No Cross, No Crown: Black Nuns in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans

NO CROSS, NO CROWN

NO CROSS, NO CROWN BLACK NUNS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY NEW ORLEANS

Sister Mary Bernard Deggs

Edited by

Virginia Meacham Gould and Charles E. Nolan

indiana university press

bloomington & indianapolis

This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, Indiana 47404-3797 USA http://iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 E-mail orders [email protected] © 2001 by Sisters of the Holy Family All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Deggs, Mary Bernard. No cross, no crown : Black nuns in nineteenth-century New Orleans / Mary Bernard Deggs ; edited by Virginia Meacham Gould and Charles E. Nolan. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-253-33630-9 (alk. paper) 1. Sisters of the Holy Family (New Orleans, La.)—Biography. 2. African Americans—Louisiana—New Orleans—Biography. 3. Nuns—Louisiana—New Orleans—Biography. I. Gould, Virginia Meacham. II. Nolan, Charles E. III. Title. BX4496.7.Z7 D44 2001 271′.97—dc21 [B] 2001016563 1 2 3 4 5 06 05 04 03 02 01

To the Sisters of the Holy Family, whose dedication has inspired generations and who will continue to lead us, black and white, together.

C O N T E N T S

ix xxiii

preface introduction

xxi

acknowledgments

part i. mothers henr ie t te delille and julie t te gaudin

2 3

Chronology Text part ii. mother josephine char le s

20 21

Chronology Text part iii. mother mar ie magdalene alpaugh

56 57

Chronology Text part iv. mother mar ie cecilia c apl a

132 133

Chronology Text part v. mother mary austin jone s

180 181

Chronology Text

201

notes

219

index

p r e fac e

The history of the Sisters of the Holy Family as recorded by Sister Mary Bernard Deggs and reproduced in the pages of this publication is unparalleled in women’s writings. Deggs’ historical account of the founding years of her religious community must be understood as one of a mere handful of books, both literary and historical, written by a woman of African descent before the turn of the twentieth century. In that alone, this work is pivotal, for it will reshape what we know about women of African descent throughout the diaspora. Women from Africa, as this history makes clear, found critical ways in which to mold their worlds, to create their identities, and to in®uence the worlds and identities of those around them. This manuscript is singularly important for what it tells us about the self-empowerment of society’s least empowered, its women of African descent. Yet the manuscript is just as important for other reasons. This account, written between 1894 and 1896, captures, in a most graphic way, the founding of the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans in 1842 and the years of struggle that followed. That a small band of Afro-Creole women founded a religious community in the antebellum South was remarkable. That we have a personal account of the founding years is extraordinary. Anyone reading what Deggs wrote would consider it a historical account of her order. Yet the way in which she relates the day-to-day struggles of the women is also reminiscent of journal keeping. In fact, we believe that by the time Deggs had begun to write her narrative in 1894, she had been in®uenced by the long and rich tradition of women as journal keepers. Countless women in seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century America recorded the details of their day-to-day ex-

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periences and those of others around them in their journals. And in that, the journal of Sister Mary Bernard is unremarkable. The account kept by Deggs, however, was not written about Deggs, nor was it overtly written about her relations with her religious sisters. Instead, she focused her descriptions upon the lives of six women and the religious community they directed. Thus, while Deggs paints with broad brush strokes, she ¤lls in the details about the dailiness of community life. It is there, we believe, in the dailiness of these women’s lives, that this manuscript ¤nds its way into the genre of journal keeping. That is why we see this manuscript as neither a journal nor a history, but rather as both. Determining exactly what this account was, whether it was a history or a journal, represents only one of the many challenges we encountered with the manuscript. When we began working with this document several years ago, it did not appear to us that Deggs was an obvious choice to chronicle the history of her religious community. While we recognized that she had an eloquent way of expressing herself, we also clearly understood that she had only a rudimentary education, probably as a young student in the school of the Sisters of the Holy Family. Indeed, Deggs’ lack of writing skills nearly obscured her gift of language and expression. It was, in fact, her unfamiliarity with the conventions of writing that made our task of preparing her manuscript for publication so tedious. They became evident to us in every imaginable way. One of our ¤rst problems was deciphering words, for Deggs had great dif¤culty with spelling. Many words were spelled phonetically, which might not have presented us with overwhelming dif¤culty if her ¤rst language had been English. But it was not, for even though Deggs chose to record the history of her community in English she, like most of her religious sisters, obviously thought and spoke in French. Why then, we wondered, did she write in English? We cannot be certain. We speculate that she chose to write in English, or was told to write in English by the then mother superior, Mary Austin Jones, whom Deggs described as the ¤rst “American” (non–French-speaking) mother superior. Mother Mary Austin would have recognized that English had become the prevalent language, even in New Orleans. Nonetheless, there were countless times that we had to determine which language Deggs was thinking in and then puzzle out which word in English she was reaching for and trying to spell. Adding to our dif¤culties, Deggs appears to have suffered from dyslexia. She spelled “always” “walys”; “intelligent” “enigetel”; “acknowledge” “exneglow”; “inseparable” “incepreler.” In short, there were hundreds of words we had to examine as if playing a word game in which

xi preface

all the letters of a word were not necessarily included nor correct, or were completely scrambled. The problem of distinguishing indistinguishable words was complicated by Deggs’ use of conjunctions and pronouns. Rather than using periods, commas, and capital letters, she often tied her thoughts together with “and,” “but,” or “as,” in stream-of-consciousness style. It was not unusual for her to refer to the same person or group as “she,” “them,” “one,” and “persons” within a sentence that could meander for pages. Her misuse of pronouns was especially confusing since the normal paragraph structure one looks for in order to determine subject was nonexistent. Often we would have to search back several pages in order to discern the identity of the individual or group to whom she was referring. Deggs’ unfamiliarity with writing was further complicated by her health. When she began her account in 1894, she was already suffering from deteriorating health. As she wrote over the next two years, her condition worsened to such a degree that it began to affect her intellectual capabilities. Additionally, she was clearly not a woman who was bound up in details. Many of the dates and numerical ¤gures she records in her manuscript are inaccurate. While we recognized that dates and numbers are not the important contribution of this account, we did not want to publish inaccurate information. We solved this dilemma when we found that Deggs had given us tacit permission to correct her errors within the text when she wrote on June 14, 1895, “There may be some notes found later, but I cannot get them now, as my health is very poor. There will be many things wrong that must be corrected in these pages.”1 We took her at her word and made corrections to the facts of the history within footnotes. Yet, we recognized the dilemma inherent in correcting the shortfalls of the document. How was it possible, we asked ourselves, as we struggled to understand what she had written, to safeguard the integrity of the manuscript while making it accessible to readers? We had begun the project by doing a letter-for-letter, word-for-word transcription. We stopped, however, after the ¤rst ¤fty pages when we recognized that her writing seemed to grow ever more unintelligible when it was put into print. So we began again. This time we not only transcribed the document but broke the writing into normal-length sentences, inserted traditional spelling, and added punctuation and capitalization where appropriate. That effort involved months of negotiations, with each of us having to suggest a change and then explain to the other why it was necessary. We discovered some weeks later, to our dismay, that our apparently

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radical editorial process had not gone far enough. Our failure to render Deggs’ account comprehensible was gently explained to us by the Sisters of the Holy Family themselves. We had proudly presented the community with a bound copy of the transcribed and translated manuscript so they might bene¤t from a better understanding of their history. And as good religious sisters, the women had responded enthusiastically by having a sister read segments of the manuscript daily during their morning meal. After the women had patiently read through several sections of the journal, they came back to us and reported that what Deggs had written made no sense to them. Clearly, if they did not understand a manuscript that related their history, with which they were already familiar, then certainly no one else would understand it. It was at that point that we were forced to decide whether the manuscript would lose its authenticity if we made the additional changes that were necessary for publication. We asked if Deggs’ recollections, her stories, could remain intact even when ¤ltered through the conventions of modern-day English. We decided, as is evident, that this account would have to withstand further changes if the story of the development of this remarkable community of women, as told by one of its members, was going to be available to readers. We began each paragraph of the next revision of the manuscript with a simple question: what was Deggs trying to say? Our negotiations at this stage assumed an even more lively air than before. Deggs’ indiscriminate use of conjunctions and pronouns, strange grammatical structures, and inappropriate English renditions of a French word or phrase forced us to sometimes search back through the previous paragraph or similar passages to identify who was doing what. We noted, for instance, that “destination” was used where “destiny” was intended; “direction” for “term” (of of¤ce); “estimation” for “esteem.” Despite the more radical changes of this version, we worked diligently to remain as true to the original as possible. When a word had to be changed, we searched for one that Deggs had used elsewhere within a similar context. When words or sentences or even passages had to be eliminated, we only did so when they remained unintelligible to us after three years. Since we worked through stages, or drafts, we have a carefully preserved record of each edited version of the manuscript, which may prove useful for linguists interested in the writing for reasons other than its historical value. As we neared the end of editing the document, we discovered one ¤nal question that demanded an answer. What was it, we wondered, that motivated Deggs to so methodically record the history of her community?

xiii preface

Again, we could ¤nd no direct answer to that question. But we believe there is a reasonable conjecture. It appears to us that the sisters would have recognized by 1894 that much of their history would be lost, or obscured, if they did not record it. As the journal so painstakingly makes clear, the women had suffered through long years of destitution in which every sister had duties to perform that could make the difference of whether they would have supper to eat, or, even more important to them, whether a needy family would go cold or hungry. The women had little time to keep daily accounts as other women religious did, nor did they think of writing a history of their community before the 1890s. But they must have recognized by the years that preceded the turn of the century that much of what had transpired in their earliest years would be lost if Deggs did not record what she knew before her death. An event that occurred in 1892 also might have motivated them to capture their history. On the occasion of their golden jubilee in that year, the Very Reverend J. Bogaerts gave the anniversary sermon. He spoke eloquently of the community’s ¤fty-year history, but said very little about the women themselves. Instead of focusing upon the mother superiors and their roles in the growing success of the mission, Bogaerts praised the clergy who directed them. It is possible that it was that sermon that made the sisters aware that they needed to record their history in their own voice.2 We will never know for sure. Nor will we know why Deggs was chosen for the task, as it appears to us she was. One of the things that has become clear is that she was, in many ways, an excellent choice. The community had grown considerably after the Civil War, but the other women who had joined the order about the same time that Deggs did were considerably younger than she was. Deggs was one of the community’s oldest members when she began working on her historical journal in 1894. It is true that Deggs did not of¤cially join the Sisters of the Holy Family until 1873. But we believe that she had been associated with the community long before that. It seems clear that she had been a student at the sisters’ early school on Bayou Road and thus would have known, as a child, Henriette Delille, the foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family, as well as the small band of women who joined her. Deggs is the only source we have for the names of some of these early women who remained only temporarily within the community. Furthermore, it becomes clear as one reads through the journal that while most of the women were sent out to the expanding missions of the community, Deggs remained in the motherhouse in New Orleans throughout her

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years in the community. Her residence there placed her near the center of the story, where the politics of community life were played out. Furthermore, by the end of the nineteenth century, Deggs was one of only two women in the community who would have remembered its earliest years; she had lived through all the monumental changes that swept New Orleans and its population between the late 1850s and 1896. She was the only member of her community who could personally recall and then describe the community’s long evolutionary process. The other elderly sister, Sister Anne Fazende, had a somewhat abrasive nature, and was hardly suitable for a community historian. Yet for all that Deggs tells us about her religious sisters, she tells us virtually nothing about herself. She only mentions herself a few times in passing in her manuscript. What we know about her has been gleaned from other sources. Deggs, like most of her religious sisters, was a native of Louisiana. She was born in Stoney Point in East Feliciana Parish on November 9, 1846. Stoney Point was a small community located just east of Baton Rouge; today that area is incorporated into the city. According to the 1880 census, her father was a native of Spain; her mother, of Louisiana. Unlike most other Catholic children in Louisiana, Deggs was not baptized as an infant but rather as a seven-year-old, in June 1854. She was con¤rmed a decade later, on July 8, 1864, when she was seventeen. Deggs was twenty-six when she joined the Sisters of the Holy Family on May 7, 1873. When she began her novitiate, she, like all sisters at the time, took a religious name. Hers was Sister Mary Bernard.3 That Deggs did not enter into the community until 1873 presented us with a dilemma soon after we began working with her manuscript. After the ¤rst few pages of her narrative, Deggs began to write a ¤rst-person account of the community’s early years. We knew, though, that she had not entered the community during its earliest years. How much of what Deggs wrote, we were compelled to ask, was from ¤rst-hand evidence? Since there are no documents in the community’s archives that reveal the names of the children to whom the sisters taught catechism, or the names of their students, we cannot prove that she was there. We can only speculate from the way in which she wrote her history that Deggs was present as a student and witnessed the events of the 1850s, just a decade after the community was founded. The evidence that most clearly suggests that Deggs knew the foundress and her followers before she joined them can be found in her manuscript. The tone she used when she described the struggles of the foundress and her followers is personal—too personal to be written from a second-hand perspective. More information about Deggs would perhaps substantiate our deduc-

xv preface

tion. But what we know about her is scant. The community kept few records during its early years, when she entered. She does appear in civil records kept by the city or the state. The only family member she mentioned was her father. She wrote in passing that he had opposed her entrance into the community, which would explain why she did not enter until she was twenty-six. However, as she points out, her father eventually came to rejoice at the happiness her choice had brought her.4 Deggs began her narrative in 1894 at the age of forty-seven, twentyone years after she entered the community. She wrote continuously for two years, leaving a faint trail of dates to track her steady progress. She began on March 18, 1894; she was interrupted to assist a dying sister on September 4, 1894; she completed the long section on Mother Marie Magdalene Alpaugh on June 14, 1895; and she noted Sister Mary Joachim (Chloé) Preval’s golden jubilee celebration on March 22, 1896, just four days before her own death. The ¤nal entry ends in midsentence, an indication that she was literally writing until the end. Sister Mary Bernard Deggs died on March 26, 1896, two years and eight days after she penned the ¤rst lines of this manuscript. We know that one of the ¤rst missions of the women was to evangelize slave and free women of color and their children and to prepare them for baptism and then ¤rst communion. After assuring the salvation of their young charges, the sisters would have encouraged them to continue their af¤liation, through one of the confraternities or pious societies they fostered. Thus it is highly probable that Deggs was brought into the Church by the same women she later chose to join. And it is probable that she would have remained close to these women until she had attained an age at which she could have made her entrance. We do not even have direct knowledge of Deggs’ duties in the community, though it was not dif¤cult for us to surmise that she was a teacher. It was no accident, we came to agree, that Deggs wrote with such lively interest in and familiarity with student behavior, classroom discipline, teaching techniques, and education. In fact, our speculation was veri¤ed by a former student, who wrote that she remembered Deggs as one of the teachers in the school on Bayou Road. While neither the journal nor any other contemporary source reveals which subject Deggs taught, her lack of familiarity with grammar and her unusual pagination and use of numbers suggest to us that she did not teach grammar, writing, or arithmetic. Instead, we believe that she taught domestic arts, music, or catechism.5 Other evidence suggests that Deggs did not teach for long. From her historical account, her early death, and oral tradition we can infer that

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she was seriously ill for most of the years she lived in the community. In one of the few passages about herself, she states that she was extremely ill as early as 1881. She wrote that on January 16 of that year her “health was too poor to go out in rainy weather.” And it is poignantly clear that her health deteriorated rapidly between 1894 and 1896, when she wrote her history. On June 14, 1895, when she was midway though the history, Deggs noted that her health was so poor that she could not even go down the corridor to look up the original documentation in the sisters’ archives. Oral tradition passed down through the sisters relates that Deggs was suffering from tuberculosis. The present-day sisters recall being told by their predecessors that Deggs was so weak in 1894 that the then Mother Superior Mary Austin Jones ordered her to retire to a sunny room at the back of the convent and write a history of the community. A fear that grew out of the tradition was that tuberculosis mycobacteria had remained dormant in the pages of her manuscript. We were told that the sisters had been afraid to touch the manuscript, much less work with it. Yet in fact, in the 1970s, both Sister Mary Borgia Hart and Sister Audrey Deteige used the manuscript, the former to prepare a community history; the latter, to write a brief biography of Henriette Delille. In the 1990s, Sister Boniface Adams, the community archivist, had a partial photocopy made. The original Deggs manuscript, however, remained “virtually untouched” by the sisters until it was handed to us in 1995. That Deggs’ historical account is an important document is without question. Deggs tells us the stories of the women who founded and then maintained the community. These stories, when taken together, weave a complex history. Deggs narrates her historical account in a traditional manner. She writes chronologically, describing the founding and evolution of the community between 1842 and 1896. She frames her historical account around the identities and experiences of the ¤rst ¤ve mother superiors of the community, adroitly painting verbal portraits of each of the women. She tells us of their remarkable struggles and triumphs. She describes for us how they guided the community from an obscure to a central place in the Church and the city.6 Deggs’ manuscript, however, is much more than an account of an extraordinary community of women who directed their religious fervor toward the assistance of society’s most needy. When Deggs describes the women, she does so against the backdrop of the social, political, economic, and even cultural change that swirled around them. One only need glance back upon the changes that swept New Orleans between 1842 and 1896 to get a sense of the ever-shifting conditions these

xvii preface

women of color, women of action, had to understand and address while in the service of their people and their Church. The complexity of this document, the way in which it intertwines issues of race, class, and gender against the backdrop of economic, political, and social change, should make it a godsend to scholars in many ¤elds. Historians of religion should ¤nd it especially invaluable for the light it sheds on the evolution of an African American religious community indigenous to the United States. Scholars interested in religious thought and spirituality in the nineteenth century will ¤nd fresh new insights into what has heretofore been an unseen province. The spirituality within which Deggs frames her historical narrative demonstrates in a profoundly personal way the belief systems of the sisters who congregated in the Convent of the Holy Family. The many nuances of their beliefs and practices are too complex to discuss here in full; however, some general themes should be noted. The most dominant belief found in the journal is especially meaningful for women, and particularly for women of African descent. This, the most obvious of Deggs’ beliefs, is that God uses weak instruments to carry out his will. Those who were the poorest, those who suffered the most, are the ones rewarded with a crown in heaven. Deggs’ recurring theme—no cross on earth, no crown in heaven—demonstrates that belief most clearly. The suffering the women endured, they plainly believed, emulated that of Jesus. They followed his path, carrying their crosses. And the heavier the cross, as Deggs repeatedly reminds us, the more rewarding. Deggs begins her journal instructing us that the rapid progress of the community was a product of “its many crosses which are the key of all graces and the ®owers and stones of the crown.” The belief that suffering was rewarded in heaven will be familiar to scholars of slavery in the Americas who have been reminded that slaveholders selected particular biblical verses to teach slaves that their suffering on earth would be rewarded in heaven; thus the belief system of christianized slaves might have looked similar to that of the sisters. However, while it is clear that slaves were often purposefully instructed in that same spirituality of suffering, the sisters must be viewed through a different lens. Slaves did not choose their conditions, nor did they choose their suffering. It is doubtful, in fact, that they had a choice of Bible verses they heard. That was not true of the women who constituted the Sisters of the Holy Family. Their choice to suffer was purposeful. The women were overwhelmingly from elite families. They were for the most part educated. It was their choice to follow in the footprints of the suffering Jesus. They viewed their suffering as a reward, to be reaped on earth and in heaven.

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Another related issue was that of divine providence or the idea that God would provide, no matter how dire the circumstances. As Deggs explains near the beginning of the journal, “many a night did our dear sisters, after working all day, pray that some dear friend would send them a few spoonfuls of sugar. One time a servant came with a silver waiter with what one might call a grand dinner. Others sent us bundles of candles. Others came with a few pounds of coffee and others, if the weather was cold, with a wheelbarrow of wood and of nut coal. Many ladies, knowing how poor we were, often sent us old shoes or boots to wear in the yard when it rained.” In another passage, she points out that the women were near starving. They did not have bread or anything to make bread. But just after they ¤nished praying to Saint Leven, “someone rapped at the door, and there was a barrel of the best ®our and rice. So we did not need anything for a long time.” Most would attribute the generosity to the people of New Orleans. Deggs identi¤es it as a product of prayer. Prayer is another major theme of the journal. In an ideal state of religious life, the women, according to Deggs, would remain in an active and constant state of prayer. Deggs describes Reverend Mother Josephine as the most prayerful. She writes that she loved to pray and “would take anyone she could ¤nd and make them go with her to pray. They often stayed in the chapel for hours at a time, praying with their arms in the form of a cross.” The belief the women held that they would not reap rewards without suffering was also bound up in the spiritual theme of resurrection. Deggs repeatedly stresses the New Testament theology that in order to rise with the Church it is necessary to die with the Church. One of the primary missions of the women was the salvation of their neighbors. The education that the women offered the people of African descent was of a practical nature. They sought to imbue them with skills that would make their lives more successful and meaningful. But their main goal, the instruction that lay at the core of all they taught, was religion. The sisters believed that a student lost was a soul lost. To gain heaven, it was necessary to embrace the Church. Death in the Church was the most fundamental reward one could earn. Death for the saved was their resurrection, just as it was for Christ. In writing about the boys in their schools, Deggs says that it was a good thing to see them at the holy table, taking communion, though, as she pointed out, “they might go more often.” She added that she hoped when they had grown up to be men, they might become “good and holy.” “With the grace of God, we can teach them to understand what the duty of a Catholic is, which we hope

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to do one day before we die.” She then pointed out that they all hoped to go to the same heaven and “to see the Blessed Mother and her dear son who died for us on the cross. He will be our judge on the last day when we have completed all the work He has given us.” The spirituality of the women underpins this narrative, placing it ¤rmly within the mainstream of Catholic spiritual thought in the nineteenth century. Women were especially de¤ned as those who were to suffer and certainly women of African descent would have been an even more obvious example of the suffering. Yet, while it seems clear to the editors of this text that traces of African religious tradition remained in the community, Deggs has carefully excluded them from her writings. Instead, she focuses on the mission these women had to their community of people of African descent. Southern historians, who have hitherto focused exclusively upon Protestant thought and action in order to understand the intersection of race, class, gender, condition, and religion in the Old and New South, will ¤nd new patterns of action, empowerment, and disempowerment to compare with the ones they have studied for decades. Deggs does not mention the implications that politics had for the community in its founding years before the Civil War. It is likely that she had been too young to fully understand them. It was not until Reconstruction, or those years after Deggs reached maturity, that she began to tie the politics of the city to her community and its work. And even then it was not until the 1890s, when she was writing her account and when her community saw the political climate grow increasingly worse, that Deggs expressed an immediacy of concern. That is when she was most aware of the implications that Jim Crow had for the people her community served. Instead of writing directly of politics in the city, Deggs told stories about her religious superiors, her religious sisters, and the people they served. It is only with a close reading of those stories that one can understand the ways in which the political sands of the city shifted under the feet of the black population. Deggs tells a story of a community of religious women of African descent who emerged victors despite their subordinate places within a political system that was in turmoil. Scholars of American history, especially scholars of social history, will ¤nd this historical journal extremely insightful for what it demonstrates about the shifting political and economic conditions in New Orleans. They will have the opportunity to analyze the day-to-day conditions of the black community in the city, and within that context they will ¤nd new and intriguing information about racism, described from the bottom up. Women’s scholars will hear a new voice added to the clamor

