CHAPTER. XXV.
END OF SAINTLY LIVES.
Father Theodore of the Mother of God, whose name has already been mentioned in this work, continued to take an interest in the Carmelite community of Baltimore. In 1857 he sent them two oil paintings of St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross. They were painted by a Carmelite lay Brother, not long after the death of the saints whom they represented, and the painting of St. Teresa was copied from the original portrait of the Saint.
The following year the same Father sent two more oil paintings, one representing St. Simon Stock, and the other Sister Teresa of St. Augustin, Madame Louise de France. The last one was said to be an original likeness. Father Theodore also sent some other pious objects.
On the 27th of August, 1857, the elections took place. Mother Teresa of Jesus was elected prioress. Archbishop Kenrick, assisted by Rev. Father Leimgruber, C. SS. R., presided at the election. In the month of September following, Father Giesen having been sent to Pittsburg, Father Leimgruber, who had succeeded Father Seelos as rector of St. Alphonsus' Church, came to hear the Sisters' confessions, until Father Lütte, C. SS. R. was appointed as their regular confessor. In December, Rev. Mr. Byrne became chaplain of the convent.
In June, 1858, Rev. Father Holtzer, C. SS. R., succeeded Father Lütte as confessor of the monastery. During his
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temporary absence at St. Louis, from September until after the New Year, Father Leimgruber again heard the confessions.
On July 2nd, 1858, Sister Juliana of the Blessed Sacrament, Elizabeth Murray, made her profession.
On the 21st of October, Mother Teresa of Jesus, having resigned her office, Sister Alberta of St. Alexius, who was then sub-prioress, was elected to take her place.
Shortly after these events an old friend of the Carmelites, Rev. Father Deluol, died at the Seminary of St. Sulpice in France. He had been many years extraordinary confessor of the Sisters in Baltimore, whilst he resided in that city, at the seminary, of which he was the superior. He had been vicar-general to Archbishops Maréchal, Whitfield and Eccleston, until his superiors called him to France, to the great regret of his many friends and spiritual children in America. None, however, had greater reason to regret his loss than the Carmelites, to whom he had been a good father and a great friend. Whenever there was a solemn feast he always took care that a Mass should be sung at the Carmelite convent, and often brought the Seminarians to assist at High Mass in their chapel. He died on the 15th of November, 1858.
Before the close of the year 1858, the shadow of death was again cast over the humble monastic residence of the spouses of Jesus Christ. Sister Eleonora of St. Francis Xavier, Mary Carberry, was in the 86th year of her age. Nearly half a century had elapsed since the day when she united herself by irrevocable engagements to her Divine Saviour. She was in the 47th year of her religious profession. She had always been a model of piety, obedience and exact observance of the rule, and was particularly distinguished by an ardent desire for Holy Communion. Sister Eleonora was also remarkable for her spirit of poverty, mortification and prayer. During the latter years of her life she became very infirm, and almost blind, so that she could no longer sew nor read. Through her love of poverty she had everything taken out of her cell that was not absolutely necessary, and
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when she died, nothing was found there, beside her bed and table, but a little wooden coffin that served to keep the thought of death before her, and a copy of the “Imitation of Christ,” which a Sister used to read to her at intervals. It was the only book she wished to hear. She had an ardent love for the Blessed Sacrament, and no greater consolation could be given her than to take her to visit our Dear Lord in the divine Institution of His love. When there was Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, she never grew tired of remaining in presence of our Lord, but would have staid all day, if some one had not taken her out of the choir. On one of those days the young Sister who was charged with leading her about and attending to her little wants, said to her when about to conduct her to the choir: “Sister Eleonora, do you not want your Rosary? "Oh! no, child," she replied, "not when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed." She seemed always at such times absorbed in the contemplation of our Lord.
Her last illness, the typhoid fever, was of short duration. She had the happiness of receiving the Sacraments of the dying, and in the most holy sentiments calmly breathed forth her soul into the arms of its Creator on the 4th of December, 1858.
On the 8th of December, 1858, Sister Agnes of the Immaculate Conception, Jane B. Edwards, made her profession. She was born in Philadelphia, Pa., and was the daughter of Thomas A. Edwards and Jane Gordon, daughter of William Gordon.
