WOMAN" AND THE CONVENT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 80, 7 November 1874, Page 14

WOMAN" AND THE CONVENT.

Br Lady Blanche Mtopht. 2uf?l a f^°/ )rtlire i prin rcipl6Br cipl6B Baid to very weU understood in £SL» ft'v ° mß * an ° c'e ' that of association, i.e., of the right of any set of ' de S]St ln f 8 to A"? . com^ ities 1 that of reputation IT&b tSISSS* ofßuc V dl 7I7 I0 ?°' lßbor as tbis makes eM yj and that of nSSF ™ Car — al the °° de of tbe of the woman 2L T .J, erei9 ' ln the Catholic Church, an institution intimately connected with every one of these principles. This is the conventual not .?««»? W J?™ dpb J " 0f a9Boc > tion and of organised corporation is Bfn! TZ 7 dl9CoVered one « «ad. k case of women especially, the S^HM? a-la -1£ 79 ii I*"^'1 *"^' In the earl * da y $ of Christianity, pious SS&ii blfcwith i n themselves « unlimited power of doing goS to ti« L I ; Creat^ c % and t0 ffleefc fchis hunger of activity, the Was? of the times Zl ***** ? U - P natUrally ° ut of tbe nee " Sß^ 8 infill ' v, he lermI erm of a hfe in common was contained in the SS^Jj? 86 *?168? 168 °i Chrißfciaa women > associated for the purpose of £Kf. an J good works, under the roof of some matron of greater exJZaPFJ*"*, themselves. G-mdually the gathering became larger Ambers e^T th 6P w enthiVeaUttle Bwarm °f P^ed and tried £T«S^ ? nId J«T atld f £ rm a community elsewhere. In the East, W^ P IS ? aU o ™d Eustochia, the friends and scholars of St tiia Sfm 'IB'I 8 ' ?. eth ] eheia . to min «ter to the pilgrims and prevent £i2S. £ ffwTrr^ g th^ ir P°^r towards inoffensive SSStrt, ♦ ? ' bM *" mn Pnoeesses turned to practical Z^t ?TT lteVei Z n<i6 thafc Wfl9 P aid to womanhood, and the P^rSns SaX ° nß> aDiS aDd OeltS ' Were powerful cor! nnßl J eßides this, the convent embodies the principled representation. SS? T Se teUa U8 that tlou S b a thousand things may be eq2S?y prazseworthy, no one can do them all at once. Prayer, expiation and wderation the demands of practical life and forgives us the debt Yet SaS fIZSZ Jl^J 1^ Borne 8h( > uld relactantly take up the burden and stand before God as the representatives of his more careless creatures ? eh lterTd th e I" Bh rl d *? tBl1 f ht ' the Bick fcended ' aged ISwTS wicked exhorted and reclaimed. These things, e?en sodolnt y lT 6 T«T^ 7 re PToSen!ativeP ToSen !ative persons, paid by the State for so doing, an d lookedupon as vicariously executing the duty of the whole community. Why should they not be done by women the Sod" 7 W- BtitUteS , ° f S* » 0t for Btato W but JoXlte of God ? Wives and mothers have another sphere 5 they cannot shine by the wayside and cheer the path of the lonely wayfarer, but they S^ g l^V Wer ABkA 8k t0 their w «dded siste«,aS through ofSS n°* Z 8l ??». 0f - thiS WOrk Of mer °y- A comm o Q objection^ often made about the contemplative orders, "the women who sit behind iron bars, foing mtMy," But consider a moment. In the old SSS^t^f f° f 9 ' tb . We are pi6ceß move irregularly, some till °* g ° bllfc 4 r BtepS at^ time > BOrne that may sweep to any disxTnL\r cn f lme ' et ?- a T he king, however, is almost motionless. ?his.P L^ffT ÜBeleSß? sit5 itL ° ut him would game still be cnesßF So with these apparent statues of the cloister. They are the SSSSrf fhTl? *' 8 v d '- like thoSe ° f mafcerial structures! are «»M si, gt\ 5-, Ir T° rk 1S pra y er 5 tbe y are the Pickets of the ia a fhTn B ?, Wat t W % ?*!7 8 J e l epß - Wb y do not aU the sailors Svetthra^^^^ -o fc ° r f tbe Women i( ? le ? The annual wwk within doors is not me STn e /*lf n T K 011 ; ?A tte Ufe ° f thousands of our workSUE? VF* V^l? * "? k> WOuld baTe B° od reaßOn to laugh if anyone SS vm ?f? f 8^ g u^ day b J ebind tbe iron barß of fa °tory windows! fre ft " o^-L wbllsfc hatf the day, the women of contemplative ordeS <ltf rt' , * T actOry glrl 6a ™ B ber liTiQ g »nd supports her family by her work. I answer to that, that a nun does the name. She !!S a *!?' because > m moßt instances, she cultivates the convent garden, does the common housework, spins, weaves, or at least makes upheroim garments, and worla at things which, being sent beyond

