University of Virginia Library

Chapter XI.

PROTESTANT CHILDREN IN THE CONVENTS AND
NUNNERIES OF ROME.

WE read in the history of Paganism that parents were
often, in those dark ages, slaying their children upon
the altars of their gods, to appease their wrath or obtain
their favors. But we now see a stranger thing. It is that
of Christian parents forcing their children into the temples
and to the very feet of the idols of Rome, under the fallacious
notion of having them educated! While the Pagan parent
destroyed only the temporal life of his child, the Christian
parent, for the most part, destroys his eternal life. The Pagan
was consistent: he believed in the almighty power and holiness
of his gods; he sincerely THOUGHT that they ruled the world,
and that they blessed both the victims and those who offered
them. But where is the consistency of the Protestant who
drags his child and offers him as a sacrifice on the altars of the
Pope! Does he believe in his holiness or in his supreme and
infallible power of governing the intelligence? Then why does
he not go and throw himself at his feet and increase the number
of his disciples? The Protestants who are guilty of this great
wrong are wont to say, as an excuse, that the superiors of
colleges and convents have assured them that their religious
convictions would be respected, and that nothing should be said
or done to take away or even shake the religion of their
children.

Our first parents were not more cruelly deceived by the
seductive words of the serpent than the Protestants are this day
by the deceitful promises of the priests and nuns of Rome.

I had been myself the witness of the promise given by our

superior to a judge of the State of New York, when, a few
days later that same superior, the Rev. Mr. Leprohon, said to
me: "You know some English, and this young man knows
French enough to enable you to understand each other. Try to
become his friend and to bring him over to our holy religion.
His father is a most influential man in the United States, and
this, his only son, is the heir of an immense fortune. Great
results for the future of the Church in the neighboring republic
might follow his conversion."

I replied: "Have you forgotten the promise you have made
to his father, never to say or do anything to shake or take away
the religion of that young man?"

My superior smiled at my simplicity, and said: "When you
shall have studied theology you will know that Protestantism is
not a religion, but that it is the negation of religion. Protesting
cannot be the basis of any doctrine. Thus, when I promised
Judge Pike that the religious convictions of his child should be
respected, and that I would not do anything to change his faith,
I did promise the easiest thing in the world, since I promised
not to meddle with a thing which has no existence."

Convinced, or rather blinded, by the reason of my superior,
which is the reasoning of every superior of a college or nunnery,
I set myself to work from that moment to make a good Roman
Catholic of that young friend; and I would probably have succeeded,
had not a serious illness forced him, a few months after,
to go home, where he died.

Protestants who may read these lines will, perhaps, be
indignant against the deceit and knavery of the Superior of the
College of Nicolet. But I will say to those Protestants, it is
not on that man, but on yourselves, that you must pour your
contempt. The Rev. Mr. Leprohon was honest. He acted
conformably to principles which he thought good and legitimate,
and for which he would have cheerfully given the last drop of
his blood. He sincerely believed that your Protestantism is a
mere negation of all religion, worthy of the contempt of every
true Christian. It was not the priest of Rome who was contemptible,
dishonest and a traitor to his principles, but it was

the Protestant who was false to his gospel and to his own
conscience by having his child educated by the servants of the
Pope. Moreover, can we not truthfully say that the Protestant
who wishes to have his children bred and educated by a Jesuit
or a nun is a man of no religion? and that nothing is more
ridiculous than to hear such a man begging respect for his
religious principles! A man's ardent desire to have his religious
convictions respected is best known by his respecting them
himself.

The Protestant who drags his children to the feet of the
priests of Rome is either a disguised ihfidel or a hypocrite. It
is simply ridiculous for such a man to speak of his religious
convictions, or beg respect for them. His very humble position
at the feet of a Jesuit or a nun, begging respect for his faith, is a
sure testimony that he has none to lose. If he had any he would
not be there, an humble and abject suppliant. He would take
care to be where there could be no danger to his dear child's
immortal soul.

When I was in the Church of Rome, we often spoke of the
necessity of making superhuman efforts to attract young Protestants
into our colteges and nunneries, as the shortest and only
means of ruling the world before long. And as the mother has
in her hands, still more than the father, the destinies of the
family and of the world, we were determined to sacrifice everything
in order to build nunneries all over the land, where the
young girls, the future mothers of our country, would be
moulded in our hands and educated according to our views.