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of previously obscure nineteenth-century black women. This account, however, is especially important for what it can demonstrate to them, for Deggs clearly understood what it took later women’s historians another century to understand. She wrote an account of women, of a community of women, while demonstrating that their identities and their experiences were directly linked to the unique social conditions in the region. Conventions of class, race, gender, and condition held implications for free women of color in New Orleans as they did nowhere else in the deep South. It was only there, in the 1840s and 1850s, when the slave-based social system was at its most restrictive, that a band of women of African descent could turn their spiritual energy and hope into the reality of an of¤cially recognized religious community, committed to serving the religious and social needs of their people. To us, the true brilliance of Deggs is that she did not just give us a dry and witless account of the early years of the Sisters of the Holy Family and their life in religion. Rather, she told us intriguing, interesting, and often complex stories of a group of women in New Orleans and the way in which they related to the world around them. Perhaps that is all Deggs knew how to do. Or perhaps she was very clever, and knew the value of a good story. Either way, it seems that it was as impossible for Deggs then as it is for us today to separate the historical development of her religious community from the unique and interesting women who founded and maintained it. Because that is how Deggs centered her stories—on the women and on their many crosses.

acknowledgments

We wish to ¤rst acknowledge and thank the Sisters of the Holy Family, past and present. They are not only the subject of this book, they are also its inspiration and a constant source of assistance and encouragement. They urged us to begin this task, read and critiqued our various drafts, and made available the needed archival resources to transcribe, edit, and annotate the text. In particular, we thank Sister Boniface Adams, who ¤rst brought this manuscript to our attention; Mother Mary de Chantal St. Julien, Superior General when this work began; Mother Sylvia Thibodeaux, our frequent co-worker on the Cause for Canonization of Henriette Delille and the present Superior General; and Sister Doris Goudeaux, the present Vicar General and Coordinator of the Friends of Henriette Delille. This work forms part of a larger study, the critical analysis of the life and times of Henriette Delille (1812–1862), the foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family. When completed, the study will serve as the historical foundation for the furthering of the Cause for Canonization. Countless people throughout the country have encouraged us in this work on Henriette Delille, the ¤rst African American whose Cause for Canonization the Catholic Church in the United States has of¤cially introduced. In particular, we thank Father James FitzPatrick, O.M.I, the Roman postulator for this cause; he has been a source of encouragement. Archbishop Francis B. Schulte of New Orleans has been a constant supporter in this work. We also wish to thank the many archivists, co-workers, and colleagues who have assisted in the preparation of this manuscript: the staff of The Historic New Orleans Collection; Dorenda Dupont and Connie

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Birabent at the Archdiocesan Archives; Sister Joan Marie Aycock at the Ursuline Archives; Sister Hyacinthe Breaux at the Archives of the Sisters of Mt. Carmel; Sisters Elizabeth Farley and Margaret Phelen at the Sacred Heart Archives in St. Louis; Dr. Paul Lachance of the University of Ottawa; Dr. Emily Clark of the University of Southern Mississippi; Dr. Keith Eagan of St. Mary’s College; Dr. Catherine Clinton of The Citadel; Father Cyprian Davis of St. Meinrad’s Seminary; Dr. Scott Appleby and the Cushwa Institute of the University of Notre Dame, and the archivists of the Herschburg Library of the University of Notre Dame. Father Thomas Ellerman of Our Lady of Holy Cross College has been especially generous with his time and knowledge about the spirituality and devotional practices of nineteenth-century Catholics. The historical community in Belley and Bourg-en-Bresse, France, added a new dimension, a more universal aspect, to our study. Father Leveque, the archivist of the Dominicain House in Lyon, generously shared his invaluable collection of documents with us. These many scholars and archivists pushed us, always, towards a much richer and complex study. Finally, we would like to thank Bobbi Diehl of Indiana University Press. From the beginning, Bobbi recognized the value of Sister Mary Bernard Deggs’ historical journal and though she always pushed us to ¤nish she never stopped asking the kinds of questions that guided us toward a more complete study.

introduction

It is an African belief that life is a process without beginning or end, a seamless continuum that folds back upon itself. Many believe that it is for this reason that African stories are often told in a circular fashion. Certainly this is how Sister Sylvia Thibodeaux has come to tell the story of the foundation of her religious community in New Orleans. The history of her community can in fact be seen as the seamless folding of an ancient story into a modern one. The history of the Sisters of the Holy Family, in a sense, folded back upon itself when Sister Sylvia, with the ¤nancial aid and blessings of her religious sisters, went to Benin City, Nigeria. When Sister Sylvia left her community’s motherhouse in New Orleans in 1974 to go to Africa, she went at the request of Nigerian Bishop Patrick Ebisele Ekpu. Bishop Ekpu had ¤rst approached the Sisters of the Holy Family in 1971, seeking a community of African American religious sisters to aid him in the founding of a community of religious women in his diocese. The community that Bishop Ekpu sought to establish was not the ¤rst in Africa, or in Nigeria. There had been Catholic women religious living in community in Africa for more than a century. What Bishop Ekpu envisioned for Benin City was the establishment of a community that would be fundamentally different from the others. His ¤rst goal was to bring women from differing tribes together. His stated purpose was to demonstrate that people from formerly warring tribes could live together in peace and unconditional love. Ekpu’s second goal was to establish a community in which the women would keep their identities and the identity of their religious community grounded in African tradition. The community, according to Bishop Ekpu, should not re®ect the trappings

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of western culture. The women would neither dress nor act like Americanized or Europeanized religious women. They were to build their spirituality and mission upon their identities as African women. Since Bishop Ekpu wanted an order of African American sisters to aid in the formation of the community, he requested help from the Sisters of the Holy Family. This was the call Sister Sylvia answered. She originally visited Benin City in 1972 with two religious sisters from other communities. The three women remained in the region for six weeks to evaluate the situation. Sister Sylvia returned alone in 1974 to guide the establishment of this new community of African sisters. When she left Benin City in 1992 after a stay of eighteen years, she had completed her mission. The community she founded, the one her African sisters chose to name the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, was young and vibrant.1 With the thoughtful guidance of Sister Sylvia, the Sisters of the Sacred Heart anchored their identities and thus their mission soundly within their perception of themselves as African women. In that, their identities and their goals mirrored those of the women who had founded the Sisters of the Holy Family in antebellum New Orleans. The New Orleans women recognized their ties to Africa and thus to its sons and daughters as surely as did the Sisters of the Sacred Heart. The foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family, Henriette Delille, and the small band of women who joined her were women of African descent. They dedicated themselves to “their people,” who were either Africans or people of African descent, both slave and free. It is dif¤cult to appreciate today how a group of women of African descent in antebellum New Orleans even dared hope they might direct their religious fervor into evangelizing, educating, and serving society’s most disenfranchised people. The young women who founded the Sisters of the Holy Family faced a slave system that grew increasingly rigid as the women matured into adulthood. By the time the women, led by Henriette Delille, bound themselves into a quasi-formal congregation in 1842, legislators in Louisiana had begun to formulate laws to further restrict the freedom of all who were of African descent. Yet the women not only ignored the restrictions aimed at their class, but de¤ed them by focusing their work upon the city’s slaves and free persons of color. In order to understand how it was that those women succeeded, it is necessary to look back more than a century to the founding of Louisana and the establishment of the Catholic Church there.2 When the French established the social system of slavery in Louisiana, they implemented a series of laws, or a code of governance, that was

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known as the Code Noir.3 The Code Noir was France’s most comprehensive colonial legislation on slavery. It embodied the interwoven nature of political culture and religion in France. The Code Noir, as originally implemented for the French Islands in 1685, was based upon the Christian justi¤cation of slavery. Enslaved Africans, according to the missionary justi¤cation of the French, were more fortunate than the heathens they left behind in Africa. The intentions of the Church and the Crown were implicit in the second article of the Code Noir. It required slaveholders to baptize all their slaves and instruct them in the Catholic faith. It was only in this way that the “true faith” would be brought to all Africans living in the New World. The Code Noir was made more restrictive in 1722, but its policies concerning the evangelization of slaves remained intact. It was this later Code, reenacted in the French Islands in 1722, that was implemented in Louisiana in 1724. Although the early French Capuchin and Jesuit missionaries in the lower Mississippi Valley regularly administered the sacrament of baptism to African slaves and the newly emerging group of freed people of African descent, it was only when the Ursulines arrived in New Orleans in 1727 that a serious effort was made to instruct slave children and free people of color, particularly girls. The Ursulines brought to Louisiana a long history of such missionary activity. The women who founded their community in early-sixteenth-century Italy believed that it was through the education of women that they could plant in every home at least one defender of Christ and model of faith in Christ; only in this manner could they effect the reformation of Catholic society. The teaching activities of the Ursulines were especially popular and effective in France during the seventeenth century. In 1639, they transported their work to Canada. The Ursulines who traveled to Louisiana in 1727 had the same mission, and they brought two centuries of missionizing and educating women with them.4 Within weeks after arriving in New Orleans, the Ursulines established their school for girls. The nuns were semi-cloistered, so the girls and women who sought an education had to go to them. Most of the girls and women they educated were white, but the women also turned their attention to educating the daughters of slaves, free women of color, and Native Americans. The girls who were educated by the Ursulines began their education around the age of ten and remained at the school for approximately two years. Some attended a day school; others were cloistered within a boarding school. The Ursulines also worked with slaves, but their earliest efforts were limited to instilling the most rudimentary understanding of

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religion. Yet while the ministry that the Ursulines undertook on behalf of slaves was basic, it should not be underestimated. Even they reported great success with the negresses in the early settlement. In their boarding school during the later Spanish period, the Ursulines accommodated the daughters of the white residents and of legitimately married free women of color and white men.5 The Ursulines were not the only women evangelizing slaves in New Orleans. In 1730, a small band of laywomen called upon the Ursulines and asked them to establish a pious society of women and girls in honor of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. The Ursulines readily agreed to sponsor the confraternity, which was named the Ladies Congregation of the Children of Mary. The Children of Mary played an important role in French colonial New Orleans. By the mid-1730s, it included more than one-third of the free women and marriageable girls living in New Orleans. A list of the members reveals that the group was socially and racially diverse. Many of the women were from the most in®uential families of New Orleans, but some were wives of gunners and carpenters. Three of the women listed as members of the confraternity were only given ¤rst names. Since nowhere in the records of New Orleans were white women listed with just a ¤rst name, these three would have been either free women of color or slaves.6 The in®uence of the Ursulines and the Children of Mary on women of African descent of New Orleans is evident throughout the colonial period. The sacramental records of St. Louis Church demonstrate that the majority of women of African descent, both slave and free, were brought into the church. By the 1790s, two-thirds of the children baptized at the New Orleans church had an African or Afro-Creole mother.7 This Ursuline in®uence led directly to the formation in the 1830s of Louisiana’s ¤rst religious community of women of African descent, the Sisters of the Holy Family. The religious ancestry of the foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family, Henriette Delille, can be traced directly back to the early work of the Ursulines and the Children of Mary. Her heritage also serves as an example of the ways in which African women and their descendants were brought more fully over time into the body of the Church.8 The earliest record we have of any of Delille’s ancestors participating in the Church concerns her great-great-grandmother, Marie Ann. Marie Ann, who was later known as Nanette, was an African slave of Claude Joseph Dubreuil. Dubreuil was the Royal Engineer to the King and one of the more prosperous planters in Louisiana. His wife, Marie Payen

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Dubreuil, was a member of the Children of Mary and thus responsible for the evangelization and baptism of her husband’s slaves. The early New Orleans sacramental records suggest that Marie Payen Dubreuil took this responsibility seriously. Dubreuil’s slaves appear repeatedly in these baptismal records. Henriette Delille’s great-great-grandmother, Marie Anne, was baptized, and she had her three children baptized. Her children had their children baptized and they, in turn, theirs.9 It also appears that Marie Ann’s daughters, who were Henriette Delille’s greatgrandmother and great-great aunt, were taught rudimentary literacy skills by the Ursulines. It was these descendants of Marie Ann who took on new roles within the Church, serving as godmothers to the infants of slaves and other people of color.10 Soon after the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, the religious fervor that the Ursulines directed toward New Orleans’ slave and free women of color began to ®ag. This does not suggest that the Ursulines’ concern for them had faded. It had not. The waning of their efforts grew from changes that occurred in the Church after cession. Soon after Spain withdrew from the governance of Louisiana in 1803, sixteen of the New Orleans Ursulines also withdrew to Cuba. To complicate matters further, the Church lost its ¤nancial base of royal support when Louisiana was ceded to the United States. In addition, the transfer of Louisiana’s ¤rst bishop to Guatemala in 1801 soon created a local vacuum of authority and occasioned a bitter interclerical battle over authority. The few priests and Ursulines who remained in the city faced declining numbers and ¤nancial resources at the same time that the number of their parishioners was increasing. The threat posed by declining resources and personnel was complicated by the emerging presence of Protestants who were now free to practice their religion. The Church in New Orleans was, in the mind of many contemporaries as well as later historians, entering its darkest hour.11 Rome ¤nally addressed the ecclesiastical vacuum in Louisiana by assigning administrative responsibility to Bishop John Carroll in Baltimore. Father John Olivier, a priest in New Orleans, described to Bishop Carroll the disgusting conditions that existed in the Church at New Orleans around 1812. “This city is inhabited by numerous strangers from every country without religion, without customs, and what has put the peak to scandal is the arrival of a very great number of girls of color from Santo Domingo who spread corruption everywhere. If the conduct of Père Antoine and his two assistants Thoma and Kuan [Koüne] were above reproach I would have less to lament.”12 It was no accident that Olivier mentioned the scandalous behavior of

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the free women of color from Saint Domingue at the same time that he mentioned the two priests, Fathers Claude Thoma and Jean Koüne. They were refugees from Saint Domingue. Claude Thoma, who had come to New Orleans from Saint Domingue via Cuba, was accompanied by his mulatto housekeeper and her children. Rumors were rampant that the woman was his concubine. What was worse, according to Olivier, was that Thoma had immediately upon his arrival in the city ingratiated himself with the controversial pastor of St. Louis Cathedral, Père Antoine de Sedella, and Père Antoine had appointed Thoma his assistant at the cathedral. According to Olivier, Father Jean Koüne was no better. He was also thought to be living with his mulatto housekeeper. His critics claimed that the children ate at table with him and called him “Papa.” Olivier had interdicted the two priests, forbidding them to exercise their priestly ministry. But, as he explained, his actions were futile. Père Antoine had ignored his authority.13 Olivier’s charge that the free women of color from Saint Domingue were spreading corruption everywhere was not a new one. African women and women of African descent had been depicted as the licentious seductresses of white men since Louisiana’s ¤rst decades of settlement. It appears that even the Ursulines worried inordinately about the morality of the free women of color. Their attitude is evident in an 1804 letter to Thomas Jefferson in which they requested the passage of an act of Congress guaranteeing their property rights. They asked to be assured that they could ful¤ll their responsibilities not only of educating the daughters of the better families, but also of instructing those “wretched beings snatched from the horrors of vice and infamy.” The Ursulines also knew that these were the same women who, with their guidance over the preceding century, had become among the most devout members of the Catholic Church.14 The Ursulines’ fear of losing their property under the Americans proved unfounded, and the eleven Ursulines who were left to minister to the needs of the women and girls of New Orleans continued their work. When Governor C. C. Claiborne wrote to Secretary of State James Madison in 1803, he reported that these few Ursulines were accommodating seventy-three boarders and one hundred day scholars. Many of the day scholars, who were free girls of color, were being educated by Mother Ste. Marie Olivier de Vezin, a choir sister, who particularly devoted herself to their ministry for more than forty years.15 The scarcity of members and the waning of ¤nancial support, however, were only the beginning of the Ursulines’ mounting problems. The

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few women who stayed on in the city were forced to continue their work amidst a clerical struggle over authority that severely disabled the local church. The turmoil that divided the New Orleans Church followed the lay trustees’ “election” of Père Antoine de Sedella as the pastor of St. Louis Cathedral. When Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore appointed a very reluctant Louis William Dubourg as Administrator Apostolic of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas in 1812, the administrator quickly found himself at odds with the popular cathedral pastor. Dubourg’s task—to restore authority in the Church in New Orleans— proved to be a daunting and seemingly impossible one. Dubourg later described the situation he found in New Orleans when he arrived in 1812 as one of “ecclesiastical anarchy which had opened the door to the most deplorable scandals.” Among other things, Dubourg found himself accused by slaveholders of preaching revolt to slaves. At the same time, he was accused by free people of African descent as “the stated enemy of their caste.”16 In 1815, disheartened over the political turmoil in New Orleans, Dubourg traveled to Rome where he asked to be relieved of his post. Pope Pius VII denied Dubourg’s request and instead appointed him Bishop of Louisiana and the Floridas. Instead of returning immediately to his diocese after episcopal ordination, Dubourg spent two years in Europe, mostly in France, where he concentrated on recruiting missionaries to serve in his vast, unruly diocese. By the time he returned to Louisiana in 1817 Dubourg had recruited a large group of men and women to aid in the revitalization of the Church in Louisiana. Most of the missionaries were from France. It had been only natural for Dubourg to look toward France for help. The population of Louisiana, especially that part that was Catholic, continued to speak French and continued to think of themselves as either French or Creole. Nearly all the Ursulines who remained in New Orleans during these years were either French or French Creole, and the nuns had turned to France for reinforcements before 1812.17 Indeed, one of Dubourg’s assignments while he was in France was to recruit women to aid the Ursulines in their school in New Orleans. It is clear that he forgot neither the plight of the Ursulines nor that of the women to whom they ministered. Bits and pieces of evidence indicate that Dubourg had been committed to slaves and free people of color throughout his years in the priesthood. His father was a businessman in Saint Domingue, which would have exposed him to the large and in®uential community of free people of color who lived there and to their speci¤c needs. Furthermore, it appears that after he took up his ministry

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in Baltimore, he began to work with the slaves and free people of color who had migrated there.18 Dubourg’s efforts were successful. The Ursulines had requested that he recruit a nun to take over the training of the women of African descent in the city. Sister Ste. Marthe Fontière, a Hospitalière Sister from France, agreed to return with him to Louisiana. After undergoing a probationary period in the Ursuline convent in Bordeaux for several months, she traveled to New Orleans where she lived with the Ursulines until 1823. That was the year before the Ursulines moved to a new convent downriver from the city. The new Ursuline convent was out of the reach of most of the young girls of African descent who lived in the city. Immediately after Sister Ste. Marthe Fontière left the Ursulines, she established the school for girls of color. She also attempted to attract other women religious to join her in her work, but failed, and left the school in 1832. At her departure, the school was placed back under the direction of the Ursulines, then taken over brie®y by Jeanne Marie Aliquot, a Frenchwoman who appears in the early history of the Holy Family Sisters. In 1838, the school was taken over by the recently arrived Sisters of Mount Carmel. In 1839, the school had twenty-¤ve boarders and sixty-¤ve day students. The Sisters of Mount Carmel continued to operate the St. Claude Street School until the 1890s.19 Although we do not have the student records from Sister Ste. Marthe’s school, we do know that some of the women who founded the Sisters of the Holy Family were educated there. Sister Mary Bernard Deggs writes that Juliette Gaudin and many of the other early sisters had received their educations from Sister Ste. Marthe. Indeed, Henriette Delille and Juliette Gaudin attended the school as day students, where they were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography, and most especially religion. The more mature and successful girls would have been asked to aid with the education of the younger, less well-trained girls. They would have been educated to educate. The success of the school under Sister Ste. Marthe’s leadership can be surmised from a letter Bishop Dubourg wrote to Father Antoine Blanc, a New Orleans priest who in 1824 was visiting the Grand Seminaire in Lyon where he had been educated. Blanc was in Lyon, at least in part, to recruit missionaries for Louisiana. Dubourg wrote to Blanc that he should “try to bring back two good Sisters of St. Charles to cooperate with good Sister Ste. Marthe. . . . Her school is doing much good. She has some 80 pupils and the number would increase quickly if she had helpers and she would join them in establishing their order if they would come.” The nuns to whom God gives unforeseen courage, he continued,

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should have no fear. They were probably being called to form their society in New Orleans and thus would surely succeed right away. They would see their society spread quickly because Sister Ste. Marthe’s establishment had property and it had money; the basis of the school improved each day. Furthermore, he urged Blanc to tell them, “a good person who enjoys a certain income would cover the expenses of their trip, which would be scrupulously paid on arrival, not to mention what they planned to do then.” The Church recognized that there was a great need to expand the school for these young girls. Blanc, however, was unsuccessful in ¤nding women to join in the effort.20 Sister Ste. Marthe was not the only French missionary ministering to these young girls. While she evangelized girls and taught them rudimentary literacy skills, Michael Portier, a priest who had also accompanied Dubourg from the seminary in Lyon in 1817, formed as a part of his mission a confraternity of young free people of color. Portier described his ministry in an 1820 letter to Father Challeton, the director of the Grand Seminaire in Lyon where Portier had taken his training for the priesthood. Portier wrote that he met with a group of sixty of these young people every night. He read and then explained the gospel to them. A dozen of them, he went on to say, were “fervent, like angels.” The members of this congregation, he told his former mentor, were his consolation. “They wear a red ribbon and a cross and they promise to ¤ght daily like valiant soldiers of Jesus Christ.” He presided at their weekly Sunday assembly. He also directed their practice of religion and had the happiness to see them as faithful as the seminarians in Lyon. But, as he pointed out, the seminarians in Lyon lived in a seminary, while the free people of color in New Orleans lived “in Babylon, in the midst of scandals.” These young people of color “teach the Blacks to pray, they catechize, they instruct, and they communicate once the [page deteriorated].” As Portier tells us in his letter, he was training these young free people of color to reach out to the slaves of the city, to catechize them, and to prepare them for baptism.21 There is no way to tell how long Portier’s congregation continued to meet. He left New Orleans in 1829 to become the ¤rst Bishop of Mobile. His departure was followed three years later by that of Sister Ste. Marthe. But there can be little doubt that the religious fervor of these two missionaries in New Orleans survived their stewardship. The spiritual formation of the women who founded the Sisters of the Holy Family had been forged. Their dedication to the religious instruction of “their people” was emerging. A survey of the sacramental records of St. Louis Cathedral reveals that Henriette Delille, Juliette Gaudin,