ports hlttZ? VV T ° B ° ld J° defr&y the convent ' 8 cx P e °"«- She sup. fee? s .Si , ll' bßCaU i e ***•. poor are her fama y. the convent almoners "' "* mJnißteW t0 " Tariou ° ™ y » *«milMh ffival^ intelleclaal occupations, the co^entual life is fuU. InmediB™U - 1 T" oSf nfc moßfc of * ieir time inscribing the Bible. St. ™S?£? °i i heU? m T ber ?" Tradeß aUo ' all «<»k of practical useful knowledge, are familiar to many orders. It has been objected t\Tl 6n ' m^ V Pr^ di7idwiU^ 0(oh^ ctw ' AnotnerSke. in iaot, it gives individuality to many women who otherwise would feelT^T*' % thG hUmb l er Bpiritß Gf a °™™»*7 arl teught to feel that, no less than upon the more highly gifted members, lies the responsibility of the whole sisterhood. Each*little action is thu. in! Il!f a w° M .¥'y that S° es far t0 *aise the casual pertormer ot such actions m her own estimation, and consequently ends in seriously raising her whole moral standard. u *°i™™7 «m<W Now remains the principle of self-support and independence, per. haps at present the most important side oi the question. It is urWd S ?fc 77 CC ° nV Tf ntß "°r a " dayß that with them "i 8 a cas?fe mendicity. It must be remembered that a few orders were founded on the principle of poverty, e.g., the Poor Clares, the Little Sisters of the £2h- f T6 f 4. 8e aI?a I? 9 ,° far 9elf - 8U PP ort tog that what they receive in charity is almost entirely bestowed in oharity again, and "he who i giveth to the poor, Undeth to the Lord." The holy and touching usury is surely a kind of self-support. They also save many charitabl* but careless people the trouble of seeking out real cases, and are a guarantee that the gift shall not be perverted to- any questionable usei. Convents help, and, in many cases, relieve th» State. They feed, cf the and educate a portion of what the world calls the " pauper pouSft and they provide for any energetic, aspiring woman, with a definite object m life. Some are devoted to the care of female prisoners, and some again serve as reformatories. The State subsidy in these cases is almost always quite inadequate to the* expenses incurred, but cue work done by the convent (laundry or sewing work, or other in ■ dustries) mostly fills up the gap. In former times convents possessed endowments : these have disappeared under the altered circumstances ° Ur J™. 68 ' yet tiie convent » willing to do the work ifc ever did, ajid more. The value of money is ever growing higher, and money is indispensable to conduct any establishment. If a convent works for money, it is more self-supporting than when it had an endowment ; lor now it asks for wages for work well and thoroughly done, and few other corporations would accept such low and uncertain wages as the convent gladly receives. Ifc would be a pity if the stinginess of the age should debar a multitude of earnest, energetic women from prosecuting works which they are dying to do. The Church does not ask or extort help from hard-working men and women, who can scarcely make both ends meet (though, in fact, those are just the readiest to give;, hut it is a legitimate demand to make of prosperous buaiseu men that, since they have no time to give to charity and teaching, they should provide means to those who do give their time, their braina and their health. The convent is the home and type of independent womanhood, and the conventual is the only experiment of community life which has kept itself pure, both from the stain of " free-love" and the stamp of hard, unsympathetic, unwomanly strongmindedness (I use this word in its common but erroneous acceptation, because it is comprehensive and best serves the purpose in this place). " Mind has no sex," says John Stuarfc Mill, but St. Augustine had said the equivalent sixteen centuries before. «« Strength of soul obliterates weakness of sex."