CATHOLIC NUNS IN THE CRIMEAN WAR

New Zealand Tablet, 11 January 1912, Page 21

CATHOLIC NUNS IN THE CRIMEAN WAR

; Mother M. Anastasia Kelly, who - died recently in the ; hospital : r ; of the Sisters of Mercy : at t ", St ■■ John's Wood, London, in her 86th year, was one of the few survivors of those- brave f Sisters who went out to Scutari .in ..■; 1854 to help \ Miss Florence; Nightingale in the work of .caring for the sick; and wounded English soldiers during the Crimean ; War. She returned to England in 1856, and was /decorated , with the Order of the Royal; Red Cross by Queen Victoria in 1887. ;, One of ; her .^companions,, Mother ; Stanislaus, .'■. 89 years old, who went; with .her; to the; Crimea, and who was also decorated with the Royal Red Cross, is still living at the hospital; and Mother St.; George, of the Nuns of the Faithful Virgin,, Norwood, England, shares w the same distinction. *

In Madame Belloc's interesting book, Historic Nuns, we • (Sacred Heart - Review) learn that it was a certain very gifted Mother Clare who headed the little troop whom the well known Bishop Grant of Southward sent off to look after, the sick and wounded soldiers of their own Faith. * ' ; ..' ; -

Bishop Grant had travelled with his father's.regiment i when a boy. Sergeant Grant and his wife were Catholics from the North of Ireland. Bermondsey Convent 1 was in his diocese \ ;. and thither he ; came on October 13, 1854, and told Mother Clare that she must send out nuns to the Crimea. She knew nothing whatever about war and wounded soldiers, and thought the Bishop was jesting; but when he explained the' horrors of the Eastern hospitals, she immediately offered to go herself. At first he thought it impossible to spare her from London, but two days later he wrote to her to pick out four, other nuns and ' start of Turkey to-morrow.' And start they did on the 17th. An ; elderly friend, Bishop Morris (a Bishop in partibus), came to the convent, with his eyes full of tears, and asked, -Who is to take care of you from here to ■ Turkey 'Our angel guardians,' was the reply. He could do nothing for the pilgrims, but went : every day to Bermondsey during their absence to look after those who were left behind. ' ;

Off to the Front.

To Paris the five set off. .. They spent a week in . the French metropolis, and every possible ,courtesy was shown; to them in the great hospitals. They bought cases; of surgical instruments and ■;, other stores, and the French nuns at St. Roch taught them as much as they could. The Bishop wrote to them every day, and so did the flock in Bermondsey, to whom Mother Clare replied with astonishing pluck, and told them that the Government had consented to employ them, and to recognise them as nuns ; she added : Now pray that :we may do everything very well and give - great satisfaction. Try to keep everybody in Bermondsey well and happy— Sisters, children, and all. I have you all ; within my heart, and say an Ave or you all three times a : - day besides the accustomed devotions.' .-.- • T They finally, traversed the Mediterranean in a violent 1 storm, and reached Constantinople on November 4, thousands of spectators coming to them land and climb up the steep Hill from the landing place to the' barracks. "r ; ; There' ; the ? Sisters were put into • a ; large room, which was absolutely unfurnished, except for one old chair, which, being without :a ; back, served also for a table. The windows were broken, and there was no fire. An energetic soldier set to work to make some tea;; alas, it was made in ; a can, and was of the weakest description. v But the "■- nuns ever after regarded '•" him most gratefully.

The Nuns at the Seat of War.

Then Mother Clare fell, to work. Tfie other -four spent their time dressing.- wounds, and .two of ...' them caught the hospital fever and nearly died. But they pulled ■ through, and refused I to be ; sent home., Mother Clare was forced to remain daily for hours serving out stores to., the -, medical officers and nurses. ".'■-, . No nurse was allowed in this department. ' She had to receive, prepare, and give out, aided by a contingent of Greeks, • Italians, Turks; French, and soldiers. em-

ployed as orderlies, whom the nurses called Alderneys! This motley throng was ruled by the nun so efficiently that,,; in the graver cases, if anything went • wrong, it sufficed to - uplift a ..finger. ; .'The \ Greeks and Turks' obeyed her as exactly as if they understood every word she ,uttered.' . - ■*■*■,. '

... ;; ;';/ Jeers Change to Cheers. - - Many more; Sisters went out, collected from convents of the Order in England and Ireland Liverpool; Dublin, ;■■' Chelsea, Kinsale, Charleville, Carlow, and Cork contributed their quota. . 'v The Sisters risked their lives (Mother Clare nearly died) ' And when, at. the end of the war, the Guards returned in the ! same ship with a ' last detachment, the v commanding-officer asked them to share the triumph of the; landing by walking at the head of the regiment from the ship to the neighboring barracks. ? On ; . the way, the people who had assembled to cheer the soldiers "began- to; groan at the religious, whereupon one of the men became so exasperated that he sprang from the ranks - and 'called upon his comrades to defend the ladies who had stood so faithfully by their dying brethren-in-arms. v : The : regiment to a man placed themselves in a threatening attitude, with their rifles levelled at the crowd—a serious position, as all" were supplied il with ball cartridges. The commander ; stepped between ■-: the Regiment and, the people, and in-k; few well-chosen words explained the relation in which the nuns stood to them, '■■ the labors, fatigues, and indescribable sufferings they had endured for love of humanity. The hooting then turned to peering; and the nuns, as they marched on, became the unwilling objects of an ovation. From that day, Sisters of Mercy can walk through London, not only unmolested, but respected. -