CHAPTER XXXII.
CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE FOUNDATION OF ST. LOUIS.
In the year 1878, the community of Carmelite Nuns whom we had seen leaving Baltimore and establishing themselves at Calvary Farm, outside of St. Louis, removed to the city, where they had built a new convent dedicated to St. Joseph, on a lot given to them by Mrs. Patterson, an estimable and pious lady of St. Louis. The same generous person also aided largely in the building of the new convent, and has remained to this day a friend and benefactress of the Carmelites. Divine Providence also raised up many other kind friends to aid in the good work, foremost among whom were Doctor S. L. Papin, Mrs. E. Hudson and Mr. John L. Boland, all residents of St. Louis.
The chapel attached to the new monastery was dedicated to the Precious Blood, and the first Mass was celebrated in it on June 30th, 1878, the feast of the most pure Heart of Mary, by Rev. Father Keller, S. J.
The first death that occurred in the new foundation was that of Sister Mary Angela of the Blessed Sacrament, Boland, daughter of Mr. Daniel Boland and Sophia Simpson. She was the sister of Mother Gabriel. Her peaceful and happy death took place on June 6th, 1879, in the eighth month of her religious profession. Hers was a guileless soul, endowed with singular amiability and fervor. When it was announced to her that she was to receive Extreme Unction, she not only smiled but laughed joyfully. She used to say: “ I want to die, not because I am not happy in my vocation. I am very happy, but I am afraid of sin. If I live I might commit sin.”
One of the foundresses, Mother Mary Alberta of St. Alexius, Smith, was the next one whom Our Lord called to Himself. She died happily on September 28th, 1879, having
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been thirty-one years professed. Her death occurred shortly after she had been elected Prioress. Mother Alberta was noted for her humility, gentleness and fervor, and was most beloved in the community. In her trials she would often speak of the beautiful home above and the happiness of being with God. She was as simple as a child and appeared to know nothing of the world. She edified all by her strict observance of the rule. Several times she filled the office of Prioress. Her life, for many years, was one of great suffering, which she bore with cheerful resignation.
On August 19th, 1883, another of the foundresses, Mother Mary Agnes of the Immaculate Conception, went to her reward. She was a daughter of Mr. Thomas Edwards, of Philadelphia, and had made her profession in Baltimore, on December 8th, 1858. She had been twenty-five years professed and had labored much in the new foundation. Her courage and her industry were characteristic qualities. She often spoke of the nothingness of all that passes with time and of the littleness of our sufferings compared with the eternal recompense that awaits us. She was a person of great intelligence and had been delicately brought up, but notwithstanding this she worked much for the foundation of St. Louis and performed even hard manual labor. She was most exact and devoted to her duties and the interest of the community and spared herself in nothing. She was, moreover, always bright and cheerful. Her last illness was long and painful, but her patience in suffering gave great edification to all. Towards the end she seemed anxious to die, and often exclaimed: “When will Jesus take me?” During her life she had worked zealously for the community and her death was truly a rest from her labors.
On the 2d of June, 1887, another Sister was called home, namely, Sister Mary Louise of the Crucifixion. She had been professed two years and three months. She was a daughter of Mr. Thomas Kennedy, and was born in Chicago. She had left the world to dwell in the midst of Carmel in all the freshness of her youth and innocence. Whilst yet a pupil of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart of St. Joseph, Mo., she was once
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travelling with her father, and when passing through St. Louis, she would give him no rest until he brought her to see the Carmelites. No sooner had she entered the outer parlor than a feeling of gladness came over her, and the child, for she was but a mere child, sat down, and laughed merrily, to the surprise of her father. From that day the desire of becoming a Carmelite took possession of her heart, and when she had left school she succeeded, by dint of entreaties, in obtaining her parents’ consent to enter the Community. Having been admitted, she first experienced the difficulties of solitude, but very soon she began to love her cell and the exercises of the rule. She was devoted to the Sacred Heart and the Blessed Sacrament, and often expressed a wish to die young.
Little more than a year after her profession she was taken ill with consumption. Her fervor and resignation to God's holy will shone then conspicuously. As the time of her death approached, the Prioress would sometimes question her to see if she were resigned to die. On one of these occasions, with a look of indignation on her face, she replied, “Why, Mother, do you think that I would be so ungrateful to God as not to want to do His will, after all He has done for me?” Her death was calm, and her spirit that had been but such a short time in the flesh took its departure for a better and happier world. It is indeed a sweet consolation to think that in the midst of so many weeds that desolate the garden of God's Church, there are still such beautiful flowers, that by the perfume of their virtues rejoice the heart of our heavenly Father. The following lines were composed on the occasion of her death by the father of one of the Sisters of the Community of St. Louis.