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Josephine Charles, and Suzanne Navarre, the four earliest members of the Sisters of the Holy Family, began to serve as godmothers to the infants and children of slaves and free people of color as early as 1829. When Henriette Delille began evangelizing she was only seventeen years old. The work of the young women within their community and their responsibility to it grew during the next years. That is evidenced by the increasing frequency with which they served as godmothers. By 1832, when Sister Ste. Marthe left the city, the names of the women regularly appear in the sacramental records.22 The dedication of these young women to their work grew even stronger during the seven years that elapsed between 1829 and 1836. At some point during those years, they began to act collectively in order to more fully meet the needs of their community. In 1836, the group’s leader, Henriette Delille, penned in one of her French prayer books an expression of her unique vocation: “I believe in God. I hope in God. I love. I wish to live and die for God.” This simple prayer was a prelude to the women’s next major step.23 In 1836, Henriette Delille and her companions organized a large group of women into a confraternity. It took the name of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Its mission can be seen in its rules and regulations, written in French in the center of a leatherbound account book. The group organized itself by electing a council which was to consist of a director, of¤cers, and eight zelatrices [recruiters]. The members, who referred to themselves as sisters, pledged to serve three groups: themselves, each other, and their people. Their ¤rst obligation was to themselves—to be pious women, women above reproach. Their rules stated that each woman should “seek to bring back the Glory of God and the salvation of the neighbor by a charitable and edifying behavior,” and stipulated that if a member of the congregation were to fall into “a considerable fault and continue to give scandal, the superior either alone or with the assistance of her council will admonish her three times in a charitable manner. If the advice is not heeded, she will be dropped from the membership of the congregation.” If it was important for women in confraternities, like the Ursuline’s Children of Mary, to be pious, it was essential for free women of color, who were stigmatized as being naturally impious by the predominant ideology of the slave system.24 The second group to whom the women were responsible was their own. The women recognized that each woman alone could do little to evangelize or to care for others. It was only through their collective

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strength that they could address the needs of the population to which they administered. When a member was in need, her sisters were to come to her aid both spiritually and materially as far as possible. The third group the members of the congregation served was the wider community, particularly the most needy. The women wrote in their constitution that “the sick, the in¤rm, and the poor” were the “¤rst and the dearest objects of the solicitude of the congregation.” The Sisters of the Presentation went into homes to visit the sick and to assist the dying. They brought food to the hungry and warmth to the cold. They sought out the uneducated so they might educate them. It was their duty to “teach the principal mysteries of religion and the most important points of Christian morality.” They were women who recast their identities and thus their in®uence and power within their community. They had few choices and little if any power as women of color. That changed, however, when they rede¤ned themselves as pious women and joined forces to combat the needs they saw around them. By 1840, the ministry of the Sisters of the Presentation had become so well recognized that Bishop Antoine Blanc requested that they be af¤liated with the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Rome. The bishop agreed, but it is not clear how comfortable he was informing the Church authorities in Rome of the identities of the women. In his request for af¤liation, Blanc noted that the women were active in the city but he failed to af¤x the identi¤er fdcl, or femmes de couleur libre, which he was required by law in Louisiana to use with the names of free women of color. Blanc received notice that the women had been af¤liated with the sodality in Rome early in 1841. He no doubt informed the women of their af¤liation soon after he received word of it.25 The af¤liation proved to be important for several reasons. First, it allowed the women in New Orleans to participate in the indulgences granted the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Henriette Delille recorded, in her prayer book on February 15, 1842, a list of prayers and pious acts to say and perform to gain these indulgences: reception on communion on speci¤c Sundays for members of various sodalities and societies—the Holy Rosary Society, the Propagation of the Faith Society, “the members of the congregation” [Sisters of the Presentation], acts of faith, hope, and charity. She inscribed these same acts in another prayer book in 1836.26 The af¤liation also demonstrated that the Church had a clear commitment to them. Theirs was an of¤cial congregation, sanctioned by the Church. Recognition by the Church would have been most welcome for

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the women themselves. But it was also a critical ¤rst step of formalization of an organization of free women of color within the Church in New Orleans. The af¤liation the women were granted by Rome precedes by only a few months the date the women celebrate as the foundation of their order: November 21, 1842. This date, which is also the feast of the Presentation in the Church’s liturgical year, signaled in truth a critical but intermediate stage. The women did not take any vows until 1851. On November 21 of that year, Henriette Delille took private vows to serve the Church rather than the formal vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience that are taken by all who enter religious life. Juliette Gaudin and Josephine Charles took their private vows on November 21, 1852.27 The transition from loose-knit association of laywomen to pious community and eventually to a religious order was not uncommon. Groups of secular Catholic women had been dedicating themselves to God and to the works of the Church outside formal organization since the Counter-reformation. Most of the women’s organizations went through long years of transition in which their futures were always tenuous.28 The women who founded the Sisters of the Holy Family began as friends or associates who lived at home, evangelizing slaves. They then expanded their horizons by founding a confraternity. After working with this large, loosely knit group of women for six years, a small group led by Henriette Delille moved out of their family households around 1840 and into a house leased for them by Father Etienne Rousselon, another missionary from the Grand Seminaire in Lyon. Rousselon had arrived in New Orleans in 1837 where he became the chaplain to the Ursuline convent and school and the St. Claude Street School and chapel as well as vicar general of the diocese. It was Rousselon who was the founding pastor of St. Augustine’s Parish in 1841–1842. It was his ministry at the St. Claude Street chapel and St. Augustine’s that brought him into contact with Henriette Delille and the small band of women who worked with her to found the Sisters of the Holy Family. It was Rousselon whom Deggs describes as the spiritual advisor of the women and the cofounder of the community. The house Rousselon leased for the women was near St. Augustine’s Church. Sister Mary Bernard Deggs tells us in her history that it was on St. Bernard Street. However, it proved inadequate and only served the women for a few months. The women had only intended to open the home to poor elderly women, but soon after they moved into it, a church trustee brought them an old wounded man whom they could not refuse to take. They were forced to retire, Sister Mary Bernard writes, to a

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temporary home where they waited some eighteen months for Father Rousselon to buy or build them a new house. Their next house, which was larger, was on Bayou Road near St. Claude Street. In 1847 the women, under the leadership of Henriette Delille, incorporated as the Society of the Holy Family. They made that move in order to ensure a legal basis for their work. It was also through the Society that the women were able to raise funds to buy a permanent home for the elderly on St. Bernard Street. In 1851, using her modest inheritance, Henriette Delille purchased a house on Bayou Road to provide a permanent home for a more communal life. The house also served as a center for her expanding ministry to the sick and the catechetical instruction and education of girls. Over the next decade a dozen other women joined her there. The growth of the community and of their mission went relatively unnoticed until Delille’s death in 1862. It appears that the women recognized that the continuation of their work was dependent upon their discretion. Delille’s death, however—the loss of her charisma—was one of the greatest crises the young community faced. Of the twelve women who belonged to the community when Delille died, only ¤ve remained. But Delille left two things that continued to inspire those who stayed. She willed the house to the Church so the women could continue the work she had begun. She also left her example of humble service to the poor, grounded in a sound spiritual life. Someone who knew her well wrote in her obituary that she was “one who for the love of Jesus Christ made herself the servant of slaves.”29 Deggs’ historical account of the community takes us through the early years of development of this remarkable community of women. She tells us of the way in which the community grew, of the orphanages and old folks’ homes the women sponsored. She describes the growth of the schools. She tells us how the women took their mission to the people in Baton Rouge, Donaldsonville, and Opelousas. She tells us about the hardships they faced—the manual labor they performed in order to ¤nance their missions, the baskets of heav y laundry they carried through the streets. She provides a graphic portrait of the deprivations of these early years, for their mission always outstripped their means. The young community’s greatest hardship was not the cold and hunger it suffered; the women learned to drink sugared water in order to sleep at night. Their real hardship was their fear of turning away a needy, hungry, or cold woman or child. Deggs tells us that the community’s early years were indeed tenuous. But we also know that by the time Deggs was penning her recollec-

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tions, her community had purchased the Old Quadroon Ballroom at 717 Orleans Street, in the heart of the Old District or Vieux Carré. The women “sancti¤ed” the ballroom when they turned it into their convent. Their future there seemed secured. It was between Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era that the community matured. An account written in 1886 mentions that there were forty women in the community. Of those, twenty-three were living at the motherhouse on Orleans Street. The seventeen others were spread out among ¤ve other houses in New Orleans, Opelousas, and Donaldsonville. These few women were educating one hundred day students and boarders in their schools in New Orleans, sixty in their school in Opelousas, and one hundred twenty-¤ve in Donaldsonville. The women had de¤ned their mission well. Their futures were secure in their ministry. In addition they were also running a school on Bayou Road for the catechesis of women and children. Their work with the elderly and the orphaned of New Orleans also continued to occupy much of their time and energy.30 The historical journal of Sister Mary Bernard Deggs that is reproduced in these pages contributes to our understanding of the roots, stems, and branches of the Sisters of the Holy Family. The journal has provided the sisters with the opportunity to more fully explore and understand the complexity of their past. Of course, we could say that the identity, the work, and the spirituality of the women who form the community today are a product of their history, but without Deggs’ history that would only be speculation. With Deggs’ account, however, we know that today’s community of women—their dedication to the poor, to education, to the care of the elderly and orphaned—comes from a long and complex tradition that grew in response to the social needs of “their people.” We know that within the pages of the document reproduced here there is an uninterrupted heritage between the sisters today and the early foundresses of this order. It’s only because of this journal, written more than a century ago, that we have such a clear record of that heritage. It is this same heritage that Sister Sylvia Thibodeaux brought back to Africa, more than two and a half centuries after a young African named Marie Ann at her baptism in New Orleans was torn away from her home, survived the middle passage, and became a slave in the distant Louisiana colony. Marie Ann’s great-great-granddaughter, Henriette Delille, and her companions created a remarkable community of women whose story is told in the following pages.

NO CROSS, NO CROWN

PART ONE

MOTHERS HENRIETTE DELILLE AND JULIETTE GAUDIN

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2

CHRONOLOGY 1842 1847 1851 1861 1862

1863 1865 1866

1870

Founding of the Sisters of the Holy Family. Incorporation of the Association of the Holy Family. Purchase of a permanent home on Bayou Road by the community’s foundress, Henriette Delille. Civil War begins April 12. Union troops occupy New Orleans May 1. Death of Henriette Delille November 16. Juliette Gaudin assumes role of mother superior the same day. Death of Jeanne Marie Aliquot January 1. Abraham Lincoln signs Emancipation Proclamation. The South surrenders during the spring. Death of Father Founder Etienne Rousselon. Gilbert Raymond succeeds Rousselon as ecclesiastical superior. Race riots in New Orleans. The community divides on October 4; a second or split house is established on Chartres Street by Josephine Charles. Juliette Gaudin remains mother superior of the old cradle house on Bayou Road.

3 PART ONE

Deggs begins her historical narrative with an account of the dif¤culties of the early days. She tells us that the community was founded in 1842 by Henriette Delille, Juliette Gaudin, and Josephine Charles, although Delille was always identi¤ed as the principal foundress, or “mother,” of the community. In fact, in her history of the community written in the early twentieth century, Sister Mary Francis Borgia Hart states that Delille was chosen by Father Etienne Rousselon as the community’s superior. She also explains that when the foundresses took their ¤rst of¤cial vows, on October 15, 1852, they were allowed to exchange their blue percale gowns for black ones, and that Henriette was of¤cially named superior and mistress of novices.1 While the women changed their dress, and even their status, in 1852, their mission did not change. In describing themselves and their origins, they were constant in their descriptions of their work. They said in the constitution of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary that their work was to instruct the ignorant, assist the dying, and care for the needy. Their ¤rst mission, what lay at the heart of their foundation, was evangelization, and especially the evangelization of “their people,” New Orleans’ slaves and free people of color. Soon after the women joined together to live in community, in 1842, they began to take the elderly and orphaned into their house. In 1852, they founded a school for girls. During the years that elapsed between the foundation of the community and Delille’s death, many other women joined them. However, only a few remained after Delille’s death in 1862. Between the twenty years that expired between 1842, when the women began the arduous task of founding a religious order, and 1862, when Delille died, conditions in New Orleans grew steadily more dif¤cult for free people of color. The largest number of free people of color in New Orleans during those years were Creoles who were tied by heritage, blood, language, and Catholicism to the city’s white and slave Creoles. New Orleans’ Afro-Creole population emerged during the colonial period, and by 1803, when Louisiana was ceded to the United States, it had grown to occupy a signi¤cant and discrete place in the city’s Creole population, numerically, culturally, and economically. During the decades that elapsed between the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and 1830, free Creoles of color continued to strengthen their social and economic positions. While neither their demographic nor their legal position improved, the economic standing of those who remained did. By

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4

the antebellum period, they held a signi¤cant number of professional and semi-professional positions in the city; and they continued to accumulate property. Yet despite their relative stability and success, that segment of the population faced political, economic, and social decline after 1830. Beginning in the 1830s city and state policymakers began to pass a series of laws meant to more closely regulate slavery and to restrict the positions and activities of free people of color. Notwithstanding their status, free Creoles of color were not exempt. They responded to these degrading and threatening laws in a number of ways. Some migrated to the countryside; others went to France, the Caribbean, or Mexico. Still others passed into the white community. Most, however, chose to stay in the city, and struggled to hold on to their positions. It was within that political, economic, and social climate that Delille and the women who joined her succeeded in founding a community of women religious. As the Deggs journal makes clear, Delille and her co-foundresses faced dif¤cult conditions during the 1840s and 1850s. Yet conditions were only to worsen after that. Shortly before Delille’s death, Union forces seized the city, and her successor, Juliette Gaudin, faced dire economic circumstances. The war and postwar years economically devastated New Orleans and its population. Freed slaves poured into the city, unintentionally adding themselves to the already overwhelming mission of the sisters; some estimates put the numbers at 10,000. Those were the poorest and most uncertain years the sisters were to face. The social, economic, and political climate was constantly shifting under their feet. The population to which they ministered faced uncertainties in every area of their lives. The death of Delille complicated matters even further. Deggs tells us that several women, nearly half, left with the foundress’ death. The women who did remain split into two groups. By the 1870s, economic circumstances had improved, but the sisters faced other dif¤culties. The years during which Juliette Gaudin led the community were tumultuous for the city’s blacks. Not everyone of African descent welcomed the changes wrought by the war and Reconstruction. Color, race, and condition sometimes segmented people who otherwise had similar ideals. It was not unusual for those who had been free before the war, especially those who were mostly racially mixed, French speaking, educated, and Catholic, to segregate themselves from the newly freed people in the city. That was especially obvious in the debates of black politicians, but it did not stop there. For some, class and condition clearly outweighed race.

5 PART ONE

Is there evidence that the divisiveness in the black community in New Orleans was repeated in the convent of the Sisters of the Holy Family? Deggs writes extensively about a split that occurred in the community in 1867, but she does not even hint at its cause. It is within Borgia Hart’s history of the community that the story emerges. Writing from documentation and oral tradition, Borgia Hart tells us that the sisters divided over the admission of Chloé Preval, a freed slave, into the community. It appears from the account of the split that the then mother superior, Juliette Gaudin, and her cofoundress, Josephine Charles, held differing attitudes about Preval’s acceptability as a candidate.2 For one thing, the early rule of the community stated that only women of free and elite families could be accepted.3 The authors of the rule, Henriette Delille, Juliette Gaudin, Josephine Charles, and Etienne Rousselon, recognized that the entrance of any woman not acceptable to the increasingly racist white population would threaten the existence of the community. The formation of a community of women religious by free women of color was acceptable, if not ignored, as long as the women were from well known and prosperous families tied to in®uential members of the white community. The Church fathers in New Orleans, Vicar General Etienne Rousselon and Archbishop Antoine Blanc, understood that family connection, relative wealth, and education were fundamental to the successful establishment and continuation of any such community. That had been the case in France for centuries, and it stood to reason that a community of “creole women or women born in the Americas” stood the best chance for success, especially if they were free women of color, if they were af¤liated with the city’s more in®uential citizens. Furthermore, free and elite Creoles of color in New Orleans often held slaves. It appears at ¤rst glance that Delille, Gaudin, Charles, and the other free women who joined them fully supported the race-based system of slavery that de¤ned life in the city. Henriette Delille’s ancestors had been slaveholders, and indeed Delille herself was listed as the owner of the slave Betsey for many years, although it appears that she inherited her and was then prevented from freeing her by the increasingly restrictive manumission laws passed in Louisiana. Other visible signs might suggest that the founders of the Sisters of the Holy Family were as racially rigid as were the white slaveholders who increasingly aimed laws at them. The women educated girls from free and elite families in an elementary school. The girls were also taught music and sewing. Their most important subject, religion, was taught separately but was integrated as well

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6

into their other subjects. Yet, while the women taught free girls of color at least the rudiments of reading and writing, in keeping with the traditions of the Church which re®ected the legal system of Louisiana, they restricted their work among slave girls to instruction in religion. Though, even as the women appeared to share the racist mentality of their white neighbors, other factors hint that they were hemmed in by the laws and mores of slavery. It was against the law to educate slaves and even illegal to marry or evangelize them without the consent of their masters or mistresses. The women who founded the Sisters of the Holy Family followed societal prescriptions as they de¤ned their mission. Yet one must ask if they did so out of necessity or if they acted discreetly against the racial conventions that visibly de¤ned their work. There is so little evidence left from the early years that it is dif¤cult to speculate that the women embraced an anti-slavery ethic before the war. But a few clues do suggest that they followed the prescriptions of their society overtly but rejected them in their attitudes and less public actions. In one of the most telling actions, the sisters soon after the conclusion of the Civil War eliminated the rule that only women from previously free and elite families were eligible to enter. The entrance of Chloé Joachim Preval into the community is the most telling example.4 Soon after the end of the Civil War, Father Gilbert Raymond, as the father superior of the community as well as its spiritual director, approached Mother Superior Juliette Gaudin about the prospect of receiving Preval, the housekeeper and a former slave, into the community. Neither Archbishop Odin nor Raymond believed that Preval’s former status or duties as a housekeeper would compromise her identity as a Sister of the Holy Family. Gaudin stalled. Growing impatient with her, Raymond requested that the entire community vote on the matter. Sisters Josephine Charles, Elizabeth Wales, and Marie Magdalene Alpaugh voted to receive Preval. The rest voted against her. In order to subvert Mother Juliette’s authority, Raymond rented a small house on Chartres Street, between Peace and Esplanade, and sent the three sisters who had voted to receive Preval there, appointing Charles superior. The Chartres Street community accepted Preval in 1869.5 One of the histories of the Holy Family Sisters suggests that Gaudin rejected Preval because she was recently freed and had dark skin.6 According to other evidence, her hesitance was more practical. Preval continued to be Archbishop Odin’s housekeeper. The tradition of women serving priests as housekeepers was not unknown, especially to the French priests in New Orleans. There are many examples. Some of

7

—Eds.

PART ONE

the best known are Les Apostoliques, an order of women that was founded at the beginning of the century in France in order to provide care for the domestic needs of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The Marianite Sisters of the Holy Cross were founded in Le Mans, France, in 1841 in order to serve as housekeepers to the Fathers and Brothers of the Holy Cross.7 While Gaudin would have been well aware of this custom, she would also have recognized that the hard-won status of her sisters would be threatened if their identities were recast as housekeepers. Why, Deggs asks, would a woman want to enter the community to do housework when she would be doing the same in the world? Indeed, during Marie Magdalene Alpaugh’s tenure as superior she interrupted the service provided to the archbishops.8 That is, except for Chloé Preval. Preval continued to work as a housekeeper until, enfeebled by age, she retired to the orphanage to care for the infants. She died of old age, sitting in a rocking chair with an orphaned infant in her arms. Chloé Preval, the former slave, served the community throughout most of her life, becoming one of its most valued and useful members.9 The evidence about attitudes of race, status, and condition represented in this journal and elsewhere in the archives of the Sisters of the Holy Family can be interpreted in a number of ways. Deggs clearly suggests, for instance, that lighter skin was desirable. She also stereotypes ethnicity. For instance, she writes that Sister Anne Fazende’s father was Indian and her mother was Spanish, and continues, “We are all very well aware of the bad tempers and malicious habits of the Spanish, French, Africans, and Indians. Just to think of what it must be like to have a mixture of the four!”10 Yet despite some evidence to the contrary the writings in this journal suggest that the sisters more closely identi¤ed with the radical black Creole leaders who emerged during the Civil War and who continued to lead the movement for equal rights through Reconstruction.11 It was that group that insisted upon equal rights but who also used their ties to the white community to effect them. The sisters clearly sought to bring slave women and free women together. Deggs recounts the poignant stories of slave women and their mistresses eating side by side at the same table; of slave and free children schooled together. It was only with emancipation and the end of the war that the sisters had the opportunity to begin to break down the barriers that had been so sturdily erected as slavery found its footing in Louisiana.

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8

J.M.J.12 New Orleans, La., March 18, 1894 When our dear community commenced, it was very poor, but was blessed with many graces and also many crosses which are said to be the best of all other graces, as no cross, no crown. But many years of hard struggle proved their good wills. Only after thirty or more years of pain and trouble were those noble women consoled when one after another came to join them in their good and fervent work! As the gospel says, many are called but few are chosen.13 Out of ten who came, only four remained. When the time was set to make their vows, many excused themselves saying that it would be better to go to France.

J.M.J. New Orleans, La., March 19, 1894 Sisters of the Holy Family, founded in the year 1842 and their rapid progress with its many crosses which are the key of all graces and the ®owers and stones of the crown.