Nobody can deny that this is supreme wisdom. Who will
not admire the enormous sacrifices made by Romanists in order
to surround the nunneries with so many attractions that it is
difficult to refuse them preference above all other female
scholastic establishments? One feels so well in the shade of
these magnificent trees during the hot days of summer! It is so
pleasant to live near this beautiful sheet of water, or the rapid
current of that charming river, or to have constantly before one's
eyes the sublime spectacle of the sea! What a sweet perfume
the flowers of that parterre diffuse around that pretty and

peaceful convent! And, besides, who can withstand the almost
angelic charms of the Lady Superior! How it does one good
to be in the midst of those holy nuns, whose modesty, affable
appearance, and lovely smile present such a beautiful spectacle,
that one would think of being at heaven's gate rather than in a
world of desolation and sin!

O foolish man! Thou art always the same—ever ready to
be seduced by glittering appearances—ever ready to suppress
the voice of thy conscience at the first view of a seductive
object!

One day I had embarked in the boat of a fisherman on the
coast of one of those beautiful islands which the hand of God
has placed at the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In a few
minutes the white sail, full-blown by the morning breeze, had
carried us nearly a mile from the shore. There we dropped our
anchor, and soon our lines, carried by the current, offered the
deceitful bait to the fishes. But not one would come. One
would have thought that the sprightly inhabitants of these
limpid waters had acted in concert to despise us. In vain did
we move our lines to and fro to attract the attention of the
fishes; not one would come! We were tired. We lamented
the prospect of losing our time, and being laughed at by our
friends on the shore who were waiting the result of our fishing
to dine. Nearly one hour was spent in this manner, when the
captain said, "Indeed, I will make the fishes come."

Opening a box, he took out handfuls of little pieces of finely-cut
fishes, and threw them broadcast on the water.

I was looking at him with curiosity, and I received with a
feeling of unbelief, the promise of seeing, in a few moments,
more mackerel than I could pick up. These particles of fish,
falling upon the water, scattered themselves in a thousand
different ways. The rays of the sun, sporting among these
numberless fragments, and thousands of scales, gave them a
singular whiteness and brilliancy. They appeared like a thousand
diamonds, full of movement and life, that sported and
rolled themselves, running at each other, while rocking upon the
waves.

As these innumerable little objects withdrew from us they
looked llke the milky way in the firmament. The rays of the
sun continued to be reflected upon the scales of the fishes in the
water, and to transform them into as many pearls, whose whiteness
and splendor made an agreeable contrast with the deep
green color of the sea.

While looking as that spectacle, which was so new to me, I
felt my line jerked out of my hands, and soon had the pleasure
of seeing a magnificent mackerel lying at my feet. My companions
were as fortunate as I was. The bait so generously
thrown away had perfectly succeeded in bringing us not only
hundreds, but thousands of fishes, and we caught as many of
them as the boat could carry.

The Jesuits and the nuns are the Pope's cleverest fishermen,
and the Protestants are the mackerels caught upon their baited
hooks. Never fisherman knew better to prepare the perfidious
bait than the nuns and Jesuits, and never were stupid fishes more
easily caught than Protestants in general.

The priests of Rome themselves boast that more than half of
the pupils of the nuns are the children of Protestants, and that
seven-tenths of those Protestant children, sooner or later, become
the firmest disciples and the true pillars of popery in the United
States. It is with that public and undeniable fact before them
that the Jesuits have prophesied that before twenty-five years
the pope will rule that great republic; and if there is not a
prompt change their prophecy will probably be accomplished.

"But," say many Protestants, "where can we get safer securities
that the morals of our girls will be sheltered than in
those convents? The faces of those good nuns, their angelic
smiles, even their lips, from which seems to flow a perfume
from heaven—are not these the unfailing signs that nothing will
taint the hearts of our dear children when they are under the
care of those holy nuns?"

Angelic smiles! Lips from which flow a perfume from
heaven! Expressions of peace and holiness of the good nuns!
Delusive allurements! Cruel deceptions! Mockery of comedy!
Yes, all these angelic smiles, all these expressions ot joy and

happiness, are but allurements to deceive honest but too trusting
men!

I believed myself for a long time that there was something
true in all the display of peace and happiness which I saw reflected
in the faces of a good number of nuns. But how soon
my delusions passed away when I read with my own eyes, in a
book of the secret rules of the convent, that one of their rules is
always, especially in the presence of strangers, to have an appearance
of joy and happiness, even when the soul is overwhelmed
with grief and sorrow! The motives given to the nuns for thus
wearing a continual mask, is to secure the esteem and respect of
the people, and to win more securely the young ladies to the
convent!

