Sister of Mercy

“ That's what you'll never do, not if ye got release from the holy vows ten times over. Once a nun always a nun, Sister, although ye may be false and faithless and go back into the very midst of the world ye've renounced. But ye'll find no comfort there, no blessing, and God'll remember it against ye, Sister. A soul that spurns His choicest graces need expect no mercy, either here or hereafter. I tell ye straight, Sister, that ye'll be deliberately jeopardizing your immortal soul, if ye give in to this wicked folly. ”

“ May God in his mercy keep you, my dearly beloved sister, and be to you a good and generous giver of all those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as for the soul, that I wish you from my heart. ”

“ I sprang up and went with the two good men, determining that if there was still mercy left for me, I would seek until I found it. On arriving at the prayer meeting, I found my sister apparently as happy as she could be; she came to me and began to weep over me and to exhort me to give my heart to God, telling me how she had found the Lord. These words came with power to my poor sinking heart, and I fell upon my knees and cried to God for mercy. My sister prayed for me as well as other good people, and especially Mr. Stoney, whose zeal for my salvation I shall never forget. ”

“ I am so poor that I have been clothed, and my life supported by charity. The horror of my hardships has struck every one with dread. I have only one sister, a nun among the barefooted Carmelites, from whom I can hope nothing, but that she should recommend me to God. I acknowledge (for so my sins persuade) mercy in this cruelty. For I am myself the voice of my conscience, and I accuse my life. If your Excellency found me well off, mine would be the praise. ”

“ A poor young Protestant girl, brought to our hospital to be treated for a grave malady, had so great a horror of our holy religion, that at the very sight of a Catholic near her, she acted like one possessed. The presence of a Sister was especially irritating, and one day she even went so far as to spit in the Sister's face, but the latter, nothing dismayed, and ever hoping that the God of all mercy would change this wolf into a lamb, continued her kind attentions, the more disrespectful her patient, the more gentle and considerate the Sister. ”

“ Possibly with her present principles she would not have done so; but through the vista of a long and prosperous widowhood deficiencies in the courtship were easily forgotten; and perhaps there was the more romance and sentiment now because she had been balked of it in her youth. She had freely allowed her eldest daughter to enter a sisterhood from the purest, most unselfish motives, but there was compensation in talking of her Margaret as a Sister of Mercy. ”

“ Heaven help the poor sisters who have to answer the “curious questions” of an inquisitive or wicked Father Confessor.—Editor.
[8] The following is an extract from a lecture delivered by Mr. W. Walsh, at Bath, reported in the English Churchman, Nov. 26, 1886:
“He (Mr. Walsh) had now to direct attention to the Vow of ‘Obedience,’ taken by many Ritualistic Sisters of Mercy. The rule as to ‘obedience’ varied considerably. In Dr. Pusey’s sisterhood, it was very objectionable indeed. The rule of holy obedience commands the sisters: ‘Ye shall ever address the spiritual Mother with honour and respect ”

“ She also, at risk to her own family, went to nurse her sister Hannah, in what turned out to be scarlet fever, about which she says, that "she did not know what malady it was when she went; and that she was the only sister then at liberty to wait on her." Through God's mercy, no harm came to her own family from being there, and no one else took the complaint. "This I consider," she says, "a great outward blessing. May I be enabled to give thanks, and to prove my thankfulness by more and more endeavouring to give up body, soul, and spirit, to the service of my beloved Master." ”

“ Would not such a rule as this, Mr. Walsh continued to say, if placed in the hands of a wicked Mother Superior, lead to the most fearful results? In Father Benson’s ‘Religious Life Portrayed for the Use of Sisters of Mercy,’ the teaching was, if possible, placed in a still more fearful light. In that book the sister is taught that—
“‘A religieuse has made the sacrifice of her will in taking the Vow of Obedience. She is no more her own, but God’s ”

“ Weeks and months went by, and each week found Mercy better and brighter and stronger, until her tongue used to go like a mill clapper, and a continual stream of chatter overflowed from the Daisy Cot.
One bright day Sister Theresa and the Doctor were in close consultation as they walked from the boys' ward to the girls'.
"You see," the Sister was saying, "little Mercy is nearly well now; indeed, she ought to go into the country for change of air, and we really ought not to keep the cot from some other patient who may need to come in." ”

“ The rule of the Sisters of Mercy is a strict one; nevertheless, they are very wise women, and if one of their order displays a great and singular aptitude for a thing, she is allowed to follow the path so clearly indicated to her. So it was that Sister Claire never more taught polite accomplishments to young ladies, but worked steadily in her chosen field.
Her first duty almost was with the army in Egypt. She had then an ambulance of her own, and the little canvas-covered wagon was pretty sure to be close up to the line of fire. ”

“ Men volunteered their services. After them came the nurses. One of these was Sister S——, from one of the Northern houses of the Sisters of Charity. In order to expedite her mission of mercy it was necessary that she should enter the service of the Federal Government. The record of her daily life from that time forth was the 390 record of every member of the Catholic Sisterhood that served during the war. Days of uninterrupted work; nights of ceaseless watching. ”

“ And lovelier things have mercy shown
To every failing but their own,
And every woe a tear can claim
Except an erring sister's shame. ”

“ He is alive! He is here! Don't you understand? How can I pray? For what? That he may die again? God of mercy! And if not that, can I pray to be free? Free? Free from what? Free to do [Pg 227] what? To die? Not even that! Others will be taken, but I shall live—thirty, forty, fifty years, knowing that he is alive—knowing that I may see him any day!'
The elder woman's white fingers twined round each other more desperately, for Sister Giovanna's face was turned full to her now, and their eyes were meeting; the young nun's were fierce with pain, but the Mother's were strangely lustreless and dull. ”