November 21, 1842 The founders were Miss Henriette Delille, Miss Juliette Gaudin, Miss Josephine Charles, and Very Rev. Etienne Rousselon. Rousselon was then vicar general to Archbishop Antoine Blanc. Both the archbishop and Father Rousselon did all that was in their power to assist the sisters during their lives and left them in good hands at their deaths.14 Our dear Mother Juliette had been almost raised together with Henriette. They dearly loved each other during their whole lifetimes and had never been one week without each other. These good sisters ¤rst came together in community in an old house on St. Bernard Street.15 They did not remain in that house but a few months. It was intended for a home for poor, aged women, but a wounded man was one day brought to them by the parish trustees.16 As they could not refuse to take him, both Henriette Delille and Juliette Gaudin retired to a small place on Bayou Road, and waited some twelve to eighteen months for good Father Rousselon to build them a house on Bayou Road near St. Claude Street.17 They lived there and did much good work

9 PART ONE

from 1842 until 1883. Many were the souls brought to God in that humble house and many a pain and sorrow did the women pass in their ¤rst ten years, but they never lost hope.18 Many were the times that the foundresses had nothing to eat but cold hominy that had been left from some rich family’s table. It is not necessary to say a word about their clothing, for it was more like Joseph’s coat that was of many pieces and colors darned, until darn was not the word.19 In spite of the charity of their many kind friends, they suffered much owing to the strictness of the times. We also always had many young ladies boarding with us, but that did not prevent our needing many things to carry on the good work that we had commenced. We had the warmest feeling from all of the priests of the parish. We can truly say that our city is the true city of charity, and Almighty God could not refuse to bless it. Our house received different donations from many dear friends who never felt as if they had done enough for us. One time, they even gave a fair for us and we realized over $2,500 to pay for our main building. At that time, the cost of property was very high and the smallest house could not be bought for less than $5,000 or $6,000. So it was not an easy thing to pay for a place that was located just a half block away from one of the city’s principal churches and was surrounded by ¤ve or six different streetcars.20 Our linen department was among the best in New Orleans and was better supplied than many. Many were the trousseaux made for not a hundred but a thousand of the richest and best families of this state. We not only taught school, but also prepared children and ¤fty or sixty old women for their ¤rst communion, not only for one church, but two. One was St. Mary’s and the other, St. Augustine’s. These girls are alive today to thank us for their being children of Christ. We are not forgotten. Since emancipation, they still show us how grateful they are.21 We received a monthly donation from each priest in the different churches in New Orleans. Many were ashamed they could present us only the sum of ¤ve dollars; their usual donation was from one to ten dollars a month. What a great pleasure it was for these same holy priests when they saw that our dear little community began to be blessed with so many graces. Many a night did our dear sisters, after working all day, pray that some dear friend would send them a few spoonfuls of sugar. One time a servant came with a silver waiter with what one might call a grand dinner. Others sent us bundles of candles. Others came with a few pounds of coffee and others, if the weather was cold, with a wheelbarrow of wood

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10

and of nut coal. Many ladies, knowing how poor we were, often sent us old shoes or boots to wear in the yard when it rained. His grace, Archbishop Blanc, and our good Father Rousselon intended that we should be cloistered, but one thing or the other prevented it.22 Both the ¤rst and second superiors were instructed by the sisters up in St. James Parish, by the Ladies of Sacred Heart.23 Mother Juliette also received her early instruction from Madame Ste. Marthe, the ¤rst Ursuline nun who came to this city to teach the colored in New Orleans.24 Many of our sisters, some of whom were quite brilliant, received their instruction of Madame Ste. Marthe. Many were also instructed by the Ladies of the Sacred Heart. Our rule was well kept even in the beginning. Our ¤rst members were strikingly edifying and also very charitable; their love drew many graces. Would to God that many of our ¤rst sisters had lived some years longer to enjoy the fruit of their work, they who had toiled so hard in the beginning for the love of God. When we think how many times they worked and were obliged to wait until some rich or charitable lady sent them the cold food from her table for their meals. Would it not seem strange if our dear Lord were to refuse to grant them so many striking graces after so many sacri¤ces for His holy love. Our dear sister, Jeanne Marie Aliquot, was from a wealthy family in France and had four sisters.25 She refused to take money from her family, and instead came to New Orleans. When she saw that there were six or eight young quadroon or octoroon ladies who wished to found an order, she was delighted and offered herself as mistress of novices. We were only too happy to accept her for she was just as holy as she could be. When the bell was rung, Miss Aliquot would not wait to put on her shoes but would take them in her hand and come down.26 She was a good mistress of novices and left a good example. Even when she was just as sick as she could be, she would say, “Get up Aliquot. Laziness, you shall not be my mistress,” even when she was burning up with fever. A sister her age, she was forty-¤ve or ¤fty, who was always ready to teach the Word to everybody she met! Many laughed at her, but she never noticed because she was so holy. She often told such beautiful stories that one would think that she had read them in a book or paper, but it just came from an inspiration and holy feeling. Humility was her most striking virtue. She was rich, but was poor for the love of others. She not only loaned us $17,000 or $18,000, but she also went out to all of the richest planters to beg sugar and syrup for the sisters and she brought two or three slaves to work for us. When the soldiers during the late Civil War were posted in the city, one of them went off with a girl

11 PART ONE

about the age of ten who followed him to camp. When our poor Sister Aliquot was told that the girl was in the camp, she went to get her. That was her last act of charity. She took cold and was brought to our convent almost speechless. She asked if that was the convent of the Holy Family and they said, “yes.” When the sisters went to take her, she fainted from joy and died a very short time after that.27 Many times Miss Aliquot left her own dinner to give it to some old black man whom she had paid to come and learn his prayers. Many times she took off her own clothing to give it to some old colored woman whom she saw in the streets. We regretted her death very much for we have not found a friend as dear as she was nor as holy a religious.28 Once Henriette Delille, our Rev. Mother Foundress, became disgusted with the house on account of the malice of our persecutors. So we decided to move and rent out our home and take a place near St. Mary’s Church where we might live in peace. But even though good Father Rousselon would not give his consent our Mother Foundress, Henriette, did it of her own accord. But she regretted it much afterwards, for that very night, she was taken quite sick and one of the young sisters lost her mind and came near killing herself. After that, she would have been glad to return, but the parties who had leased our house were unwilling to break the lease. So we were obliged to remain until the lease expired which was over twelve months. During that time, we passed many pains. But we bore them patiently to show how pleasing our obedience was to our dear Lord who was obedient even to death, and death on the cross. After that, we were able to move home again and we were not sorry to get back and were ever contented there with our many crosses which we were not wanting, for they came right and left. At one time, the sisters were made to close up all of their windows on the north side of their house. They had just completed a payment on one of the back buildings to screen themselves from a vulgar set of men who had much annoyed them when they moved there. The sisters had spent many dollars to pay for the improvements on the two back buildings. That was during the Civil War. It had just broken out a few months previous to that.29 At another time, the girls in our boarding school became sick with measles and scarlet fever and left. Afterwards we came near starving and could not get anyone to go and see about a donation. At that time our good Father Rousselon had gone to France. We had no bread nor anything to make bread. So we prayed to St. Leven.30 Just as soon as we had prayed the last word, someone rapped at the door, and there was a barrel

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12

of the best ®our and rice. So we did not need anything for a long time. At another time, we were out of oil and when the prayers had been said, someone sent us a basket of olive oil and another sent two bottles. We were so thankful to God for so many graces that we say every day a prayer for them. Another trouble was with the parish priest. We wanted to have a chaplain to have the privilege to say mass in our house and to keep the blessed sacrament in our chapel. But we were obliged to go out to church to make our visit.31 One more obstacle was to pay a tax for our home until we could incorporate our property, which was no easy thing. That required prayers.32 Our next cross was that some complained our school children in their recess made too much noise. That was another trouble for us, for everybody knows that children in playing most always make noise at recess, even the very best of children. Our next trouble was with the family who complained of those with whom their children were playing. The ones who complained were of a better class and said that they did not want their children to mix with those whose mothers had been slaves. That gave our sisters much pain. But what could we do but all in our power to avoid offending them as we needed bread. That had been one of our best means of getting by. If we could have lived without their tuition, it would have been more agreeable to us. Unfortunately, we were too poor and thus obliged to depend on the charity of our friends who had been more than kind to us. They are still willing to do any favor that is in their power. Others wished us to have their children instructed in one place, and others in another. All of those things were unpleasant to us. But what must we do, for “no cross, no crown.” One of the greatest pains for us after emancipation was that those owners who had previously sent their slaves to us to be instructed wished us to refuse to give them any more lessons. But that was asking too much of our sisters, for our dear Lord said, “Go and teach all nations.”33 We, as sisters, are more obliged than others to teach all to know their God. And the day that we would refuse would be the day of sin for us, for our dear Lord said in another place that He had not come for the just, but to save sinners.34 This would have been preaching one thing and practicing another, for the rich have many friends when they have money. We would work in vain if we were to seek to please them and to neglect the poor, for he that is in health has no need of a doctor. After the death of Rev. Mother Foundress, our dear little community came very near failing, for there were four or ¤ve of the most ac-

13 PART ONE

complished young ladies whose families objected to them remaining with us after Rev. Mother’s death. Some of the most useful members who left were Misses Allean, M. Shannaue, J. Valks, M. Marrianne, and D. Vaenuneas. Others who left and went to France were Misses J. La Rue, D. Doulard, and F. Lourta. They were not successful. But even after they left, we had many dear friends and also, like the Church of Christ, many enemies. But the slave is not better than his master.35 The ¤rst band of sisters who made their vows were Misses Juliette Gaudin of Cuba, Suzanne Navarre of Boston, Josephine Charles, Orphise François, Henriette Delille, and Harriette Fazende, the last three of this city. There were many who, with the consent of their families, would have entered, but they did not want to displease their relatives and friends, not knowing whether they would remain and then have to return back into the world. Another heav y cross was the death of our good Father Founder Rousselon, which happened a few years after that of Rev. Mother Henriette.36 At New York City, he fell in the hatchway of the steamer on which he returned from his dear old home in the middle of France where he had made the voyage in search of better health which he much needed. It had seemed with his death that all was lost, for dear Father Rousselon had proved himself a true and faithful friend until his departure from this world of pain and toil. But God, the Father and Consolation of his loved ones, sent us a dear friend in Father Gilbert Raymond, Father Rousselon’s old schoolmate and his lifelong and dear friend. Our good Father Rousselon had left Father Raymond to replace him while he was away. It pleased God for Father Raymond to remain for ¤fteen years with us after our good Father Founder’s death. In many things, Father Raymond was more attentive than our good Father Rousselon was himself. When Father Raymond resigned, he went to Opelousas and died in his own home with his only brother, Rev. François Raymond. Very Rev. Gilbert Raymond had left the care of a very ¤ne and ®ourishing academy to his brother; it is one of the most successful of St. Landry Parish although the boys might have gone to Grand Coteau, a college of the Jesuit Fathers where so many famous and brilliant young and capable businessmen have completed their instruction for the last ¤fty or sixty years and they are still as bright as then. Our holy habit that our good Father Rousselon had intended to give us was lost and someone else was obliged to give us another in its place. That was the habit Very Rev. Gilbert Raymond gave us with much pleasure some years later, and that habit was very pleasing to us all. That is

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14

the one that we have at present. Our habit was completed on March 19, 1881, when we came under the direction of the Jesuit Fathers.37 We have been under the direction of the Jesuit Fathers up to the present time. There was much trouble after the death of our Mother Foundress. The differences between Sisters Juliette Gaudin and Josephine Charles were so striking that it caused the establishment of a new branch or rather split house. That happened eight years after our dear Mother Foundress’ death. Sisters Josephine and Juliette were both very holy, the former so bright, and the latter so docile. The split made such a change in the community that only prayer calmed their differences.38 As both were well disposed to work for Almighty God, a word from our good Father Gilbert Raymond was enough to calm their displeasure and put them on their right path again, for they were like the lambs who were guided by the voice of their pastor. No doubt the split had its effect, but all was for the love of God. Henriette Delille’s death was of course a great trial for those beautiful souls who would have rather died themselves than to have lost her so soon.39 The ¤rst split or branch house on Chartres Street was made the motherhouse instead of the old house at Bayou Road and Rampart Street which had been the ¤rst motherhouse of the community. The old house at Bayou Road and Rampart Street had been established for the instruction of novices when our dear Father and Mother Foundresses opened our dear little community in the beginning. But many years later it became too small and our dear old Mother Juliette became too feeble to conduct it as a house for the new members who desired to give themselves to God to work for His poor. Because of respect for Mother Juliette’s age as one of our principal members and because she had a superior intellectual capacity and had kept all the books of the community since her entrance, she was made assistant to the ¤rst mother superior who was very holy but not a very brilliant instructor and had not enough knowledge of ¤nances to direct a community that was in its cradle and was not half paid for yet.40 So our dear old Mother Juliette worked harder than any of the ¤rst members who had opened our community. With the grace of God, our religious order is at present one of the most ®ourishing in this city, even after the little trouble between Mother Juliette Gaudin and Sister Mary Elizabeth Wales in the summer of 1870 when the ¤rst branch house was opened on Chartres Street.41 After the split in the community, six sisters remained at Bayou Road under Mother Juliette’s direction for three years. On October 16, 1874, Sister Marie Philomene was named superior at

15 PART ONE

Bayou Road, but that gave poor Mother Juliette much pain.42 She felt that Mother Juliette was too old to be ruled by her; [thus] on March 8, 1876, Marie Philomene asked Father Raymond if she might resign as mother superior in favor of Mother Juliette.43 He consented. Sister Marie Philomene went to the house on Chartres Street and Mother Juliette resumed her former duties as superior of the old cradle house on Bayou Road. The poor soul, Mother Juliette, was again persecuted a second time for about eighteen months by another old sister, Sister Anne. Sister Anne took charge on December 27, 1876, but she was taken from the superiorship on April 3, 1878.44 After that, the fathers of the parish were obliged to justify Mother Juliette’s actions. Only to think what Mother Juliette suffered from the two girls whom she herself had received and had given their vows. That made her feel worse. She was so badly treated that she left every day for the ¤rst mass and stayed in the churchyard until the sunset, without coming home to take a bite of bread. The subjects who were under Sister Anne saw that she was very unkind to our dear old Mother Juliette. After one of them reported her to our mother superior, Sister Anne was soon taken out of the position and sent away for a time to collect for the orphans and the old people who needed to repair their old building that had much need of roo¤ng. At the same time that Sister Anne was removed, another of the oldest sisters went over to the other house on Chartres Street. That left old Mother Juliette almost alone on Bayou Road with a sister who was so old and sick that she was not able to do her duties. Dear old Mother Juliette then hired a teacher who had very kind feelings for her and God blessed them both by sending them a great many scholars. Her classes were again full of children. The intentions of those at the split house on Chartres Street were to crush Mother Juliette so as to get her to come to them. But God loves the true soul who is willing to suffer for His glory. Mother Juliette and the other sisters on Bayou Road were independent of the help of those at the split house on Chartres St. The sisters at the old motherhouse had many friends who loved them much and were always ready to do everything that they could to aid them. They were never more cheerful and received many applicants from women who wanted to join the community from other cities. They received two young ladies of the ¤rst rank who made their classes ®ourish. It was only then that Mother Juliette regained the good will of those at the split house. The growth of her school was the only means of reuniting those who had not been on good terms for over twelve years.

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16

Dear old Mother Juliette, the oldest member of the order, accepted the will of His Grace, Archbishop Napoleon J. Perché, who advised her to take the holy habit of our dear community which she had never consented to take. She received the habit on July 2, 1882, for the love of the Holy Family for which she had labored and suffered for so many years.45 She did not receive the habit where we usually took it. Instead, she obtained permission to go up to St. John the Baptist Church in this city to receive the habit from the hands of her confessor, Rev. A. Dufour. Father Dufour was a very holy young Jesuit father who had gone there to take the place of Rev. Father Kenny who was visiting his mother for the last time. He died a few months after that of lung trouble.46 Mother Juliette afterwards said that she never felt a happier day in her whole life than she did that day that she took the habit. Her only regret was that she had not taken one of our dear sisters instead of a child with her on that beautiful day. Instead, she was assisted by a nun of St. Dominic whose convent adjoined the Church of St. John the Baptist.47 From that time, dear old Mother Juliette was as happy as she could be. She had often expressed to us that her greatest wish was to pardon and be united with those who had been against her and to die in union with them. God, who loves union, granted these graces to her before her death. She had been installed as mother superior at the house on Bayou Road on November 16, 1862, and remained in that position until December 17, 1883, when she moved to the house on Orleans Street where she lived in perfect love and holy joy with her dear sisters. She was ever holy and edifying until her death which occurred on January 1, 1888.48 She had made her jubilee for the Holy Father, the Pope.49 On the day of her death, she made her communion in the chapel and was in bed only a few hours. She had been joking all that day, getting up and sitting on the side of the bed. Two or three times she told the sisters to pray and what prayers to say. One never dreamt that she could or would have died so soon. We had gone for the doctor two or three times that day. But as it was New Year’s Day, it was hard to ¤nd one. That day is the only day that the gentlemen take for their amusement, and it is just that they should keep it once a year after working the year indoors. The doctor himself said that he never traced any symptoms of death on her. So we all said that she had received the indulgences of the jubilee and was too holy to live. One of our sisters went across the street to call one of the parish fathers to come and give her the last sacraments. But he was baptizing a child and could not stop, so she started to come back and let Rev. Mother know and to see what she was to do. Just as she placed her hand on the doorknob, she heard the step of someone behind her. When she looked to see who it was, it was our chaplain who was

17 PART ONE

coming to wish us a Happy New Year and to give us benediction of the blessed sacrament. Just as he got up to the last step and reached the room, the priest who had been our previous director entered the door. One gave her the last sacraments and the other acted as an assistant. While one read the prayers, the other responded. It seemed so striking that although both the doctor and our good father director had been called away, one priest remained and another whom we had never hoped to see soon came. God must have been pleased to send them both to console her. God will reward them for their charity to her. Even though she was old and had been taken from her post as superior or second foundress, she had done much for our dear community. She had been the most brilliant of the four young ladies who founded our dear order, having kept the books for the acts of business for more than twenty-one years or until ¤ve years before her death.50 Her death was so very calm and unexpected that one would never call it death, for she never seemed more gay than that day. Mother Juliette’s love for the poor had no limits. Many was the time that she was seen in rags because she had given her clothing to some poor child who had none. Many were the nights that she went to bed after having taken a glass of sweetened water, for she had saved her supper to give it to some widow and her little children. She was never so angry as when the sisters refused anything to the poor. Many a tear I have seen her shed when going to bed in bad weather for fear that someone was too poor to have the comforts that they ought to have. When she had her likeness taken (see Illustrations), many said that her face was too sad, but her compassion for the poor was stamped on her face. All who knew her said the same of her. They said that when she was at the school, she was quite a child. The children always loved her for it. She was charitable to the poor and sick who knew and loved her. Many of them imposed on her kindness when they did not need it at all. The calmness of her death very plainly showed her many virtuous qualities that made her esteemed by all who knew her. More than one of the children of that time received their instruction from her and a great many grand persons were converted to the faith by their children’s edifying conduct. Not so many of those are alive today, but those few have not forgotten the true path to God. They are the ¤rst ones at the holy table and never miss mass on Sundays. We can also refer to some members of our dear community who were taught by her to make the sign of the cross. They are the most valuable sisters that we have and belong to some of the best and ¤rst families of this city.51 Dear Mother Juliette Gaudin was also a hero at the bedside of the dying of all colors and conditions. If at that time she came in contact

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18

with people of different colors living in a state of mortal sin, she would give them no rest until they had their union blessed by the holy Church of Christ, so as to draw God’s blessing. Our dear old mother’s modesty and prudence surpassed all her other virtuous qualities. She shunned appearances so that many would have sooner taken her for the subject rather than the superior or the head of the house. One of her most striking qualities was her spirit of forgiveness, even to the smallest child in the house. When we ¤rst fell into the hands of our good old Father Raymond, who was so very different in ideas from our good old Father Founder Rousselon, it seemed to Mother Juliette that she was being harshly treated. With the good advice of her confessor, however, she became one of his most compassionate friends.52 She often expressed her deepest regret at having treated him so indifferently. But she received him with the greatest respect the last time that they met. That was a very short time previous to their deaths which took place, one on January 1, 1888, and the other, Father Raymond, on April 5, 1889. Her love for children had no bounds. She used to spoil them so that it was a very hard thing to manage them afterwards. I remember that after she and I came to this house from the old cradle house, once or twice, the sister in charge of the boarders had two children who had been quite sick.53 Mother Juliette had given them something that made them very sick. After that, this sister forbade them to eat anything from Mother Juliette. But one day Mother Juliette gave them a piece of cake and it gave them a relapse. Another time, the same sister noted something quite strange but did not say anything to anyone. She later said that the child was drunk from wine and said that Mother Juliette had given the child the wine that made her sick and drunk. Mother Juliette did many things that made the children worse, but she did not mind. It was the strangest thing to see someone like Mother Juliette who could not speak but a very few words of English together with many of the children who could not speak a word of French. But they managed to understand each other in some way. At ¤rst sight in the yard every day just as they came to school, the smallest child would run after her for cake. They knew that she would save something for them, even if she starved herself to give to them. How often did some sisters conceal themselves to see her give the children nuts and cake that some of her friends had brought or sent her, thinking they would please her as she was so old and careworn. Many of the young ones were the children or grandchildren of some of her dear old schoolmates. Others were her father’s scholars, for he had been a professor at one of the principal young men’s high schools in the French part of New Orleans.

PART TWO

MOTHER JOSEPHINE CHARLES

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20

CHRONOLOGY 1872 1873

1876

1877 1881

1883 1885

St. Augustine’s School opens in the Bayou Road convent. Fr. Gilbert Raymond resigns as the community’s ecclesiastical superior; replaced by Fr. J. M. LeCozic. Fr. A. Dufour, S.J. appointed confessor and spiritual director. Pattern for the ¤rst formal religious habit completed and adopted. Clementine Deggs enters the religious community, taking the religious name Sister Mary Bernard. Sisters of the Holy Family reclaim the administration of the Colored Old Women’s Home on St. Bernard Avenue. A provisional rule of life is approved by Archbishop Napoleon Perché and adopted by the sisters. The sisters open St. Joseph School in Opelousas. The sisters take charge of Louisiana Asylum for Colored Girls. Community purchases property at 717 Orleans Street, and moves St. Mary’s Academy for Girls there. The community also opens a school in Baton Rouge. Community is reunited December 17 when Juliette Gaudin moves to the new convent at 717 Orleans Street. Josephine Charles dies May 20.