On July 26th, 1859, Sister Baptist of the Incarnation, Helen M. Riordon, was admitted to her profession in the 24th year of her age. She was born in Fairfax County, Virginia, of James Riordon and Martha Rotchford, daughter of Bartholomew Rotchford.
A little more than two months later, on the 23rd of February, 1859, another death occurred. Sister Agnes of the Presentation, Harriet Boarman, slept her last sleep in the 79th year of her age and the 62nd of her religious profession. This
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good Sister, pious and childlike in innocence and simplicity, was much beloved by the community. She was always unwearied in her attendance at the choir, and was especially noted for her love of the Divine Office.
She seemed to be always in the presence of God, full of holy thoughts and pious aspirations, while everything appeared to raise her heart to her Creator. One of her favorite prayers was the Anima Christi of St. Ignatius. She would sometimes repeat it for the young religious, and when she came to the words: "Command me to come to Thee," she would pause, and with much feeling, say: “Only think of telling God, to command us to come to Him! Should we not have great confidence in Him?"
She always went regularly to prayer with the community, but after she had grown old, she would sometimes be overcome by sleep in the choir. On one occasion a Sister, to induce her to go away and take the rest she so much needed, said to her: “Sister Agnes, are you not ashamed to be sleeping before our Lord?" Her reply was: "Child, a dog may sleep in its master's house!" Sister Agnes was always full of charity towards her Sisters, and endeavored to render them every service in her power. At recreation she was bright and cheerful, and whilst she was most religious in her manners and conversation, she nevertheless possessed the art of enlivening all by her innocent mirth. She always remained most humble and obedient towards her superiors; and even in her old age, when she had grown childish and did not always recognize the superior, at a word from one of the Sisters she would immediately repair any seeming want of respect. One day she was trespassing upon a little garden, in which the sacristan carefully tended some choice plants. As she came forth from the garden with her hands full of flowers, she was met by the prioress, who said to her: "Sister Agnes, you know you must not take those flowers." Not recognizing the prioress, who was comparatively a young religious, she replied: "And who are you to forbid me?" One of the Sisters having
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told her it was Reverend Mother, she at once said: "One must not speak thus to Reverend Mother," and falling prostrate, she kissed the ground in acknowledgment of her fault. She lived sixty-two years in the order of Carmel; a longer term than had ever been reached by any religious since the foundation of the monastery. At the ceremony of her Jubilee, when the community celebrated the 62nd anniversary of her entrance into religion, Archbishop Kenrick, placing the crown upon her head, said to her: “My child, you have been longer in the service of God, than I have been in the world.”
She was taken ill in the choir, and carried thence to the infirmary, ten days before the close of her saintly life.
On the 22nd of April, 1859, Rev. Father Holtzer, the confessor of the monastery, was removed, and on the 6th of May following, Rev. Leopold Petsch, C. SS. R., was appointed to succeed him. A little later on, the news was received of the death of one who had been a great friend of the Carmelites. Bishop Neumann died suddenly at Philadelphia on the 5th of January, 1860, in the odor of sanctity. Archbishop Kenrick preached the sermon at his funeral. The cause of the canonization of Bishop Neumann has been introduced, and he now bears the official title of the Servant of God, John Nepomucene Neumann.
On the 29th of October, 1861, Sister Gabriel of the Immaculate Conception, Ella Boland, was elected prioress. The extraordinary confessor of the monastery at this time, was Rev. F. Ardea, S. J.
On the 8th of February, 1862, Sister Mary of the Incarnation, Catherine Hackett, departed this life. She was fifty years old, and had been twenty-seven years in religion. She was a Lay-Sister.
Sister Mary of the Incarnation left to her Sisters the sweet recollection of her many virtues. She was a simple soul full of the love of God, who prayed almost continually, even spending frequently the greater part of the night in this holy exercise. She was so full of charity that she thought she could never
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do enough for the community, and endeavored to study each one's wants so as to give them relief and solace. When she was cook she would try frequently to change the manner of preparing the meals for the community, in order that the Sisters might relish them more. O blessed charity! that renders a religious house a paradise. O delicate virtue of the saints! Father Francis Ribera of the Society of Jesus, one of the earliest biographers of St. Teresa, relates that when it fell to the turn of the Saint to be cook, she would go to the kitchen with joy, asking herself how she should prepare the eggs or fish for the next day or make the soup in a manner different from the usual way. In this Sister Mary tried to follow the example of her Holy Mother.