“ Of course it must never be forgotten that through all the centuries since the Christian Church was founded, there had been Catholic sisterhoods with whom the real and the ideal were one—Sisters of Mercy, who were not only refined and cultivated gentlewomen, but the most devoted and self-sacrificing of human souls. ”

“ Without healthy exercise in Acts of Mercy it must grow morbid, p. 30narrow, superstitious, fanatical. I know that your rule in this Institution is to devote yourselves to works of Benevolence; still it cannot be out of place to warn you against dangers, which beset similar Communities with your own; and I find a trace of your Founder’s jealousy of your diversion from these works in the ninth of your Primary Statutes: “No Sister shall be required to spend more time in her private devotions than her own conscience shall lead her to desire ”

“ Two Sisters of Mercy, in their black serge robes, are kneeling each side of the bed, and their sad, clear eyes are very tender and watchful; they will be ready with help the moment it is needed, but now the great beads of the brown rosary at each one's girdle are dropping noiselessly through the white fingers, and their lips are moving in prayer. One is strangely beautiful, with a stately, imperial beauty ”

“ Paul, "Be ye imitators of me, as I also am of Jesus Christ," and then reminded the Sisters, that although nature exacts many tears for the death of those we love, tears which religion does not condemn, provided they are kept within reasonable bounds, and sanctified by prayer and sacrifice, yet it was fitting, at the inhumation of the heart of their Foundress, to terminate the duties both of nature and piety regarding her they all equally mourned. ”

“ In the routine of daily life, she was to her Sisters a perfect model. She gave them frequently instructions suitable to their strength, and proper to excite their zeal and fervor in the duty of a community life to which they aspired. We will now see, or rather admire, her extraordinary love of suffering, which very few could imitate.
The Lord gives a cross to every one of us. He spares none of His servants, and she had crosses of all sorts to endure, interiorly and exteriorly suffering the most intense pain of body and mind. ”

“ In our Sisters of Mercy we see among women a wonderful rekindling of the old spirit of self-sacrifice, in a shape adapted to our time; we need not despair of seeing the same spirit rekindled among men, freed from the old superstitions and avoiding the old blunders, and setting itself to combat the gigantic evils which threaten to overwhelm both religion and social order. ”

“ During her convalescence, she complained in a loving manner to the Sisters, that by their attentions and prayers they were prolonging the days of her exile, assuring them that she longed to be dissolved and be with Christ. Whether sick or well, she was a constant model of the most heroic and simple virtues. The great Apostle says: "That virtue is made perfect in infirmity." And if the Foundress of the Congregation did not entirely overcome the weakness of human nature, she constantly advanced in the holy paths of mortification, obedience, sacrifice of self, and submission to the will of God. ”

“ The Blessed Virgin continued to dwell in her poor house at Nazareth in privacy and silence, until the calling of the Apostles, to whom she was a sort of mistress of novices by the charm of her virtues; the Sisters, before applying themselves to the instruction of externs, or the duties of the schools, should prepare for it, by the exercise of prayer, pious reading, mortification of the senses, and all other virtues proper to their state. The Blessed Virgin followed her Divine Son to the foot of the cross, like a good mother who could not lose sight of him ”

“ Are the cares of that heaven-minded virgin confined:
Like Him whom she loves, to the mansions of grief
She hastes with the tidings of joy and relief.
She strengthens the weary, she comforts the weak,
And soft is her voice in the ear of the sick;
Where want and affliction on mortals attend,
The Sister of Charity there is a friend.
Unshrinking where pestilence scatters his breath,
Like an angel she moves, mid the vapors of death;
Where rings the loud musket, and flashes the sword,
Unfearing she walks, for she follows her Lord. ”

“ They also make themselves useful in visiting; they have a certain respect for faith, but more for good works; and if other folk in Christendom held similar views on this point the good done would in the end be greater. All these Sisters of Mercy are accomplished—they are clever in the head, know how to play music, to paint, and to sew; can cook well if they like; and it's a pity they are not married. But they are doing more good single than lots of women are accomplishing in the married state, and we had better let them alone. ”

“ O great is the tenderness of Mary's maternal heart "that never was it heard that any one who fled to her protection, implored her help, and sought her intercession was left unaided." How many prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings ascend daily to the throne of this our exalted and merciful protectress! There is not a cry of an afflicted, struggling, and suffering soul that she does not graciously hear. Join, therefore, confidently in the prayer of Holy Church, "Hail, holy queen, Mother of mercy!" ”

“ The noble sacrifice was accepted, the Sister in her agony recovering, while the Foundress was stricken unto death—a victim of the most heroic charity. We need not be astonished at the extraordinary brightness of her face after death, nor at the wonderful cures effected by touching her body, nor at the red blood that trickled from the burned relic of her heart. ”

“ The Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters of Charity, the Order of the Sacred Heart, and several others had their convents filled with women and children of all ages and in all conditions of want, caring for them and many times denying themselves to feed their charges. ”

“ Six o'clock chimed forth from a distant steeple, and the sun was lying warm and bright across the girl's pallid face, when a light footstep sounded upon the path, and a woman bent over the girl's prostrate figure—a Sister of Charity—one of those good and holy women who spend their lives in working for others in His holy name, and who alone of all others keep themselves "unspotted from the world." ”

“ My sister is pious, and rests every faith in your sanctity. She will sigh—perhaps she will weep; but is it for a priest, a minister of the church, to be swayed by trifles of this kind? No! it is for the sake of religion and heaven, Monsieur le Curé, that you will be firm and faithful to your trust. It is nothing to you if my fortunes fail or prosper—if a young woman weeps or smiles—you must fulfil the disinterested duties of your sacred calling—you must maintain the sanctity of vows—you must rescue my sister from the abyss of crime into which she is falling! ”