21 PART TWO

Information about the early years of Josephine Charles is scant. It does appear, however, that her life re®ected those of Henriette Delille and Juliette Gaudin. Josephine Charles, like Henriette Delille, was born in New Orleans around 1812. Most of what we know of her is from what is written in the pages of the early histories kept by the sisters and in her obituary. The community’s Matricula shows that she was baptized in the St. Louis Cathedral in 1812, but her baptismal record has not been located. Her obituary, published in the Morning Star on May 21, 1885, states that she, like Delille and Gaudin, was the daughter of a free woman of color and a white man. Her father was German. Identi¤ed only as Joseph Charles, he probably never married her mother. Interracial marriages were not prohibited by law during the years the Spanish occupied Louisiana, although they were uncommon. However, such marriages were strictly forbidden when the laws were rewritten after the Louisiana Purchase Treaty of 1803. Josephine Charles’ mother was only identi¤ed as Philomene. She was not given a last name in the documentation, other than the one she took from her cohabitant, Joseph Charles. Yet, as could be typical in New Orleans, families separated by race yet tied by commitment were often close-knit. The evidence, including a description of the family in the succession records of François Charles, Josephine’s brother, reveals that the absence of formalized marriage between Joseph and Philomene Charles did not fragment the family. François Charles’ succession record suggests that all the children took the last name of their white father and that Josephine and her brother, Joseph, were given their father’s ¤rst name. Furthermore, the document demonstrates that members of the family worked together to assure the ¤nancial success of one another.1 Since Josephine Charles was raised in the Catholic Church and spoke only French, she, like Delille, would have been considered one of the city’s Creoles, even though her father was German. Culture, like status and condition, is usually transmitted by mothers; thus her status as a Creole of color would have been passed down through her mother. The succession records of her brothers make it clear that her family was not only close-knit, but also propertied. Her education as well as her identity as a French-speaking Catholic places her within the boundaries of the Creole community. The ¤rst mission of Delille, Gaudin, and Charles was the evangelization of slaves, and most especially women. Women evangelizing women, or assuring a little apostle in each home, was a long and impor-

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22

tant tradition that communities of women religious brought with them from France, beginning with the Ursulines’ arrival in 1727. And even though neither the Ursulines nor other groups of female religious brought a tradition of working with slaves or free people of color with them from France, they quickly recognized that as their mission. That is not to suggest that either the Ursulines or any other group of female religious in Louisiana could somehow ignore the social order. They did not. Several of the communities of women owned slaves. The Ursulines owned slaves from shortly after they arrived until the Civil War. Yet, even though they accepted the social system of slavery in a fundamental way, they took seriously their commitment to the interior life of their slaves and the slaves of others. For instance, the Ursulines began to instruct and catechize slave women and girls, as well as Native American women and girls, at the same time that they began their school for white girls. They continued the tradition into the ¤rst decades of the nineteenth century. The Ursuline tradition of evangelizing women of African descent, both slave and free, and their efforts to impart to the free girls a rudimentary education, continued for approximately a century, until they moved several miles downriver. That move, undertaken in the 1820s, took them away from the slaves and free people of color living in the city. Yet they did not abandon the most disadvantaged segment of the population entirely. Before they left in 1823, they turned their responsibilities over to Bishop Dubourg, stipulating that he must continue to instruct the negresses of the city on Sundays and Feast Days. That is also when Dubourg and the Ursulines turned the education of free girls of color over to Sister Ste. Marthe Fontière. Yet even though priests and nuns had been addressing the spiritual needs of the slaves and free people of color in New Orleans since the foundation of the colony, there had been no one in the Church who sought to address the social needs of New Orleans’ most disadvantaged: its elderly, orphaned, and abandoned people of African descent. Several orders of women religious had come into the city by the 1840s to minister to the white population. After the Ursulines, the next group of sisters, the Sisters of Charity, who were af¤liated with the Daughters of Charity in France, arrived in the city in 1830. They assisted at the school for free girls of color, but when they discovered that the women running the school expected to join their order they retreated and instead took over the Poydras Female Orphan Asylum. In 1831 the Sisters of Charity began a day school for white children and after the disastrous cholera epidemic of 1832 and 1833 they assumed control of nursing at Charity Hospital. The Sisters of Mount Carmel were

23 PART TWO

another French order of nuns who established a convent in New Orleans. They ¤rst went to St. Plattenville, about a hundred miles from New Orleans, to open a school for girls. But in 1838, they were sent to the city to take over the management of the St. Claude Street School and chapel. Their principal apostolate in Louisiana continued to be the education of girls. Besides the Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of Loretta were the only order in early Louisiana that was founded not in France, but in the United States, in 1812, at Hardin’s Creek, Kentucky. Their order was founded by Bishop Nerenckx, a Belgian priest who came to the United States to ®ee the French Revolution. The women opened their second house at the Barrens in Missouri, near the Vincenciennes. The area is known as Perryville today. A group of Lorettas came to New Orleans in 1825, from the Barrens, but did not stay long. Instead, they founded a convent in LaFourche Parish, where it is said they educated the Cajuns. Their order, however, only survived a few years.2 The Sisters of the Sacred Heart, founded in Paris in 1800 in the wake of the French Revolution, sent sisters to found an orphanage and school for girls in Grand Coteau, Louisiana. A few years later the sisters established a similar establishment at St. Michael, Louisiana, which is now known as Convent. Each of these communities of women religious, in its own way, was a model to the women who founded the Sisters of the Holy Family. Evidence shows that Josephine Charles, like Henriette Delille and Juliette Gaudin, was reasonably well educated. Charles’ obituary states that she was given a private education by Madame Eulalie Peruque. It also said that she found great delight in doing good by teaching catechism to neglected colored children and feeding the poor.3 And it is obvious that the sisters who knew her from her youth remembered her for her piety. They said that “during the week she was wont to attend the religious ceremonies at the Carmelite Convent, and on Sundays she remained as long as she could during the day in the little chapel, where she seemed to imbibe the inspiration of holiness.”4 Several nineteenth-century accounts of the founding of the order state that it was at the St. Claude Street School that Charles, Delille, and Gaudin met and began to formulate plans to found their own community. The account of Charles’ life in the Daily Picayune says that it was at the Carmelite convent that Charles met “two free colored girls also imbued with the same spirit, and the three determined to begin carrying out their aims—a mammoth undertaking for three weak women.” It continues that the three “vowed to Vicar General Rousselon and Archbishop Blanc to devote all they had of earthly means to estab-

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lish an order for the education of young ladies of color, and the succor and relief of poor, helpless old colored people and orphan girls.”5 Josephine Charles worked side by side with her sisters in religion, caring for the city’s slaves and free people of color, throughout the extreme discrimination and poverty of the antebellum years. Then in 1870, while Father Gilbert Raymond was the ecclesiastical director of the community, she and two of her religious sisters opened another house on Chartres Street. It was there that she was appointed mother superior, and that the work of the community began to expand outward. The women opened St. Mary’s Academy for girls, which included high school. More importantly, however, it was under the direction of Charles that the women broadened their worldview. They took a critical step by expanding their mission out of the city, beginning a convent school in Opelousas, Louisiana. This wider, more worldly vision was one the French women religious brought with them to Louisiana, particularly during the nineteenth century. During the years that Josephine Charles led the community as its mother superior, immense social change occurred in the city. The end of the Civil War brought a confusing array of conditions. New Orleanians faced social, political, and economic despair. While the political leaders of the black community struggled to participate more fully in the political process and blacks in New Orleans were able to create opportunities that did not exist elsewhere, they faced unsurmountable obstacles. Charles Gayarre summed up white sentiments in the early 1870s by stating that he did not know a single person who would not leave the state if they had the means. White Louisianians were in such terror of “negro government,” according to Gayarre, that “they would rather accept any other despotism. A military dictator would be far preferable to them; they would go anywhere to escape the ignominy to which they were at present subjected.”6 A fear of the freed population and the political successes of black politicians exaggerated the already dread racism that existed. With that mentality in hand, white Creoles, who had previously allied themselves culturally with Creoles of color and black Creoles, with whom they were often kin, ¤nally surrendered to the rigid racism that had divided black and white, slave and free, in the Old South. As Joseph Treagle has pointed out, white Creoles rejected their ties to the slave and free colored Creoles and instead joined the ranks of the white majority, no matter its ethnicity.7 It is clear that this rejection caused Creoles of color to despair. Deggs hinted at the seamless racism aimed at Creoles of color when she wrote,

25

—Eds.

MOTHER JOSEPHINE CHARLES Let us enter now on the second house, or rather the ¤rst branch house of our dear community, which was opened on Chartres Street on December 4, 1870, by Rev. Mother Josephine and two sisters, Mary Eliza-

PART TWO

“It is only since the Civil War that this state has become so very prejudiced and the people of this city have so much hard feelings against the colored class. We have always been like one and the same family, going to the same church, sitting in the same pews, and many of them sleeping in the same bed. If we had any entertainment, the whites would come by.” All that changed after the war. While a system of dual racism rede¤ned the social positions of the Creoles of color and thus caused bitter feelings between people who had previously associated, across lines drawn by race and condition, the Sisters of the Holy Family continued to reject social conventions of race, class, color, and condition. A signi¤cant part of their spirituality was their dedication to the poor, regardless of race, color, class, or condition. Even as the sisters sought racial inclusiveness, as they lived out their spirituality, they struggled with the hardships that racism forced into their lives. Deggs recounts the many racial slurs directed at them by members of the white community. The women were evidently particularly distressed to learn that this racism could also be turned against the priests who directed them. Deggs addressed the issue when she wrote that Father Raymond “ . . . also received a great many insults for our sake. He was told that he had just as well give up, for he would never be able to make anything out of us and that we would never do anything in this city, for we would never ¤nd any vocations among our class of people, who loved their pleasure so much” (see below, Part II). Racism was especially offensive when it was directed at the sisters by other women religious. Deggs tells us: “We had a very hard time for we had many enemies who wanted to degrade our dear little community as poor as we were. During that time, we were persecuted by the Sisters of St. Joseph in this city. They tried all that they could to make us take off our habits. That was after forty-¤ve or ¤fty years that we had worked and suffered to have a religious habit. No one would think that we were anything if we were not dressed in the holy habit.”8

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26

beth Wales of Vicksburg, Miss., and Marie Magdalene Alpaugh of Pointe Coupée, La., at the request of His Grace, Archbishop Napoleon J. Perché, and his vicar general, the Very Rev. Gilbert Raymond.9 After a little re®ection, Father Raymond found that it would be good to open a house and day school near St. Mary’s Parish for the many poor children of that parish. We did so and found it a very excellent idea and a glorious act. We are reminded that a fault, the little disagreement between our dear old Mother Juliette and Sister Elizabeth, was the means of undertaking one of the most noble and glorious pieces of work that the Holy Family had ever undertaken. Never before had our dear little community struck the right nail until that day, for many were the dear souls who were falling into their ruin and drawing others with them down that same desperate road. After we opened that house, what a change it made in our city. God must have been pleased with that house.10 Only to think of our many graces! But we were not wanting crosses for we had them in all forms and colors, and from all kinds of persons. We had our crosses when we had hardly any bread to eat. The day that we had no cross was like a day lost for us, for our cross had become our daily bread. The grace of God made them very sweet days for us. I say that crosses were not wanting, for one had only to think that when we moved to Chartres Street we had only three iron beds with scarcely what was necessary for them. The house was not ¤nished, for it opened on the street and the two doors and windows were bare. The ®oors were full of mud and lime for more than three weeks. The commonest kind of neighbors were around us for some time. They say that holy water drives away the bad. That must have been what drove away our bad locals. They did not tarry long after we were in that house for they seemed not to fancy us. Their places were soon ¤lled with a better class of family who were perfectly charmed with us and did all they could to render us happy and useful until we vacated that place. It seemed that after so many crosses God rained His blessings in showers on us every year, more and more.11 Had the house on Chartres Street been larger, we would not have sold it. Our community later grew so rapidly that we were forced to dispose of it in 1881. But that was why we purchased another, much larger house at 717 Orleans Street, where we are at present. We gave the old house on Chartres Street, four empty lots, and $21,000 in exchange for the new house. In ten years’ time, God blessed us, but it was a very tight push. Had it not been for two or three dear friends who so kindly willed us a few dollars and another who gave us $500, we would have never met our

27 PART TWO

payments as promptly as we did. With the collecting that we made from time to time in different cities and with some small donations, we were well disposed to pay off our loan.12 In the old house on Chartres Street, we took in washing and sewing from many good families and also from the fathers of the parish. We also had a very large number of boarders [boarding students] who paid us from $6 to $10 per month which was very little. But when it was promptly paid, it was a great help to us. By those means, we completed payment on the debt of $4,300 on the old place. It was in that house that we also received many charming and valuable subjects, if not the most useful of all our sisters. Many had been our young lady boarders. They are always better disposed than others as they know what is taught in our classes and we don’t need to instruct them as much as one who is a stranger. We have received many very competent young ladies in our community, but we ¤nd that they rarely ever did as well as our own scholars. Many of them were called brilliant in their school, but they themselves said that in those schools they were only taught counting without any explanation. In those schools, they rarely met as much modesty as they found among their convent friends. They found nothing more pleasing than that, as it is the most agreeable quality that a young lady has. It is a rare thing to see anyone more cheerful and at the same time more holy than our dear Mother Josephine. She possessed one of the richest dispositions I ever saw in my life. Everyone remarked that she was so very scrupulous, always full of compassion for others, and so cold and indifferent to herself. She was of a very fair complexion but never gave herself a thought. Rev. Mother Josephine was by nature one of the most martyred souls that I ever met. She would often blush at all with whom she came in contact. She knew only God’s poor and his glory everywhere and at all times. It pained her if anyone was refused or rejected in any way. We are all indebted to her today. If our community is so successful, it is through her and by her. If she had not suffered, today we would not be an order as well-founded as we are. So many of the rest had proposed to give up, saying that the cross was too hard and that they were unwilling to contend any longer. They were doing no good and what was the use of being deprived of the many comforts of life when they could have them so easily. It was very painful to our good Mother Josephine to think that one would be so discouraged while laboring in the ¤eld of Christ. After all, He suffered in the garden of olives and on the cross to save us for our sins and the ingratitude of all mankind.

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28

Mother Josephine had the con¤dence of all the sisters when she was only a simple sister and had no power to act. Her love for her dear little community had no bounds. Many a time did she give her own things to one of her sisters who needed them as much or more than she did. She was also a good provider and never allowed any one of the sisters to ask her a second time for a thing that they needed. Many a time she said to them: “Please, you must take this money. I must give it to you as long as it is the will of God for me to direct the community.” If she had not lost her health, she would have remained as superior until her death. But she was taken sick and was obliged to resign her position. She lived the three remaining years more like a saint than a person of this life. All her time was passed in avid meditation. She never missed the bell. Up until ¤fteen days before her death, she was the ¤rst in chapel every day at ¤ve in the morning. When we took charge of the ¤rst split house, Mother Josephine was named superior. She was inconsolable, for she knew that the charge was great and that the responsibility was very great. But what wounded her most was that she had always been a very warm friend of Rev. Mother Juliette Gaudin, and to be separated was no easy thing for them to contend with. It was true for she could not stand it long and was obliged to go and ask Mother Juliette to pardon her and Mother Marie Magdalene some weeks after she and Mother Marie Magdalene had left for the split house. Mother Josephine and Mother Marie Magdalene were beloved by dear old Mother Juliette who was much their senior. The three made one. They were of the same class of ladies by birth and habits. They were also very morti¤ed in every way and were very pious and well disposed to work for the love of God who loved them above all things. It was these two noble souls, Mother Josephine and Sister Marie Magdalene, who drew the grace or blessing on this new foundation, but the third sister, Sister Elizabeth, was anything but a humble sister. She was the whole cause of their ¤rst disagreement and split. But it must have been the will of God as we are told that a hair cannot fall from our head if it is not the will of God for some good unknown to us.13 This is true, for our dear little community had wonderful graces from the time that the split occurred in 1870 up till this present time in 1894. Had Mother Josephine not suffered as much as she did, the whole thing on Chartres Street would still be in its nothingness. But that noble and dear soul took her cross on her back and marched like a soldier on the battle¤eld. She did not have a nickel when she was sent to that house. They could not ¤nd a nickel to pay for wood to make a ¤re to cook their dinner until dear Mother Josephine received two subjects, one who had

29 PART TWO

$386, and the other who had $420.14 Both had been keeping house and had all that one needed to keep a little house, but of the very plainest type. As the house on Chartres Street was much larger and still empty, poor old Mother Josephine had to go to the market every day and beg our ¤rst meal.15 What a sacri¤ce for one who had been raised as she had been and who came from a family like hers. She was so fair and rare. She had a complexion so tender and so beautiful. With all that, she was not proud at all, for the ¤rst two sisters whom she received were as dark as the head of a jet pine, but both were very holy and well-disposed. The rule of the old ¤rst motherhouse state that we accept only those of free and well-known families.16 The only one who was refused was an Indian, red skinned. But Mother Josephine did not respect human conventions.17 She accepted all who came with a letter from their confessor and were well-disposed to work for Christ. She often said that only virtue and a good will were necessary to work for God’s glory and to save sinners. She often said that she did not want to go before God emptyhanded, and that she wished to have her merit in heaven for her good works in this life. If good works in this life were ever deserving of merit, I truly think that she must have received hers in heaven by this time. If not, I need not expect mine in the next life. I might well say like St. John that I am not worthy to lace the old shoes of our dear old mother who had worked so faithfully and so long for God and man up until her death.18 She was so perfectly gay at all times and in all things, receiving as many insults as she did. She took them like a lamb and was cheerful. Ever ready to accept them for the love of God and His glory, Mother Josephine often said that if anyone said to her that the glory of God called them, she was ready to accept them. That was the reason that she had come to this state of life. She was several times in lawsuits about children. The suits were about young girls who wanted to be sisters and whose friends were opposed to their coming. One was a very desperate person who would do any ugly trick for a few cents or dollars. She had been paid to take a child named Celestine and raise her. Celestine was the daughter of a very rich and beautiful young lady of Nashville, Tennessee, but her father was a black dining room boy who had worked in their family for a great while.19 Celestine had been sent to board with us and the lady had not paid her board dues, so Celestine prepared to work herself. So she did and when they saw that, they began to harass her. But she paid no attention to them. After that Mrs. M. Marsies did all that she could to steal her away, but the poor child refused to go until she paid the sisters. Celestine asked

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30

to go out in one of our branch houses in the country where the woman could not see her. Then Mrs. Marsies employed a lawyer to get her, but Celestine turned a deaf ear to them. Mrs. Marsies noti¤ed us to appear at court a few days later and we were going but against our will. It was the ¤rst time that we had ever been summoned to court. It was so unpleasing for us as we had never been in court before and did not know how to act. But we did not let on to her. We lit a candle before the statue of the Sacred Heart and prayed to keep the child from being taken away and also to protect us. Our sisters and children knew that we might be successful by lighting one taper only. Just as we reached St. Mary’s Church, we saw Mrs. Marsies coming to ask our pardon, to tell us that the suit had been withdrawn, and to say that she would pay the $109 just as soon as she could with the help of God and that we might keep the girl if Celestine so wished. After that, Mother Josephine sent Celestine to her godfather and he gave her to a very dear friend who was delighted with her. But it would have been much better for her to have remained with the sisters. When she was ¤fteen years old, she asked to be admitted into our community. Instead, she is with a drunkard who gives her a great deal of pain by his ugly conduct. She also has two or three children. If our dear mother had not gone blind, she might have acquired a great many things. Instead, she was obliged to have others judge for her, and they did not see as she would have. She was very prudent and very spiritual. She never did anything without recommending it to God and to his holy mother by praying many days before acting. She was inspired in that way. She was rarely ever disappointed in anything that she undertook for God’s glory. Many times she received a money note just as she had repeated the last word of a prayer, and often before. When dear Mother Josephine had received any grace, she very promptly thanked God, so He might send us other graces that we needed. She was ever ready to make any act that she thought would be of any good to her neighbor and pleasing to God. She was ever ready to give her last nickel to relieve anyone who was without. Her love of charity never had a end. Many a time I have seen her give twenty-¤ve cents and a hour would not pass before someone gave her a dollar, and sometimes they gave her more. If she knew of any poor persons who had no means, she gave them cheerfully a part of what had been given to us for our own use. She would say that God would not forget what had been given in His name. It was for us like putting money in the bank with interest.20 She never sent a poor person away without relieving their misery in

31 PART TWO

some way. If she did not have what they needed or could not get it for them as soon as she could, she many times sent them to friends she knew would not refuse them. When they came again, she often promised to put aside and save what they requested of her. Rev. Mother Josephine always had a great love for young girls and was also loved by them. By those means she never wanted for subjects. From the ¤rst, she would draw the most charming young ladies. During the eleven years that she was our superior, she received all of the most important sisters who are in the highest positions of our dear community today. She was so very pleasing in her manners that everyone was delighted with her. It was a very rare thing to see her with any old persons. If so, it was to catch their souls, to make them love their God and the sacraments of the Church. Our dear Mother Josephine was blind, but she loved to pray and would take anyone she could ¤nd and make them go with her to pray. They often stayed in the chapel for hours at a time, praying with their arms in the form of the cross. It was Mother Josephine who rang the bell during the day.21 In order not to detain anyone from their duties, she cut all of the bread that was used at meals for both sisters and children. She also polished the knives for the whole house, washed the glasses and tea towels, and ground the coffee every day before the children were ready for their prayers and catechism.22 Then she often went out to beg for something for the next day for the sisters. She also gave a lunch every Wednesday for all of the sisters and children in honor of the Holy Family to thank them for all the graces.23 When a sister wished to abstain from meat during the week, she allowed her to choose any day. When a postulant wished to enter, Mother Josephine gave them the rule to keep. If they could observe the rules, she received them.24 “On our duties” was always the ¤rst subject that Rev. Mother gave us for our examination. Our dear Mother Josephine would call us every week and tell us, “My dear children, you must examine yourself to prepare to go to confession and tell everything that gives you any pain. Here is what I did and I will tell it when I go myself. I can tell it better myself when I get there myself.” Every day when dear mother came home from the market, she took for her duty to dust the house from the top to the last step and to remove all the disorder that she found. We were just as sure as we were alive to have it hung on our back if it was not done. She was a person of so much neatness that she never left the dormitory until she had made her bed and

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32

left all in perfect order. The only days that she did not make her bed were the few days previous to her death when she was not able to get up. In the morning after dear mother came home, she would visit everybody’s beds to see which were badly made and give them penance if they were.25 She said that every act of our life ought to be perfect, for our Lord was not pleased with us when we did a thing half and that He did not want an act half done. If so, He and His holy mother would not pay us for it. We had to work very hard but were always happy and gay to think that we were working for God and neighbor. We also hoped to receive a great reward in heaven one day with the grace of God. When we had any trouble, we offered suffering up for the holy souls and asked that they might rest in peace and that they might send us some graces we need for ourselves and friends.26 The ¤rst time that our little community had any trouble was when we established a branch house. The trouble began when our dear sisters, our dear ones, were obliged to leave old dear Rev. Mother Josephine to go to Opelousas with the haughty sister directress, Sister Elizabeth, who had been waiting to get a hold on any sisters on whom she could take out her spite. These were the ones who had fallen into her malicious hands. It was over in St. Landry’s Parish when Rev. Mother Josephine opened St. Joseph’s Convent in Opelousas and placed Sister Elizabeth, that tyrant, as local superior. Even though Sister Elizabeth’s head was not too straight, they gave her the two best sisters to brutalize with her crazy head. She made those two dear lambs her victims until dear Mother Josephine went over and saw that they could not stay six months more under the same conditions. So she sent Sister Elizabeth to the motherhouse under the pretext of physical treatment. She did her best to have her stay there as mistress of novices, but the lady said that she was too grand to ¤ll her time in the city with such little chaps. So she did her best to go back to boss the poor sisters, and when she could not go, she tried to ruin the motherhouse on Chartres Street by taking our best teachers to Vicksburg to open another split house. But God was too good, for the railroad car left them and they had no ticket. The highest teacher in the band was obliged to go to her mother to sleep. Her mother brought the girl back to Mother Josephine, and, as she was only a novice, the council received her, but put her back six months for renewing her vows which were almost expired. Our grand lady, Elizabeth, was badly disappointed, and drifted around Vicksburg. Elizabeth then came back