The World.
Why come you hither, maiden fair?
These walls uncloth'd, these floors so bare,
This fire so scant, this raiment coarse,
This humdrum life—what whim perverse
Led you to seek?
A treadmill round of fast and prayer,
A grewsome round from year to year—
What are its charms?
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The Maiden.
The gentle voice of love,
More gentle than the dove
Cooing to its mate.
“ Wilt come with me,” it said,
“Wilt follow where I lead,
Enter by my gate?
Flinty soil no flowers show,
But thorns and briars grow,
Feet are often torn;
But look close, and thou wilt see
Roses on the bramble tree,
Lilies on the thorn.”
The Novice.
My home I left to seek His love,
Where lonely tow'rs this world above
Steep Carmel's heights;
He bade me follow where He led,
No jagged rocks, nor thorns to tred :
I trust His word.
Is life of worth, if not the price
Of what begins when life doth cease?
Life's joy and care, its ill and good,
What more than bubbles, when the flood
Of death o'erwhelms?
Life opes the gates of Paradise,
If spent it be not of our choice,
But His who gives.
The Carmelite.
I hear the angel's voiceless call—
I see Death's shade upon the wall—
I wait on Him, my heart's desire;
My soul is calm, and yet afire,
It burns of joy.
He call'd me hither, now away,
He bids me go: and I obey
With joyful heart.
God continued to raise up friends for the little Community, and the people of St. Louis showed their interest in it. Mrs. Patterson, whom we have already mentioned, proved herself a mother to the good Sisters. On October 1st, 1888, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the arrival of the Nuns in the West, she gave them the means to build a brick wall around
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their grounds. This took the place of the old wooden fence that had hitherto enclosed them. Among the other benefactors of the Carmel of St. Louis we mention especially the Maffitt and Chonteau families, and Mr. John J. Manntal and wife.
The Sisters professed at the Carmelite convent of St. Louis are Mother Mary Joseph of the Infant Jesus, Coghlan, of Baltimore, at present Prioress of the monastery; Sister Mary Aloysia of the Heart of Mary, Cook, of Baltimore, the sub-Prioress; Sister Baptist of the Precious Blood, Hanagan, of New York; Sister Teresa of the Infant Jesus, Schenck, of Rochester, N. Y.; Sister Margaret of the Sacred Heart, Fowler, of St. Louis; Sister Agnes of the Blessed Sacrament, Collet, of St. Louis; Sister Angela of the Blessed Sacrament, Hanisley, of St. Louis; Sister Clare of the Cross, Rice, of Illinois; Sister Veronica of the Crown of Thorns, Dorgan, of St. Louis; Sister Magdalene of St. Joseph, Hagerty, of New York; Sister Gertrude of the Holy Family, Hogan, of St. Louis, and Sister Catherine of the Sacred Heart, Carney, of Baltimore. To these we add the names of those who were professed at St. Louis and were afterwards sent to the foundation of New Orleans, namely, Mother Mary Teresa of Jesus, Roman, of New Orleans; Sister Margaret of the Sacred Heart, Trémoulet of the same city; Sister Dolores of the Crucifixion, Wise, of Alton, Ill., and Sister Gertrude of the Heart of Mary, Kelleher, of Baltimore.1
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1 One of the novices recently admitted into the Carmelite Community of St. Louis is Miss Margaret Boyle, daughter of the late Stephen S. Boyle and Elizabeth Petersen Boyle, of Cincinnati. At the age of two years she lost her sight after an attack of brain fever. This affliction seemed in after years to be an almost insurmountable obstacle to the accomplishment of a long cherished desire, namely, that of embracing the contemplative life in religion.
She had already begun to acquire fame in literature, being an able poetess, when God's will was made manifest to her and she cheerfully renounced all earthly prospects and entered into the solitude of Carmel.
The loss of her eyesight is no bar to the fulfilment of her religious duties, for she finds her way easily to all parts of the house and engages in the manual labor of the Community. Her name in religion is Sister Dolores of the Heart of Jesus.