Moreover, she was a most humble and mortified soul, and seemed almost to have forgotten the wants of the body. For sixteen years she scarcely touched any food but a little bread and tea, and it was her custom to gather the fragments of bread left by the Sisters and soak them in water, in order to prepare them for her own meal.
In February, 1862, she was attacked by pneumonia, but continued with great courage at her work, and did not go to the infirmary until she was no longer able to stand. The physician on his first visit found her very ill, and on the third day there was no longer any hope of her recovery. As the doctor was about to take leave of her in the evening, Sister Mary, who seemed to understand her condition, said to him: “Doctor, do not let me die without the last Sacraments.” “No! Sister Mary,” he answered, “You shall have them to-morrow.” “But, Doctor,” she replied, “to-morrow may be too late.” Being moved by her supplication, the doctor gave orders to send at once for the priest. The confessor of the convent, Rev. Father Hespelein, arrived about eleven o'clock that night, and found the good Sister in great joy at the prospect of so soon meeting our dear Saviour. She seemed to be almost in an ecstasy, and spoke to the Father of the great happiness that was so soon to be hers. After receiving Holy
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Viaticum and Extreme Unction, she entertained herself continually with her divine Spouse, and in the fullness of her joy sang a little hymn that she had always loved, beginning with the words: “Jesus, sweet Jesus, my Treasure divine!”
She lingered till five o'clock in the morning, when she passed away in the full possession of consciousness. Her presentiment had been true, and if the doctor had not yielded to her desire, she would have died without the last Sacraments. “To-morrow” would have been “too late,” as she had feared; but it found her, we hope, with the Spouse of her soul, whom she had so ardently longed to see. “For,” writes one of the community, “those who knew her best, said they could not think of her enduring pain, but could only picture her as leaving this world to clasp the feet of her Lord with childlike confidence, exclaiming: I have found Him whom my soul loveth and I will not let Him go.”
On the 5th of March following the death of Sister Mary of the Incarnation, Barbara Laura, in religion Sister Magdalen of Jesus Crucified, departed this life. She was forty-seven years old, and had been more than twenty-six years in the convent. She had been a sufferer for many years, and finally died of consumption. She was also a Lay-Sister. In the midst of her sufferings, and especially during her last illness, she was remarkable for her conformity to her crucified Redeemer. She had truly merited the name she bore, for ever since the time of her profession she had been nailed to the cross of sickness, and had been afflicted with various painful maladies. Her sufferings she bore in silence and with the greatest patience. For a long time she could not perform her ordinary duties, but she employed her time as much as possible in sewing and in other little works useful to the community. She prayed much and had an ardent love for the Blessed Sacrament. In her last illness she was consumed by a great desire to receive Holy Communion, but it was feared that she could not swallow, and hence she was deprived of this consolation. Sister Magdalen, however, seemed unaware
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of this impediment and kept on repeating: "Will they not bring my Jesus to me?"
A short time before her death, the priest, who was about to say Mass in the chapel, came to her bedside to impart the last Absolution. As he was leaving he told her he would say Mass for her, adding: "Your Jesus will soon come to you." A window in the infirmary that looked upon the sanctuary of the church was then opened, and the good Sister lay dying in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. At the elevation of the Sacred Host, her blessed soul passed away.
The third death in the year 1862 occurred on the 14th of April. The victim this time was Sister Barbara of the Blessed Trinity, Mary Early. She had been nearly fourteen years in religion, and was fifty years old.
Sister Barbara was a sister of Rev. J. Early, S. J., the first rector of Loyola College, Baltimore, who was extraordinary confessor of the monastery at the time his sister entered the religious state. Father Early always remained a warm friend of the Carmelite community. One of the characteristic features of Sister Barbara's life was her love of prayer, to which she gladly gave every spare moment of her time. The duties of the choir were her consolation and delight, and she always strove to impress the novices under her care with a great esteem and love for the Divine Office. She was also animated with a great spirit of charity, and was so fearful lest she might offend by her words, that she was most circumspect in speech and was never known to say an unkind word of any one. She was animated with the liveliest sentiments of gratitude to God for her vocation to the Order of Carmel. She was also full of compassion for the poor souls in purgatory. During life she had been a constant sufferer, but her last illness, a congestion of the lungs, was but of five days' duration. She received the last Sacraments with sentiments of great devotion.