33 PART TWO

to New Orleans to do another trick with her ugly tongue, but again without success. As we had the esteem of all our city, all that she could say had no effect on our good friends. Unfortunately, she drew another one of our sisters with her, but they were not long together before they were obliged to separate. One went one way and the other went another way. So she did not do us as bad as she thought. Elizabeth had even tried to have the novitiate moved over to Opelousas, but God did not give her the grace to do what she desired, for she was so vain and full of ambition and pride. She sent away two or three very good subjects. Had it not been for Mother Josephine, she would have driven away some of our holiest sisters. After she had re®ected, after all of her scandal and bad advice, she tried again to enter into our dear community. But our council found it better not to receive her, as we were doing so well and had perfect peace all of the ten years that she had not been with us. Her return might have been the cause of a new disorder. We knew she could not be pleased with us, since she could never again be elevated or honored. That was what had spoiled her, making her the local superior of St. Joseph’s Convent in Opelousas. After Sister Elizabeth came back to New Orleans from Opelousas, when she was to present Rev. Mother General the water and towel to wash her hands, she would wash her own hands ¤rst and then pass the towel and water to Rev. Mother and walk away. That showed that she did not know her place and could not be elevated, for she was too proud and unworthy of that dignity. One who would be the greatest, let him be as the least of all and be the servant for the rest and do what the rest refuse to do.27 He who does this follows the precept of his Divine Master who said that love is the way to heaven.28 Only we who knew Sister Elizabeth could tell what she was. To hear her speak, one would think that she was an angel, but a bigger hypocrite you never knew before in this world. She sounded like an angel until she got your very eyes out of your head. Then she mocked you, sometimes in your face, and she never found anyone as smart as she was. It was true that she was a brilliant scholar, and no hands could make more beautiful work than she could. She was one of the most exquisite pianists one could wish to meet, a very ¤ne vocalist, an easy performer, and also a good Latin scholar. She spoke three different languages and taught them with perfect ease. What was more, she had been a bookkeeper for some of the ¤rst stores in her own city before her entrance in the community. She also kept the books for two or three doctors attached to St. Mary’s Church in this city, and they were well kept. Our classes were packed

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34

when she was the principal. The children were charmed with her and were very prompt. It was a very grand sight to see them in the classes and on Sundays at the high mass. So one can see that our dear old Mother Josephine had quite a sad time after we opened St. Joseph’s over in Opelousas. We were compelled to send several of the oldest sisters to open the new foundation. That gave our dear old mother only a little band of sisters and no mistress of novices. She was obliged to do all herself, for all the teachers were in the classes. When they came out of class, they did not feel like doing much of anything. More than once did our dear mother miss the sisters until at last she was obliged to recall one of them, Sister Elizabeth, for a music teacher. But as Sister Elizabeth was the local superior in Opelousas, she did not like to give up the post, so she left our order. She tried to open one of her own, but failed. Dear mother and the sisters took it so hard because our dear mother was blind and often needed Sister Elizabeth to write for her when the others were in their classes and could not be called for fear of not doing justice to the children. One of the greatest works is to teach the children of our days since the children are allowed to boss their parents and their teachers, especially if one is not sharp with them at all times. Only to think how they speak about the sisters after it is too late. But when you tell them, they think that they are so much smarter than the sister. And it is only when they get in some great trouble that they ¤nd what will make them appreciate the sisters. So one can see that our dear old mother had many things to contend with. After having Sister Elizabeth to do all for her, it was some time before she could train another sister to aid her. But when Sister Anne Fazende had been with our dear mother some eight or ten months, she was even better than Sister Elizabeth, and Mother Josephine had all con¤dence in her. During the time that Sister Anne assisted Mother Josephine, everything went nicely. Our old Father Raymond could not believe that we had made so much and paid a debt of more than $2,000 in less than one year’s time. We had made a great many improvements on the old place and bought a nice piece of ground with the intention of building an orphans’ home for the girls later. But our dear Lord was pleased to open another way for us to have a home for them. We sold the lots for the ¤rst payments on the place that we now have. The old home where the girls resided before has been ¤tted up for a home for old ladies; they have a very nice place at present with a ¤ne chapel that can hold from two to three hundred.29 One more trouble for Rev. Mother Josephine was when she reopened

35 PART TWO

St. Bernard’s Home on November 21, 1876. She went to very great trouble to regain control of it, and suffered many insults and blames. An ugly quadroon lady and her daughter who wanted to remain as the head of the house said that Mother Josephine only wanted to get the money that the state gave her. The two women also wanted to keep the residents in a state of sin and disorder. They had ¤ve or six families living and sleeping in the same room together, and the place was like a pig’s pen that had not been cleaned for six months or more. The woman and her daughter were just as surly as they could be. The mother went so far as to say that if Mother Josephine and Sister Anne came in that gate, she would kick them out with her foot. But when the two notices had not been accepted, Lawyer [S.] Belden went himself and took the women’s things out on the banquette. When our sisters came with their helper, with brooms and buckets, she fell down and asked our pardon, but it was too late then. For they had said that Mr. Lacroix was lord and master, and that we could not put our foot in their gate. They never dreamt that we had our deeds for that property, although we had abandoned it for a good reason. But at any time we had a right to take it again for the same purpose.30 We knew that the trustee of the house had received the sum of $1,500 a year from the city and state for more than thirty-six years.31 We had been told that the poor who were living in there had never seen the half of that money and the old house was so dilapidated that the wind, when strong, could have blown it down. They tried many times to run us out, but we were not afraid of them since we were in our own house and were working for God and were not afraid of anything that man could do or say about us. But when any one of them in the meantime needed us, we were always ready to do what we could to help them or their families save their souls. That was our end and our work. All that they said would not stop us in our duties for God, for the child is always ready to help his father and mother when called by them. Only a few repairs were made during the ¤rst winter after we reclaimed our house which was about March 6, 1877. There was a band of loafers who came every night to annoy us, until we were obliged to get the chief of police to send of¤cers to protect us against those ugly fellows. They wanted to get us out so they could take back the house for those people who had been stealing from the city and state for so many years. But they failed and were obliged to give up at last, for they found that it was all in vain. We reopened the house for both sexes. But ¤nding that the house was too small, we, after the death of the old men, ceased to take any more

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36

men until later. After that, the home of the old women was a very prosperous house. Ever after that, we had luck, and at present, the house is one of the most perfect and orderly houses that we have. It has received many blessings since that time. We have had many women of the grandest and richest families of New Orleans come and live in our house, also from Baton Rouge and other cities of the United States, many of whom had been rich and had even owned slaves in former times. We have the mistress and her slaves in there at the same time and they live like angels together. It is a very striking thing to see their love. One of the most striking things of all is to see the mistress and her former slave eating at the same table. One could not help seeing that the Lord is the Master of heaven and earth. All who wish to see these persons living in that state of perfect union have only to call at the old folks’ home on St. Bernard Street or the Lafon Asylum for Orphan Boys on Bayou Road, corner of Tonti, where they live at present. There you will see many more things, perhaps more edifying than what I have just said. We have erected an addition to the old women’s home and also one for the old men on the adjoining lot, and a very beautiful and large chapel which accommodates the two sexes, with a large side yard between the two places. The location is very ¤ne. At night the breezes are delightful, both in spring and also in winter, for the air and sun are very pleasing there the whole year around. One has the two trolley cars passing within a block of the house when it rains. There are also many other advantages attached to that place. The old women and men have their horse and cart at hand whenever they wish to go out. They also raise their own chickens and have eggs to use when they need them. They can go out to walk when it is pleasant weather. The lake is also near the house. When the old men want, they can go out and catch a lot of ¤sh for their dinner in Lent, or on fast days, and any other time. This place is a very healthy spot and one can have many nice fruit trees if they wish to plant or raise them. They can have their own cows and pigs without fear of being disturbed by one’s neighbor who sometimes annoys them for having such things. Once in a while it is muddy, and as a consequence the water will be high for some days. But we never have ®ooding. We moved into the present home on St. Bernard Street from the old place on October 1, 1892. The old men’s home was only just ¤nished. It had not been erected until August 13, 1892. We always wanted to have one for them if we could ¤nd the means. But God be praised that we at last have one and that we have all that we need for it and for them also. One night after we ¤rst opened the old men’s home, one of the sisters

37 PART TWO

went to take the men their supper and found that one of them had left his cell.32 That was very strange, for he had never been out since he moved in. He was blind and had been so for more than twenty years. We were quite alarmed and searched all over the house. And what was our surprise when he told us that one of his old friends had come and taken him riding in his buggy and had taken him over the fence at eleven o’clock that night and he had not asked permission. Better than that, he could not walk or stand himself. He was very sassy after that, so much that the sisters could scarcely stand him, until we were obliged to scold him once or twice before we could enter his room. I had forgotten to say that this had occurred on March 19 and his name was Joseph.33 Some of the sisters believed that it was St. Joseph who had taken him to pass the feast with him. It was very plain that the man had been blind for more than twenty years and had never left his room during that time. Would he be able to go out to ride in a buggy and to get over the fence alone and go in the room without anyone seeing him? Everyone who had known him said that he had not been able to go out for so many years. Before he came to live with us, he had never seen any one of his friends for a very great while. It was for this reason that they had put him with us, that he might not die without the rites of the holy Church of Christ. The old St. Bernard Street home was later turned into a day school for both boys and girls, as there are a great many children in this parish. They are mostly Catholic parents who all send their children to our school. So far, the classes are well attended with both sexes, all coloreds. We have been blessed with our school and also with our different undertakings. Since the year 1870 when the house on Chartres Street was opened, we have opened six more houses and four parochial schools. One more time, allow me to say that we had a lot of crosses and many enemies. The Little Sisters of the Poor made us a reproach when they said that we ought not take the name that had been given to their poor houses, namely “The Old People’s Home.”34 But we told them that we would not change our name, for our name would be “The Old Women’s Home.” Then we became the best of friends and they visited us very often and the two orders both are now very prosperous in our city and also in other places of the state, as we have only our own people. We do not disturb each other at all. It is much better for us as they cannot accommodate our poor. They are pleased to have us take care of them for that does not do them any harm. Now when they have anything that will do our old people any good, they send it to us for our old women and men. We have more need of it than they have, it is true, for our old people are so poor and not lucky as they are.

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38

Our old people are not as generous as they might be. If they have any riches, they never come to live with us or it is left in the hands of someone who will not give it to us. And if they do give something, it is never worth anything. Rarely do they think of giving us, their friends, any thanks, for many of them say, “oh, the sisters have all that they need. We need not take them anything, for they have all that they want and we can give that to another.” They do not know that many a time the sisters are short of things and that money does not grow on trees. We have often received persons who have been quite rich but would say, “When I go to the sisters, you may take what I have.” Now when they come to us, they have given away all that they have. Just as soon as any of us speak to them, they are angry and say, “I do not need to stay shut up in this place. When I have my money, I can go home.” But if they do, after two or three weeks, they come back. The persons who bring them back say, “We had to board them, and what money they had was used to pay their board and washing for the many weeks or months that they had stayed with us.” So the poor sisters have not a nickel for their trouble. After their death, others very often come and claim what they have left and want to sue us for what ought to be ours. Let us speak about the Louisiana Asylum for Colored Girls that was handed over to our sisters by Dr. and Mrs. Roudanez of the city in 1877.35 It had thirty-¤ve orphan girls. It had been opened by the Oblates of St. Francis in the winter of 1868 or 1869, but they became displeased and left in 1873 and went to their own house on Marigny Street where they had a day and boarding school, which they also left some eighteen months later and returned to their motherhouse in Baltimore. Their scholars came to our school and completed their instruction with us.36 The Oblate sisters accused our sisters of having in®uenced the people against them and also said that we wanted their places. But that was a falsehood. We had more work than we could do, for our schools at that time were at all times packed. We had our lots already fenced in and a good sum of money to build when we were ready. The ladies who worked with the orphans and the priests who directed them insisted that Rev. Mother Josephine take the Oblates’ old place. Our people have more con¤dence in us, who are their own people, than in the Oblates, who were strangers. That was the only reason we accepted it. We regretted taking their old house that was full of insects. The house was so low that it was always damp and full of fever. We were obliged to have one hundred carts of earth emptied in that lot before it was ¤t to live on. Today we have a most beautiful chapel between the two buildings and a very spacious yard for the orphans to amuse themselves in the pleasant sum-

39 PART TWO

mer weather. With the grace of God, we can have a priest come every weekday to say mass for them and also on Sundays. Poor Sister Anne, who had been ¤rst placed as directress of the orphanage, had a very sad time. She was not esteemed by the people of the parish, as she was a person who was not much of the world and would not play games with them. They did not take to her as they had been in the habit of going all about the house when the Oblate sisters were there. But with her, they could not do that and could not meddle with her house affairs and business in any way. So they made many complaints against our poor sister, more than half of which were false, and only because the dear soul did not let them come and boss the house. She told them that she had no need of their advice. That was why they wanted to get rid of her. But it was just the same with the other sister who replaced her, if not worse, for she had no use for them. They were spiteful persons who would not head to right when they were wrong. Sister Anne was a good housekeeper and was more than neat. One might go at any time there and ¤nd the house in perfect order and always presentable. The house had less than $200 or $300 saved away for rainy days, or in case of sickness or other troubles that might, at any time, come up in a house full of small children at night. Both sisters and orphans were always as well clad as one could expect in times like those. They always had plenty of good food to eat. Summer or winter was the same. One could ¤nd a good meal in that house when others were without and could not get anything very easily. Sister Anne came and was victorious over all of her enemies. When she vacated the place, she came back to the old place on Bayou Road where she had entered and was quite happy up to the time that she was called to assist one of those persons who had tried to revenge her after all of their malice. Almighty God permitted them to call on her for help before their death. Then the ones who had tried to harm her were very glad to have her near their bedside at the hour of their death, although they were very much younger than she was and had a great many more advantages in every way than she had. But that was to show us the justice of God and that charity is far more pleasing to our God than all of the riches and the grandeur that this world pursues in this life. Poor Sister Anne was transferred to the motherhouse where she remained twelve or thirteen years and then was again made local superior of a branch house. Many were the times that the same ones who so much objected to her being directress were obliged to say that she was the best of all who had been named for that house, and so she was.

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It is true that Sister Anne has strange ways, but with all that, she is far more experienced than any of those who found so much fault with her and regretted seeing her have the post of local superior. She is full of prudence and has a sound judgment in many things. As for instructing others in our holy faith, you will not ¤nd so easily another to teach as she does and so profoundly. She is of one of the best and oldest and richest families of this city and state, and is well known by all, not only in New Orleans, but also in Baton Rouge, the state capital. Her mother, Miss A. L’Ange, was a resident of Baton Rouge and a granddaughter of the Pintados, one of the ¤rst Spanish families of that city. The youngest of the L’Ange family was very much esteemed. Sister Anne is the most ancient member of our order. She was also the last postulant our dear founder, Father Rousselon, and Rev. Mother Henriette received before their deaths. She was also a very great favorite. She was quite young and would have ventured to cross the sea on foot had they demanded her to do so. As old as she is at present, she still would not refuse. I doubt much whether she would object to doing anything that she was commanded by her superior, for she has a great horror of disobeying. I cannot help but admire her love and her respect for her superiors. I have also heard a great many things asked of her only to try her and also to give an example to others who have not been in the order half as long as she has. Some believe themselves too grand to do anything they think too low when they are only called to assist another that has need of some help. She, it is true, has twice or three times been a local superior and knows better the value of this state of life. She is a person of sixty-two or sixty-three years, and has passed more than half of her years in our community, praising her God with all the power of her soul and heart. She has been almost consumed in the love of God and the salvation of the souls of so many poor sinners who have lost their ways, who have gone astray, or rather have been lost in the night of sin and have need of making peace with their God before it is too late. She also has a very great in®uence over sinners and never plays games with them when they once address themselves to her. She keeps them so very straight that they cannot go back on her. She often converts their whole family before she stops with them. She has always been careful to see in what state they are living. If their union has not been blessed, she obliges them to call on one of the priests to bless them.37 Once I saw her scold a person she had assisted to make their ¤rst communion. They had neglected their religious duties for some years. But when she ¤nished with them, they never forgot again the scolding that she gave them.

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Once, for ¤rst communion, poor Sister Anne had over sixty girls and also an old woman. They irritated her in some way that I have almost forgotten now. But one might have thought that the last judgment had come to hear her harsh words to them. Many times after that they said they had never seen a sister receive as many presents as she did that summer. One might have thought that those girls would have never put their foot in our house again. But no, they came more than ever before. They never see a sister whom they do not ask, “Oh sister, how is Sister Anne. Tell her that I am coming to see her soon.” And they say, “I can never forget her kindness when I made my ¤rst communion. I will bring a sack of cakes or some fruit when I come.” And so they do. She always has not only cake and fruit, but also dry goods and shoes too. We were never without nice things that they brought to Sister Anne every Sunday until she was named directress of the boys’ orphans’ home on St. Peter Street, which opened on August 20, 1893. She had not been out of the motherhouse for twelve years when she was named directress over at the boys’ home. Before that, she had only taught catechism to the children here in the motherhouse and made altar bread for two or three churches and convents in this city and one in the country. Our whole community received their hosts from this house. Only a few years ago, our community was the poorest in the whole Catholic world, and one of the poorest in New Orleans. But it prospered with the grace of God and the work of our dear Rev. Mother Josephine. How many times that dear soul was sad, we might say unto death. Yes. Bitter was her pain for many long years, not only those she had passed on Bayou Road but also those in her own house on Chartres Street when dear old Father Raymond was ecclesiastical superior. We had a very hard time for we had many enemies who wanted to degrade our dear little community as poor as we were. During that time, we were persecuted by the Sisters of St. Joseph in this city. They tried all that they could to make us take off our habits. That was after forty-¤ve or ¤fty years that we had worked and suffered to have a religious habit. No one would think that we were anything if we were not dressed in the holy habit. For many years, we took in washing and ironing for the church and also for thirty-¤ve or forty persons. Every day, there were ¤ve or six masses with altar boys’ clothing also. That was more than half again the rest of the washing of the priests in the house. Only a few of the fathers wore white shirts in summer. Only to think of our carrying from ten to twelve baskets of clothing through the streets of a city like New Orleans two days in every week. All of the ¤rst sisters were of the very ¤rst families of the city, and

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only one, Sister Suzanne Navarre, was a stranger from Boston, Mass. As for the rest, they were all natives of this state, but their fathers were all foreigners—some French, Spanish, or German. They were descended from the ¤rst settlers of the state of Louisiana. Many of the sisters were educated in Europe, as it was the custom at that time for the children to be instructed in their father’s native country. Many of them were sent to their fathers’ families and many never returned to this country afterwards. But Mother Josephine’s father never wanted any of his dear little children to go so far as that away from home, for fear of some accident. It was well that he did keep her, for when she was between the age of two and three years old, her mother was killed. Her eldest sister was obliged to raise her and all of the little ones who were left, for they were too small at the time. When she was a young girl, Josephine’s sister, Miss Mary, who was Mrs. Bennet, was not pleased at her inclinations. Miss Mary had a dancing master come to the house to teach her sister, but dear Josephine preferred to go to David’s dancing master, that is to dance before the altar of Christ. I say, to dance with Christ, for one hour in the chapel in the presence of the dear Lord in the blessed sacrament is far sweeter than a whole life of vanity in a ballroom, dancing with a sinful creature who is blinded by his many sins that are most hideous in the sight of Almighty God, our good Father.38 Our dear mother said to herself, “I have a dancing master far superior to that and I will see him when the time comes.” That was the holy state which she embraced and in which she ¤nished her days, surrounded by her dear children who numbered near forty-¤ve or ¤fty, not speaking of those who were sleeping in death some years before she died, which in this life would be twelve or more. The Lord was pleased to call them to Himself and now they are praying for us in heaven, I hope, while we who are on earth are working for the poor sinners. We have in the old people’s home some of the most obstinate persons who at ¤rst would not hear of being converted, but some weeks later, when the grace of God had touched them, they themselves would ask to be instructed. Some became the most fervent souls and would do all they could to have their friends become converted also. They had been the most bitter in the beginning. I remember only one who was not so easy to become a Catholic, and that was because her confessor had left and she did not care for the one who had taken his place. The ¤rst priest had been so very kind to her before she came to live with us, and that was more pain.