All know the sad end of life of one of the most celebrated
female comedians of the American theatre. She had acted her
part in the evening with a perfect success. She appeared so
handsome and so happy on the stage! Her voice was such a
perfect harmony; her singing was so merry and lively with mirth!
Two hours later she was a corpse! She had poisoned herself on
leaving the theatre! For some time her heart was broken with
grief which she could not bear.

Thus it is with the nun in her cell! forced to play a sacrilegious
comedy to deceive the world and to bring new recruits
to the monastery. And the Protestants, the disciples of the gospel,
the children of light, suffer themselves to be deceived by
this impious comedy.

The poor nun's heart is often full of sorrow, and her soul is
drowned in a sea of desolation; but she is obliged, under oath,
always to appear gay! Unfortunate victim of the most cruel
deception that has ever been invented. That poor daughter of
Eve, deprived of all the happiness that heaven has given, tortured
night and day by honest aspirations, which she is told are
unpardonable sins, she has not only to suppress in herself the few
buds of happiness which God has left in her soul, but what is
more cruel, she is forced to appear happy in anguish of shame
and of deception.

Ah! if Protestants could know, as I do, how much the

hearts of those nuns bleed, how much those poor victims of the
pope feel themselves wounded to death, how almost every one
of them die at an early age, broken-hearted, instead of speaking
of their happiness and holiness, they would weep at their profound
misery. Instead of helping Satan to build up and maintain
those sad dungeons by giving both their gold and their children,
they would let them crumble into dust, and thus check the
torrents of silent though bitter tears which those cells hide from
our view.

I was traveling in 1851 over the vast prairies of Illinois in
search of a spot which would suit us the best for the colony
which I was about to found. One day my companions and myself
found ourselves so wearied by the heat that we resolved to
wait for the cool night in the shade of a few trees around a
brook. The night was calm; there were no clouds in the sky,
and the moon was beautiful. Like the sailor upon the sea, we
had nothing but our compass to regulate our course on those
beautiful and vast prairies. But the pen cannot express the
emotions I felt while looking at that beautiful sky and those
magnificent deserts opened to our view.

We often came to sloughs which we thought deeper than
they really were, and of which we would keep the side for fear
of drowning our horses. Many a time did I get down from the
carriage and stop to contemplate the wonders which those ponds
presented to our view.

All the splendors of the sky seemed brought down in those
pure and limpid waters. The moon and the stars seemed to have
left their places in the firmament to bathe themselves in those
delightful lakelets. All the purest, the most beautiful things of
the heavens seemed to come down to hide themselves in those
tranquil waters as if in search of more peace and purity.

A few days later I was retracing my steps. It was daytime,
and following the same route, I was longing to get to my charming
little lakes. But during the interval the heat had been great,
the sun very hot, and my beautiful sheets of water had been
dried up. My dear little lakes were nowhere to be seen.

And what did I find instead? Innumerable reptiles, with

the most hideous forms and filthy colors! No brilliant stars, no
clear moon were there any more to charm my eyes. There was
nothing left but thousands of little toads and snakes, at the sight
of which I was filled with disgust and horror!

Protestants! when upon life's way you are tempted to admire
the smiling lips and unstained faces of the pope's nuns, please
think of those charming lakes which I saw on the prairies of
Illinois, and remember the innumerable reptiles and toads which
swarm at the bottom of those deceitful waters.

When, by the light of divine truth, Protestants see behind
these perfect mockeries by which the nun conceals with so much
care the hideous misery which devours her heart, they will understand
the folly of having permitted themselves to be so easiiy
deceived by appearances. Then they will bitterly weep for having
sacrificed to that modern Paganism the future welfare of
their children, of their families and of their country!

"But," says one, "the education is so cheap in the nunnery."
I answer, "The education in convents, were it twice cheaper
than it is now, would still cost twice more than it is worth. It
is in this circumstance that we can repeat and apply the old
proverb, `Cheap things are always too highly paid for.' "

In the first place, the intellectual education in the nunnery is
completely null. The great object of the pope and the nuns is
to captivate and destroy the intelligence.

The moral education is also of no account; for what kind of
morality can a young girl receive from a nun who believes that
she can live as she pleases as long as she likes it—that nothing
evil can come of her, neither in this life nor in the next, provided
only she is devout to the Virgin Mary?

Let Protestants read the "Glories of Mary," by St. Liguori,
a book which is in the hands of every nun and every priest, and
they will understand what kind of morality is practiced and
taught inside the walls of the Church of Rome. Yes, let them
read the history of that lady who was so well represented at
home by the Holy Virgin that her husband did not perceive that
she had been absent, and they will have some idea of what their
children may learn in a convent.