborer^ may ?be bet,ttef-- imagined tha*n. r described. _ It canncrff Sbb f said- of*' -any- -^ dispossessed nmi,-> says our writer, thJMr she-has, ewenr.whem. -the- -opportunity existed" and the ) necessity arose, taken to" a;. worldly life in which temptations exceeded-.- tlfe;-.opportunity for exercises^ of piety. It is declared that several exseminary^ students have availed themselves'-' of their vocal ,and hi|trionid-^tal<jnts,.- to" .adopt i.a stage.-. .-or concert-hall^eal-eer. But i no. nun has? been> known ;to adopt a career, which,. did ? not coincide -with , her loriginal -aspirationsS for " a life of cajlmvjan.d -,gooc(,-works.