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But no one should wonder at that, for Rev. Mother Josephine was always in the chapel. It was a strange thing to see that Almighty God exalted her prayers when she had prayed for so many years for the same thing and with so much fervor and humility and constancy which is like a lance which pierces the heart of God when one prays constantly. It is the best way, provided we only ask the holy will of God and His great glory for the salvation of our neighbor and with the contrite and humble heart, as our Lord says. When we pray, we must try to pray well, at least with con¤dence and love, for that must be our foundation, making also acts of faith, hope, and charity. Our dear Mother Josephine was a woman of prayer. She also feared offending her Maker. Above all things, she loved justice. She trembled at the very thought of any injustices. Although she was blind, she seemed to see everything that was in any way unjust. If so, it would pain her so that she would cry all day to think of offending God in that way, and would often say it would be much better for us to have no bread than to get the better of anyone who was uninstructed or, as it was, cheat them in any way, either in money or in work. We had a sister who did not scruple at getting the better of any old man or woman who did not know how to count. She would laugh at them. It grieved Mother Josephine almost to death to think that God’s poor had been treated in that way. If Mother Josephine received money from a friend, she would say to the one who was near her, “Come with me.” Then she would slip the money in the hand of the person whom the sister had played the trick on, and then go to the chapel and thank God for giving her the money to return to that poor person. Only once to my memory was she obliged to send a poor woman away without giving her what she had asked. It almost broke her heart to think that a poor person had gone without an alm, and she did not know where to ¤nd her. Poor Mother Josephine, how noble she was in heart, and how she was loved by the whole city of New Orleans! Once, and that was all, she had to refuse entrance into our community to a young lady who was a poor girl. It was not because she was poor, but because her mind was not sound and at any time she might have lost it altogether and, no doubt, become a sad case also. That was why dear mother did not take her. But it gave her much pain to think of that in the old house on Chartres Street where she had admitted all the others. She was the only soul whom she had refused during her administration. Our dear friend, Mrs. Julia Geddeas, many times said that when Mother Josephine died, we might just as well bury her bones as the bones of the rarest and the most noble and charitable soul in the state, as it

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would be a many a day before we would ¤nd another like her in this city, and perhaps never again in this life. Mother Josephine received many presents every year on her feast day, March 19. That was the feast of St. Joseph, when the whole city met to wish her a happy feast and to bring their donations, which were very enormous every year as long as she was our mother superior. I can never forget March 19, 1878, when she received a set of bedroom furniture that included a handsome chair, chamber set, and also one stained walnut easy chair valued at $30. It was bought on dear mother’s feast day and cost $28; the other $2 were given by the merchant. On that feast day, Mother Josephine received cloth enough to give every sister ¤ve or six pieces and also cakes for three weeks and many other presents, which, if we had paid for them, would have cost no less than $3. Two of the ¤rst sisters whom dear mother received that day, after her rolling chair had been dressed with ®owers, took dear mother and pushed her all around the yard. That day was not forgotten by dear Mother Josephine of the Holy Family, 350 Chartres Street, New Orleans, Louisiana. She never forgot Sister Mary Francis39 and those who had given her so much. Her rosy cheeks and blue eyes well merited all of that and much more. Had it not been for our dear old mother and a few faithful sisters, our dear Holy Family would not exist today, nor would there be as many dear souls in the holy Catholic Church in this state. Only to think how many families are living along the Mississippi River and nearly all of them were instructed in the Convent of the Holy Family before the late war, and even since. Many children of the same families have been also instructed by our dear sisters. We also proudly boast of having quite a number of them who are now not only holy and bright but useful members. Our dear old mothers, both Juliette and Josephine, were favorites of this state and city of which more than two thirds are fruits of their own seed. A greater part of them are children the sisters had taught to make the sign of the cross and to pronounce the name of God, and to love Him also.40 Rarely do we meet a child whose families had not been instructed in our house, or with our sisters when they were young. Because of this, they had a great love for our sisters. No matter where they saw us or what they had, it was their greatest pleasure to do or to give to our sisters. We also have children from other parts of the country. Many of them are grandchildren of some young lady who had been raised with our sisters. Many of our former boarders live in the western states. We would

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have a house up in the west, had our dear old Father Raymond not objected to it. He said that the best charity begins at home and that when we had given sisters to all the churches in our city, then we might send them to other states if others wanted them and were willing to support the sisters as they should. We were obliged to let the Sisters of St. Francis take a house in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1879 which had been offered to our sisters. It is a prosperous house today. We do not regret it, as we think that it must have been the will of Almighty God who knows what is better for us. We could not have done as well up there as we are doing now in this city with the grace of our dear Lord who loves to see us work for His greatest glory and for the good of souls.41 We have the little boys’ home and the old men’s home attached to the old women’s home and a nice little chapel on the same grounds. We have as much as we can do with the grace of God. We are all able to say that we are rich with our Lord’s poor, both sexes, both youth and aged; the one for life and the second to meet their God. We had been in existence for more than ¤fty years when we had all at once a dear old friend, Thomy Lafon, who died and left us a nice sum of $10,000.42 We used that for the orphans’ home. Some time after that, an old lady died and gave us $1,700 for the girls. When we and our work became better known, we received many small donations which greatly relieved us of the great burden that was hanging over our heads for more than ten or twenty years without knowing where we were to ¤nd the means to relieve ourselves of it. But God who is the master of all good was pleased to touch the hearts of some good souls who were pleased to think of our dear old people and children. Today, if our present mother superior, Rev. Mother Mary Austin Jones, wished, she could open twenty more, not only in this state, but in the west and middle states, for we have applications from many different cities. But dear mother thinks it better to have a few houses, well conducted, than to have many in disorder. To have so many, it would be also necessary to have a large number of sisters. Each house ought to have at least four sisters, so when one could not be with the children, the other could be there. So you can see how necessary it is to recruit teachers. Also, when children are sick, they need someone with them. A house should have one sister in each class and another to keep house while the others are teaching. We can proudly say that with the grace of God we have never lost to death but one young lady boarder in the whole ¤fty-two years that we have been in existence. We hope that our dear Lord will continue to bless

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us with the grace of not losing any of our boarders. It would do us harm to lose them. When our sisters ¤rst opened their schools, they never did the housework, for they had always some old women or poor girls to help them. That made it better for the teachers, and they also gave the girls lessons. Many of them have been better scholars than those who paid, as they knew the value of study and they pro¤ted from the time that they had. They knew not how long they would be with us to take lessons that they thought more important than others did. These girls had no one to care for them or to give them what they needed or to send them back to our school for another year. In the old house on Chartres Street, Rev. Mother Josephine had both a night class and also a Latin and music class for young ladies whose means would not allow them to attend the day class as they wished. No one would believe which of the two classes worked the hardest. But for ourselves, we were better pleased with the night class, for to see them later is far better than those of the day. These things occurred when we ¤rst opened the old St. Mary’s School on Chartres Street in 1870, in a house that had been used for a trader’s yard in the time of slavery. After the late war, many in this city looked on the old house as a disgraceful place and it was abandoned. No one would think of buying it for the very reason that it had previously been a trader’s yard and many sins had been committed at that place, not only sins, but the most horrible crimes. It must have been the will of God that our sisters should buy the place to expiate the crimes that had been committed there. I think that was the reason Almighty God would not let anyone take a liking to the place. That was one of the most successful houses that the Holy Family Sisters ever had since its foundation. All of our most useful and able members have entered in that house. It was there that we completed the beautiful habit which we now have. It is true that we had to suffer very much and to bear many crosses before we were able to obtain what we desired. So many years of pain and toil passed before we could ¤nd anyone to help our dear old Father Gilbert Raymond who also received a great many insults for our sake. He was told that he had just as well give up, for he would never be able to make anything out of us and that we would never do anything in this city, for we would never ¤nd any vocations among our class of people, who loved their pleasure so much. With the grace of God, we have no right to complain, for we have a good crowd of sisters now. If it was not for the hard times, we would have many more. But so many are poor girls who have no one to give

47 PART TWO

them what they need to enter. But many thanks to God for the many whom have entered. If there were only ¤ve who entered, that would be so many more souls for God who would have been in danger of being lost in the world. If they had not come to be a sister, they would have gone astray like so many others have in this city. Nowadays children have their own way or leave home and go away, or rather keep the house in hot water. That was the reason that our dear old mother used to tell us sisters not to be too hard on the girls, for they would leave and go to some other school, and fall in with bad company and lose their souls and blame us for driving them away after they had fallen. On Chartres Street after the late Civil War and after Emancipation, the faith of our holy mother, the Catholic Church, was like a burning ®ame. It was a very rare thing to see a child who did not attend mass on Sunday, or to see a Catholic child in a public school where children did not respect their own faith. Today one has only to pass by other churches to see the greater part of our young ladies who want to pass for big bugs, and want to be in the company of young persons of another sex, and also want to avoid confessing. They say that confessing is only good for little girls and boys and that the sisters are only good for ¤rst communion and to teach them to pray when they are small. But in the old house on Chartres Street, during the time of our dear Mother Josephine, our schools were a real furnace of burning love for our holy faith. The holy Catholic Church was like a rose in its full bloom in springtime when everything is bright and green and all of nature seems to sing the same songs of thanks and joy to its Maker for its graces. We had the pleasure of preparing for ¤rst communion not only all the girls, but also from sixty to seventy old mothers and grandmothers, with their violet colored dresses and blue veils on their heads and white shawls and white gloves on their hands. Many of them had never known how to make the sign of the cross until they came to Mother Josephine’s instruction. They could not tell you how many persons there were in the Blessed Trinity. If one would ask them who was the ¤rst person, one would say, “St. Joseph” and the others would say, “the son.” She was obliged to take their hands, one by one, and teach them both by words and song to make the sign of the cross and also to pronounce the names of the three persons of the Holy Trinity. So one can see what work there was to be done in those days. All of the principal families who are Catholics today with the grace of God do justice to our sisters. We can say that we continue the work of Madame Ste. Marthe, the ¤rst Ursuline nun who came out from

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France to instruct the colored children in New Orleans. She died many years ago, and since her time the work has been continued by our sisters and the Sisters of St. Augustine’s Church—the Sisters of Mount Carmel. They were founded by the same Father Etienne Rousselon who founded our community.43 They still live in their same house, but ours was too small so we disposed of it for one more spacious. We now have seven houses, not saying anything about the three or four boarding and day schools that we have in New Orleans for girls and boys. These schools are the only way that we can get the men and boys to understand On the last moments of Sister Mary Agnes, September 4, 189444 My reason for leaving this space is, as I was writing these words, I stopped to help an old sister fan a dying sister who was suffocating from a rush of blood. She had been out of the room on the same day and had spoken to our Reverend Director just a few hours before dinner. She had also eaten a very hearty dinner only two hours before she had a spell and was so very gay and had been speaking up to three minutes before the spell came on her. She had said that she had many prayers to make, and begged to ¤nish them, and then she would speak with us. She said if she did not pray, perhaps when she died, she would not have prayed. It was just as she expected. The blood rushed to her head and she died in that state, surrounded by all of our dear sisters and the father of this parish of St. Louis Cathedral Church. I stated my subject, the death of our dear sister Mary Agnes of Jesus. Now I will go back to the little old frame house that was one of the most beautiful pieces of work of the Sisters of the Holy Family.

better what the Church teaches and also to keep them nearer to their duties. If they are not kept just as one would a horse with a bridle on his neck, you could do nothing with them. After they once make their ¤rst communion, they think there is nothing more to be done. Then it is picnics and balls. It is rare to see boys going to the holy table; they go only for their Easter duties. They say that communion is good for women and girls, but they are too grand to waste their time. But just wait until they get sick. Then the priests and the sisters must kill themselves to run to their bedsides to have them ready for their deaths. If they are a little late in getting to them, they roll their eyes at the poor priests and sisters. They think they are obliged to make peace with the Lord after they had

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done much as they pleased. They expect the priest and the sisters to run at their beck and call at the last moment to ask Almighty God’s pardon. It is a good thing to see them at the holy table once or twice a year, although they might go more often. I hope that when all our little boys who have been instructed in our little schools grow up to be men, some of our sisters may live to see them become holy and good men. With the grace of God, we can teach them to understand what the duty of a Catholic is, which we hope to do one day before we die. If one sister does not, another will, which is the same thing, as we are all working for the same end. We all hope to go to the same heaven and to see the Blessed Mother and her dear Son who died for us on the cross. He will be our judge on the last day when we have completed all the work He has given us. In the old house on Chartres Street, Mother Josephine, after she had completed all that she had to do, which was to polish the knives and spoons and forks, grind the coffee, cut bread, ring the bell, and go to the market in the morning, would make the sisters say their prayers in French. As blind as Mother Josephine was, she never sat down to rest herself as many would have done. Another mother superior who was sixty years old might have very easily gone to bed and rested herself if she had been a person who was vain or proud of her position. But no, she was more humble than the least one in the house, for she felt as if she was the one who ought to wait on all of the sisters. She did what she could to pay the sisters for what they had done for her. She often said that she was not worthy of directing them as they ought to be. But as she loved them so much, she was willing to do all that she could to help them work for the glory of God and the good of her neighbor. She did so as long as her health would permit. Our dear old Mother Josephine had spared no pains to form dear Sister Marie Magdalene. She had long seen marks of her noble virtues and had long believed that God sent her to aid her and to replace her one day, as she was getting old and was then blind for twenty or twenty-¤ve years. She saw that none of the sisters loved God as Sister Marie Magdalene did. She saw that no other had the same holy love of God and the true simplicity of heart as that holy sister, Marie Magdalene. She saw Sister Marie Magdalene’s morti¤cation, sacri¤ce, and self-denial. No other have we ever seen like her in our dear little community, no other who forgot herself as she did. Well did dear Mother Josephine say of Sister Marie Magdalene, “dear and true child of the Holy Family.” Few,

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if any, of our sisters ever accomplished what she did. She was always ready and never said no, for she had copied from our dear old Mother Josephine who had always forgotten herself for the love of others whom she saw doing their best to please God. When dear old Mother Josephine saw anyone who seemed to be sad, she would call our dear Sister Marie Magdalene to know what had been said to that dear sister to give her any pain. She would ring for the dear sister and say, “What gave you so much pain?” She wanted to know what she needed. How many times has that lovely soul gone out and bought things for me when I needed them and had never spoken to anyone in the world about them. But I knew that our dear mother must have been inspired by the Holy Ghost to go and get things for me when I had never opened my lips to anyone on earth. Who could be astonished at that, for she was so holy and full of the love of God. She seemed only to look at someone, and then she could tell what they were thinking. Even after she had lost her sight for twenty years, she only needed to hear one’s voice and she could tell almost the very subject of their pain. This I know my own self, for many times have the sisters remarked after some little violation occurred that the sisters or the children did not wish anyone to say anything to dear old mother. She would very often say, “but you have some pain today or tonight.” It was of no use to say no for she would not have it any other way but the true way. How many times have persons told her things that were not true. Then she would say, “they think that they have deceived me, but they only made me lose con¤dence in them which is all the worse for them. I will not believe them another time when it will be no doubt of more importance, and they will need me more than they do today.” So you see that they did not fool our dear old mother. Although she had been blind for many long years, what was most remarkable was that Mother Josephine was always ready and willing to work for the glory of God and her neighbor, and rarely ever failed in anything. Only to think when our dear little community was in its cradle, our dear old Mother Josephine would tell all of the school children to pray that God would give us some way of instructing the poor girls in the country places who had no one to teach them to love and praise God who made and created them. She would say how sad it was to see so many nice girls who never knew how to make the sign of the cross and know the persons of the Trinity. Very few of them had been instructed before the late war. The greater number who know those things are the children or grandchildren of many girls who had been instructed by the

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Sisters of the Holy Family in former times. They had not forgotten their faith. Our dear old mother was always engaged in something which she thought would draw souls to God and make them more formed in their spiritual welfare. In the old house on Chartres Street, she would make the old women come at night in the month of March to promenade with the statue of St. Joseph and pray for the holy souls and the conversion of sinners. Very often she would tell them to bring with them some of their old friends who did not keep the commandments of God or those of the Church and to also bring those who had given scandal in some way and needed to do penance for their past conduct. It was rare that she was not a perfect success in some way. She often had the most striking effect. We remember an old man who sat out on the steps and listened to the women singing. The man could not come in to sing with the mothers on account of the young lady boarders. But he was converted and became a most fervent and most edifying Catholic. Mother Josephine did the same for the month of May, and the effect was even better. There was a very wicked old man who had not made his Easter duties for many years. He was touched by Mother Josephine having May devotions where he heard the sisters and children singing and praying. Beginning every day during the month of May, Mother Josephine would have the girls and their mothers come and sing at night when their duties were over. It was a nice and an agreeable walk for them to come and get their children after praying and thanking God for the day that had been so well spent in His house. Both the children and their parents retired to their homes not only pleased but also full of the love of God. They thanked Him for giving them Mother Josephine and the Sisters of the Holy Family to guide their little children in the right path as they were not capable of doing so themselves. Times then changed and many girls who had been able to keep their own houses were obliged to go out and seek something to do to help to support their families. One has only to glance at these pages to see what dear old Mother Josephine did after she had been named local superior of the ¤rst branch house that our dear little community ever founded. The house made such rapid progress that four years later, when our good old Dr. Faget,45 who had been the ¤rst to offer his services to our dear sisters on Bayou Road when they formed the cradle of sisterhood, was called to see someone who was sick and needed him. He was so much astonished to see, in such a short time, the work that had been done. He asked Mother

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Josephine if she would please tell him what she did to get all that done. She said that she only obeyed her director in everything that he said and prayed as she was blind for many years and could not do much for our dear little community. She spent the best part of her time praying for the sisters who were at work doing what she could neither do nor see to do. But we can be assured that she did what she did very well, for she went to market in all kinds of weather. I don’t know how she stood it. Only to think how many times the sister who conducted her was walking and did not think and without dreaming of it let her fall into the gutter. So our dear mother came home dripping wet, yet she was so gay that no one would have ever dreamt that she had fallen. I was with her one day when we were going to see some lots that she wanted to get for building an orphan girls’ home. It was late and we had not been so far away for some years. Just to think of an old lady of her age falling in a gutter of black mud that had come from the gas house. She fell in it at two o’clock and remained in her wet clothes from two till six or seven at night. It must have been for her one of the most disagreeable things, for she was one of the neatest persons that I ever saw in my life. Everyone who knew her and saw her remarked, “what a fresh complexion.” She was a blonde and had blue eyes and a naturally fat and rosy face. She was always gay, cheerful, and had good manners. It is a rare thing to ¤nd a person like our dear Mother Josephine Charles, for she never knew anything but God’s glory. When she went out, you might be sure that it was not for her pleasure, but for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. They could never get her out of the house otherwise as she was a holy person. She often said that her time was not for herself, but it belonged to God, and that she could not steal time from her Maker who had given it to her to work for His souls and to teach His Word. If anyone came to the house to see her and it was not for a charitable purpose, she did not tarry long with them. She would rather play with some little child who did not know and could not say their prayers rather than waste her time talking with adults about nonsense. In the year 1878, our dear mother called two subjects from Opelousas to the motherhouse. One was to make her vows and the other to take her habit, as their time of novitiate or postulancy had expired. They were obliged to pass a few months with dear mother so she could see what their dispositions were, to prepare them, and to let them see how they should keep the rule and not attach themselves to any place or person. Such attachment was one of the very worst and most dangerous points and would endanger their vocation. With the grace of God, they both

53 PART TWO

became charming sisters. One of them died very young and the other is alive and is now doing a very glorious work in the motherhouse. What is best of all is that Mother Josephine is cheating Satan of souls and bringing them to our dear Lord. She had three or four old men make their ¤rst communion in our chapel and the same number of women. She also brought a large class of boys to church every spring. Many of them had been going to instruction for years and had never succeeded in making their communion. On October 4, 1881, dear Mother Josephine with her sisters moved from the old house on Chartres Street to a large house on Orleans and Royal streets which became the motherhouse of the community. When she left the old house she had only $30.15 to pay for the moving. When they told the driver that was Mother Josephine’s last nickel, he gave our dear mother $2 to buy bread for supper that night. Two sisters went away the next week to beg so we could make the next payment on the house. They had a very rough time that winter. The weather was very hard and cold. Only to think of being away out in Boston in winter in the cold with no money to go home. That was no sweet thing. Worst of all, they were not allowed to collect in that city as they had not written to the bishop before going. So they were obliged to go back to New York and were also refused there as the cardinal had forbidden any sisters coming from other dioceses to collect.46 To allow one and not the other would have made hard feelings. The sisters went back to Ohio and could hardly stand the weather. It was so cold and rainy that our dear sisters went to Chicago, where God blessed them for they came home with $2,000 and many other useful objects. Only twelve months after that, our dear old Mother Josephine was exempted from her duties as mother superior on account of poor health. Mother Marie Magdalene Alpaugh was elected to replace our dear Mother Josephine in the spring of 1882. She remained in of¤ce until after the death of our dear old Mother Josephine, which occurred on May 20, 1885.

PART THREE

MOTHER MARIE MAGDALENE ALPAUGH

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56

CHRONOLOGY 1849 1860 1866 1867 1868 1879 1882

1884 1885 1886 1887 1890

Marie Magdalene Alpaugh born in Pointe Coupée, Louisiana. Begins her schooling as a student of the Sisters of the Holy Family. Enters the community as a postulant on October 24. Enters the novitiate August 15, 1867. Professes her vows on February 2. Named assistant to Mother Josephine Charles. Elected to succeed Mother Josephine Charles as mother superior, September 26. Fr. LeCozic resigns as archdiocesan chancellor and the community’s ecclesiastical superior. Fr. L. A. Chassé succeeds him. Fr. Ph. DeCarriere succeeds Fr. Dufour as the community’s confessor and spiritual director. Elected mother superior for the second time, July 30. Community opens St. Augustine’s Convent and school in Donaldsonville. Community revises and approves its rule of life. It is approved by the Church. Mother Marie Magdalene dies on November 9.

57 PART THREE

WHEN Sister Marie Magdalene Alpaugh became the community’s fourth mother superior in 1882, she was its ¤rst to stand for formal election. The previous superiors—Henriette, Juliette, and Josephine—had assumed their positions of leadership, one by one, as the community’s foundresses. But since by 1882 the foundresses were either deceased or no longer capable of administering the ever-expanding community, a formal election process was put into place that continues today. It appears that Marie Magdalene was an excellent choice to span the transition from the older form of leadership, put into place piecemeal by the foundresses, to the newer, more organized form of governance preferred by the later sisters. Marie Magdalene had come to know the sisters in her early years, when she was educated by them at St. Mary’s School.1 If she had begun her schooling at the traditional age of ten, in 1859, all the foundresses would still have been living. In a photograph taken at her con¤rmation, she appears to be about twelve. In 1866, just three years after she was con¤rmed and when she was ¤fteen years old, Marie Magdalene entered the community as a postulant. It seems clear that the sisters’ in®uence upon her was profound. Deggs tells us that she had waited for more than three years before Rousselon’s death in 1866 to obtain a habit. That suggests that she had begun some form of duties within the community when she was only twelve years old and too young to enter. That pattern of more promising school girls working closely with the religious order within which they were educated was not unusual. Students would aid teachers, sew, care for the elderly, or perform countless other tasks relegated to them.2 Two years after Marie Magdalene entered the community, she professed her vows, on February 2, 1868. Then, a mere nine years later, in 1879, she was named assistant to Mother Superior Josephine Charles. In those nine years she worked closely with Mother Josephine, learning the skills necessary to lead the community. When Mother Josephine’s health forced her to retire, Marie Magdalene was best suited to take over her leadership role. And evidently she was successful; she was elected to a second term on July 30, 1885. It was under the guidance of Marie Magdalene that the formal rule of the community was ¤nally recognized by the Church. The years that passed between Marie Magdalene’s entrance into the community and her election as its superior were exceedingly dif¤cult ones for New Orleans’ people of African descent. Between 1868, when she professed her vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and 1882,

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when she assumed her role of leadership in the community, black people in New Orleans struggled for political power. The struggle that transpired was not fundamentally different from that in the rest of the South, but according to John Blassingame, who writes of New Orleans between 1860 and 1880, New Orleans was distinctive in the ferocity of its campaign to obtain the franchise. According to Blassingame, New Orleans’ blacks castigated Lincoln for attempting to reconstruct the state on the basis of white manhood suffrage; they called upon whites to live up to the lofty principles of the Declaration of Independence; and they constantly reiterated their right to vote because of the treaty ceding Louisiana to the United States; their roles in the War of 1812 and the Civil War; and their wealth and literacy.3 In fact, in July 1866, while Marie Magdalene was still a student at St. Mary’s Academy, a coalition of white radicals and blacks holding a convention in order to advance their cause appeared so threatening to local police that the police rioted and killed dozens of them.4 Yet, despite terrorism and overwhelming odds, blacks in Louisiana did obtain the right to vote in 1868, and they subsequently elected a number of of¤cials to governing positions. Blassingame writes that most of the black elected of¤cials in New Orleans were of the same class and condition as the women who founded the Sisters of the Holy Family: native-born, of free ancestry, young, and literate. He adds that the men were also “property-holding veterans of the Civil War who had played a leading role in the state civil rights organizations and in the Republican party before 1867.”5 Even though, as Blassingame and others have pointed out, free blacks in New Orleans never gained more than a semblance of political power, they progressed socially and economically. In what might seem like minimalist liberties to us but would have been fundamental to the identities of freed slaves as free people, blacks were able to assert their independence in numerous ways. They could walk about without passes, they could assemble, they could attend church, baptize their children, and even marry if they so chose. More evident freedoms included their abilities to assemble families, with assurance that they would not be sundered by the whim of a master or mistress. Freed slaves and their descendants could also purchase property, pass property to their heirs, and sue in court. Freed blacks needed no one’s permission to de¤ne their families and their work days. They needed no one’s permission to pro¤t from their own labor. Yet, economic success was even more evident in that part of the population that had been freed before the war. These people of color had business experience and property, which often included ¤nancial re-

59

—Eds.

MOTHER MARIE MAGDALENE Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene was, one might say, the hero of the Holy Family. She was the last one who entered in the time of dear old Father Etienne Rousselon, our founder and devoted father who died on his way home from France in the city of New York in 1866. His death was a great loss to our dear sisters and to the Church. From the time Mother Magdalene entered our dear community, everyone knew that God had called her for some great end. If she had not been called when she was young, she might have become vain or independent and lost her love of God and her holy vocation by pure disgust of things that do not belong to the holy state. By those means, she might have returned to the world and become a subject of scandal for the whole city where they have lived and been so often seen. Only to think how dear old father Rousselon had wished to see that ¤ne young lady, Miss Marie Magdalene Alpaugh, dressed in the habit of

PART THREE

sources with which they could and did expand their business enterprises begun before the war. Free people of color found a growing new market in the freed slaves who suddenly had some economic independence. The turbulent times that freed people and formerly free people faced after the war, however, did not always draw them together in racial unity. As Arnold Hirsch and Joseph Logsden point out in Creole New Orleans, the immigration that eventually overwhelmed New Orleans Creoles and the devastation of the Civil War and its aftermath “¤nally assured the disappearance of the city’s traditional, if unorthodox racial order.” They explain that as people of African descent were divided during the antebellum period “by color, culture, law, occupation, and neighborhood,” they faced reconstruction with their own distinctive histories yet with the dawning of shared racial concerns. It was only then that their shared racial concerns became imperative. Hirsch and Logsden rightly point out that regardless of their backgrounds or their differences, New Orleans blacks’ role as a single group was inescapable.6 The rhythms of the city’s racial heritage, the imposed divisiveness of its population of African descent, and the shifts in consciousness after the war are evident in the pages of this journal. While the prewar Sisters of the Holy Family were obviously concerned with attitudes of color, condition, and class, they were able to bring freed slave women and children more fully into their fold after the war.

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the Holy Family, for she was truly worthy of it. She had waited for more than three years to see what we all had wished to see at our good father’s return, namely, the new habit that he was bringing for our dear little community from France. But I think that God’s will was better than it seemed, for some jealous hand did away with our habit. But the hand of God is stronger than that of man, for He gave us a habit much more beautiful than the one our dear father was bringing from France. So you see that those who have Almighty God on their side are much richer than those who have man on their side. Yes, that dear soul, Father Rousselon, had worked well for his poor little sisters in the world and God wished that he receive a better reward than that which man was able to give him.7 When Mother Josephine was compelled by poor health to resign her superiorship to our dear Mother Marie Magdalene, she knew that her intentions would always be observed by her purest dear child. She was not in the least disturbed because she had taught Mother Marie Magdalene to make the sign of the cross when she was enrolled for ¤rst communion. She protected her when she was obliged to run away and come to the Holy Family when she wanted to become one of its members. Mother Josephine prevented her mother’s taking her back to the country where she would have never returned to the city of New Orleans to become a sister of the Holy Family. Our dear mothers Josephine and Juliette prevented Marie Magdalene’s mother from forcing her to return home. But her mother was not as wise as an old aunt with whom she had lived for some years and who wanted to engage her to some rich old man who would have never regarded her soul. The night she was missing, they did not suspect her of coming to the convent to become a nun. Had they, at that time, had the least idea of her coming to our house, they might have come with an of¤cer and taken her back that same night. But she had never revealed her intentions to anyone but to Rev. Mother Juliette and to Sister Josephine, as she was afraid that her intentions would be suspected. She also knew that she might give our sisters some trouble and she would lose all chances with them after that. So when her old aunt found that she was gone, she only suspected Marie Magdalene of going to the Convent of Mercy where she had a sister on her father’s side.8 This sister had detected a vocation during Marie Magdalene’s childhood and had brought her to New Orleans to make her ¤rst communion. In this way, she might have an opportunity of becoming a sister, as there was no place up in Pointe Coupée nor any other place where they believed she could enter. Their dear father had died during the Civil War. He might have taken her to the city of New York and passed her for a

61 PART THREE

German girl as she was of a blonde complexion with light hair. She was also rather stunted and had a broad, fat face as we have often seen among German girls in this country. She had a very grave and quiet nature. She never had much to say to strangers. She was quite timid and spoke only the French language well. One of her greatest desires was to learn English. However, she was afraid of saying something that she might regret, so she would say only a few words that she knew were right. When she was sent to the second branch house in Opelousas, she was with a local superior who was very hard and dif¤cult to please. The local superior, to spite Sister Marie Magdalene, made her lecture in English. She was thus obliged to teach herself to read English, so she learned to use it with as much ease as she did her own language. Within two years and a half, she was able to write a very nice letter and to read almost as well as anyone who had learned English in their childhood. When she received letters, she was able to read them as well as anyone who had received much more instruction than she had. Up until her death, she did almost all of her own business in English and was also very prompt. When dear Mother Marie Magdalene became superior in 1882, how poor we were! The only hope we had was to eat our bread earned by the sweat of our brow. We had no hope of getting money from anyone except by the work of our own two hands.9 We prayed with great fervor that heaven would smile with mercy on God’s poor to whom He had promised to send His help if they would put their trust in His word. He says that the birds do not work and they have food.10 When Mother Marie Magdalene was ¤rst elected, she was somewhat troubled to know what she should do as she had never had charge of the community before.11 That was about the time that our good and holy Father M. H. LeCozic was leaving for his own country on March 2, 1883. We never expected to see him any more in this life. His health had failed so rapidly all at once. He himself had but a little hope of ever returning to Louisiana again. At that time, she was much pained to see that she had an $18,000 debt hanging over her. Our dollars were heavily invested. Our community, like so many churches and convents, was deeply mortgaged. We knew that our creditor was a man who would not play games with us if we did not get the money to meet the principal payments by the time they were due, or very soon afterwards. We knew that we might lose all that we had accumulated for so many years when times were so much better. Mother Marie Magdalene sat with many tears while she prayed and begged God to bless our dear sisters in their works and collections so we could meet our next payments. She was the one who had always succeeded in everything that she had ever under-

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taken. So with the same con¤dence in our dear Lord, she renewed her courage and began to make some fancy work, some of which she sent to the country to be sold. In that way, she saved some money and lived on a small scale. By doing that, she got a part of the capital or the interest. When she found that she was in any way short, she would have some sort of an entertainment so as to realize an amount that would much relieve her in her little troubles. Things might have been much worse had she not been a skillful woman who was always trying to do what she could to relieve our dear little community of its mortgage. She also worked to rid us of the drawback by which we might have lost our home later when we could not redeem it for all of her sisters who had worked so hard to have a home in years to come. Even though we had paid the better part of the debt, we would have lost all at the time that we had most needed it. That would also have perhaps been the means of others losing their vocations later and who knows how many might have lost their souls one day when they would have been discouraged and done what they would have never done otherwise. This might have harmed many a dear and holy soul who had given themselves to God and to the Church to work for the good of those that were not able to do for themselves. Our dear mother’s greatest delight was to train her young sisters so they might one day complete the good work that she had commenced for the glory of our dear Lord. They left all that they might be able to do something pleasing to Him who had given them all that they have and that they also might one day return something to help others after the noble example of Christ, our noble and loving master, who said, “if you love me, keep my laws that every one may know that you are children of the same father.”12 Poor dear Mother Marie Magdalene had been in our dear community from 1862 to 1882 when she was made the mother superior.13 I assure you that it was no little thing for her to accept the position at that time when we owed $15,000 or $20,000 on our motherhouse on Orleans Street. We knew we might lose what we had worked for so many years. We wanted a home for our dear little community where we would not have to live like a lot of ducks in a cage. We needed a house where we could have fresh air and not want for freedom or the other necessities of life. And we did ¤nd the amount, for we do not owe a cent on the house, but we do owe for other things. But unfortunately our dear Mother Marie Magdalene died before the payment on the house was completed. She had hoped that it would be completed before her death. When her successor, Rev. Mother M. Cecilia Capla, was elected, she found some

63 PART THREE

little bills here and there but none of any great amount, for the greatest debt was that of our motherhouse. Very few ever thought that the debt would ever be liquidated. Many were waiting to see our house sold, but our dear Lord was too good to let so many souls as ours go, but we did not have a nickel to pay. Almighty God touched the heart of a noble and charitable person, Mr. Hickey, who well understood our desperate condition. He wrote many kind and touching letters to his rich friends in our favor. We have two or three such friends who are still living and have the same respect for us as they did then. How could heaven refuse to bless a soul who forgets himself for the welfare of his fellow man? The vain ones of this world scorn the poor and abandoned. They cannot understand God’s love of His poor who are despised like He was on earth. Their vanity blinds them to charity toward all on earth. But still they expect to share a part of God’s blessings in heaven after death while others await the crown of justice that they have earned. In June of 1890 we paid $8,000 on our debt. On December 10, 1891, the lots had been paid for. By August 24, 1891, we had built the orphan girls’ home and had moved in the sixty-seven orphans who had formerly lived at the old house on Tonti Street. With the grace of God we are living like Christians in the Catholic Church in our own country where we can pray and worship our Maker and teach others to do the same. Before we bought it, the building was truly a place of sin and bad example. It was time to put an end to so much sin and displeasure toward our dear Lord who had been insulted so long and so willfully without fear of being struck by His all-powerful hand. God made man to glorify Him in this world. But what gratitude can be expected by one who has drawn his neighbors into the last degrees of sin and degradation? The holy house of God was just the same to them as if it were a place of disorder. God is the master of life and made the world and all that is in it.14 So one can see how God permits things in the world to bring sinners to a sense of their duties after they have left their church and become cold and forgetful of their Maker and are drawing others down the path of ruin without a fear of God’s furor. If anyone has earned a crown of justice, it ought to have been our dear Mother Marie Magdalene. She had to combat not only for our sisters but also for many of God’s poor who needed the protection of someone who, for the love of God, would forget themselves that others might know and love God. Only to think what trouble we must take to be sure that souls choose the right path rather than the wicked one and that they prefer good to bad which in turn would lead them into darkness.

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Many times did our mother go to her bed heartbroken when she knew that there was a church in the country whose pastor was too poor to remain there and those poor families too poor to give him what he needed to live.15 When this happened, the poor children had no one to instruct them in the faith. But it was not in Mother Marie Magdalene’s power to send anyone to that place to teach them. It troubled her that they might die without instruction. One of her greatest pains was when she saw a sister who she thought had little compassion for the poor or seemed to be indifferent to the sad state of the suffering of the poor. Often in the winter when the weather was very cold, she would steal her own clothing and slip it to some poor child who had none to put on or whose clothing was too light for the weather or whose shoes were torn. When we saw Mother Marie Magdalene going around on a cold day looking at the children, we all knew that a jacket would be missing before night. If there was a poor child without strong and thick shoes, you might well look for your good shoes that night, for she would never send a poor girl home on a wet day without strong and whole shoes. She would many times say that what was given to God’s poor today would be returned tomorrow. She would feel shame when one of her sisters’ hearts was so small as to regret giving anything to the poor. Many times, after she had been without money for two or three days, she preferred to give the ¤rst dollar she received to a poor person to get something for their little children rather than use it to get what we needed for our house. Many a week passed when our sisters wanted some little thing and were waiting for the ¤rst dollar, but she said that we were God’s servants, hired to wait on the poor. She said that if we did not do what He wished, we would be dismissed and another would take our crown in heaven when our dear Lord saw that we had not ful¤lled our duty. Almighty God wants us to forget ourselves for others so that we may be happy with Him in the next world. To get our crown, we must give ourselves a little pain to save our own souls and the souls of our friends. If not, we will have no share in His glory. All who wish to be happy must deny themselves for the love of others. When we do not try to save others, we do not do our duty as religious. That was what dear mother used to say, and her last and dying words to her sisters were, “Charity, charity to all and always.” She had worked more than any superior who came after her, but she was never more happy than while she was superior. It was not because she did not suffer, for suffering was her daily bread after she had become our superior. There were some who thought that she was too young to conduct our community. Because of their criticism, the

65 PART THREE

daily troubles were as much as she could contend with. Others said that they had worked so much longer than she had and it was not right that she should be superior over them. They wanted her to have something to do, but not anything as important as mother superior. They thought it was well enough to make her the mistress of novices, but not mother general of the whole community. They thought that was too soon. Only to think that for six long years she had to contend with complaints against her, for some wanted to be in her place. Many times, there were troubles that might have been avoided if the complaints had not existed. But she bore it all with so much resignation that it was really edifying to all of her sisters who knew what she had to contend with. After all, she came out with the best part. She died in our dear community and, hey, where are some of them? One might say, “doing their own will.” Some who left tried to get back into the community, but they did not succeed. It was they themselves who chose to go, and tried to found a community themselves. But they came out like the bad angels did when they fell from heaven. They saw that they did not come out like unto God, and that their hopes were vain and that the Holy Family was, with the grace of God, like the rock on which St. Peter built the Church of Christ, and that the gates of hell could not prevail against the Holy Family. When we ¤rst moved into this house, we had many annoyances for some time. In the beginning, there was a band of loafers who wanted to frighten us away, but they did not succeed. Afterwards, they regretted their actions when they saw that it was of no use to attempt a thing like that. Since we had the blessed sacrament in our house, nothing they could do would make us abandon our dear Lord. Where would we have gone if we had left our dear Lord and run away? Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene had a great many crosses but never gave up because of them. She knew that God would not give us any more than we were able to bear. If we were faithful until the end, He would crown us with a crown of His glory that would never rust. Our dear and loving Mother Marie Magdalene was faithful until the end. We have a right to believe that she has the crown of glory that she had so long and faithfully worked for in this world. We knew her well and have a right to think that she is worthy of it, as she gave all of her young days to God’s glory in His holy house. She entered there at the age of seventeen and remained until her death in 1890, which was her forty-¤rst year of age and her twenty-fourth year in the house of God where she had many crosses and carried them well with the grace of God. One would be surprised to know what she had passed through. There

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was an $18,000 overhead on the house and no money to pay the ¤rst payment. There were so many who said, “what was she thinking about when she bought that house? They will never be able to pay for a house like that.” But God was pleased with her good desires and gave her the grace to pay for it when many had said that she had no judgment to put the community in such great trouble when times were as hard as they are now. It is true that we had very poor hope of getting that amount of money. Just at that time, we had lost many dear old friends to death and our dear old director, Father Gilbert Raymond, who had been given to us by our dear Father Founder, had been, as we might say, banished by the bad feeling of the archbishop and the clergy of New Orleans for reporting the conditions of the diocese. Father Raymond was very kind to our sisters and in many things he even indulged them. Our dear founder, Etienne Rousselon, was also indulgent, but never wanted our sisters to go too far from home.16 When dear Mother Marie Magdalene became our mother superior in 1882, we were in the hands of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus.17 They were just as kind as they could be and obtained for us a great many graces we never had before. But we had much to contend with on the part of the fathers of St. Louis Cathedral in which we lived. After a time we had no trouble, for they became more reasonable. Now, with the grace of God, everyone in the whole state is well pleased with our poor little community and everyone is willing to do anything for the welfare of our works in both the city and the country. Others have seen the value of our labors and approve of them. There are but a very few who have not asked for us to teach their schools, both in this state and out of it. As soon as we ¤ll one demand, another is ready. If dear mother had listened to them, our school in the motherhouse would be empty more than half of the time and our vacations would be spent teaching some school in the country until our schools opened again. But our sisters need some rest for a few weeks until the weather gets cooler and agreeable, for it is very hard on teachers when the hot days come in the spring of the year.18 When dear mother had no sisters to teach in the country, she sent some of our young ladies who had been instructed in our schools. They knew our methods and conducted themselves as they should when they were on their way home to their parents when school was over and after they had stayed to prepare their students for their communion. We had a young ladies’ school and boarding academy in our convent in New Orleans, so when Mr. Faranta opened a circus next door it became a source of displeasure to us. Those men were in hopes that they would

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make us shut up and go away. But we prayed, and they themselves were obliged to leave. And we are still in our same place, with the grace of God. We praise Him who made all things by His word and can do all things without man’s help. One day, Faranta came to ask permission of dear Mother Marie Magdalene to use a few feet of our property to keep his horses for few days until he could ¤nd a place to take them. He said that he would pay. And behold the next day, when Mother Marie Magdalene looked out, what did she see to her surprise and that of the whole neighborhood but a tent. And what did Faranta say but that Rev. Mother Marie Magdalene had give him permission to pitch his tent on the adjoining lot and our land. He did not say that he had taken the advantage of our dear mother who believed that everybody told the truth. He and the landlady had made a plot to deceive poor mother who knew not what tricks one could play on another in this wicked world. He had leased the lots for three years from his landlady, but tricked Mother Marie Magdalene in letting him use twelve feet of our land without ever paying us a dollar for it. The only pay we received was some fruit and a few barrels of rancid nuts. There was a time when dear Mother Marie Magdalene was much annoyed by Faranta and his noises, both night and day. The worst was that he wanted to force us to shut up our windows so that he might have a better chance to conduct all kinds of wicked and vulgar plays. There was a time one summer when one of the holiest in the Society of Jesuits was giving us our annual retreat. Every time the father came into the chapel, made the sign of the cross, and began to preach, it seemed that the old man himself, Faranta, had been waiting to see who would appear so he could make his noises. It was that way until the ¤rst of the year, 1889, when the whole place was burnt down. After that, he tried his ®ying horses and sank so much money into it that he had to give it up. After that, he tried an Indian doctor but without any success. Then he had a tower built for Peynaud to dive from, but the result was that the poor man dived his last dive on the ¤rst Friday of Advent when our holy mother, the Catholic Church, forbids any playing of sports until after the feast of Christmas. Only to think of the many weeks that he used our lots and the damage that he did when he joined his gutters to our house. A whole year passed and we knew nothing about the leaks on the side of our building until they had nearly ruined the whole place with the rusty water from the old rain gutters. So much rain fell in torrents during the winter that dampness had penetrated the walls on the north side of the immense brick convent. The whole interior had become brown from the steady winter

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and spring rains which we usually have in this climate. His roof was so much higher and inclined toward ours. Faranta was so cunning that he had his gutter turned to prevent his banquette from being damp and thus unhealthy for his audiences. Many of them were young men who mostly stayed on the banquette to smoke and chew before or after the performance and during the sometimes very long intermissions. He was under the impression that we were a set of poor women who knew not the laws of the country and that he could do what he pleased with us and that there would be no danger of anyone instituting a suit against him. So he was just a-going it with the Sisters of the Holy Family until one day he came in contact with Mother Marie Magdalene whom he called “that ¤ne and noble woman.” She surprised him so much that he began to smell a rat and thought that it was not so wholesome that time. So the gentleman found it better to have a little more respect for our sisters and their property than he had before. That did away with many impositions that we suffered from him. He would have done us in, if it had been possible for him to ¤nd lots to purchase near the convent. But we had stopped his imposing on us and his unjust use of our land. It did not matter whether it was his fault or not, as long as he knew that it was our land. We were poor and stood in need of every dime that belonged to us at that time, especially since we had a debt of $19,000 or $20,000 on our heads and knew not where to get a dollar of it. Even then, people did not stop attending mass, for the temptation to hear the music was too great for them not go in there. What awful expressions one was obliged to hear at all times from the very roughest and most inhuman men he brought with him when he came. But he was much changed after a few years. He became very select later and was very hard to please. However, during all of that time, we were exposed to bad language that was very unbecoming to our girls. At any time, night or day, we might hear them swearing. Our banquette was always ¤lled with the lowest class of men and boys. They spit awfully around our front door from morning until night. Who could have a moment’s rest from their ugly and vulgar language? Our street became the ¤lthiest street in the city, for they ate peanuts and left the shells on the banquette as well as orange peels and all kinds of other things. On bright Sundays during the winter, Faranta had all of his old dirty carts where he kept his dogs and tigers on the banquette right in front of our house. Everyone who passed our house and saw the carts as much as said, “You are very green to allow such ¤lth on your front banquette and not have it moved.” Until at last one of our sisters who came from the same state as Faranta remarked to him that he had no right to leave

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his wagon on our banquette, and so it was Yankee to Yankee. On that Sunday, just at the hour that his performance had begun and his house and sidewalk was full of people waiting, she told him, “You will please be so kind as to remove your old cages from the front of our property or we will institute a suit against you for intruding on us.” He saw that she was not green for she was a New York lady19 and it would not do for him to play games with her. She was a ¤ne businesswoman, a woman who had kept books in one of the most important of¤ces in New York City. He knew well that the court, if it wished, could make him pay a ¤ne and bind him over to the justice of the peace. So he sent the men, even though it was Sunday, to move the carts from our door and put them on his side. But if our dear sister had not spoken about them, they would have remained for the winter in that same place. That was not the only time he treated us this way. But it was time to put a stop to it before he had gone too far. As long as he had no one to stop him, he would continue to intrude on us, as he thought we were a lot of stupid women who were not aware that we were being imposed on. But they were much mistaken for we knew that it was not right but did not want to disgrace ourselves with such a class of men as they were. Nor did we wish to return evil to the wicked who knew not what they were doing. We took these words of our dear Lord on the cross: “Pardon them for they know not what they do.”20 We tried to do the same as our Lord, but it was especially hard for us during midsummer when the weather was so warm and the stench of the bird cages was so strong that we could not stand it. They were right under our side windows that opened into the chapel, and to keep the windows closed would have made the chapel too dark. To see the spit and the trash on the banquette every day was enough to make one disgusted with life and feel like going to the end of the world to stay. We were obliged to contend with all of this from 1882 until 1889 when the whole place was destroyed by ¤re. Even then, Faranta would have reestablished his wicked work had he been more successful, but I suppose that God was displeased with his bad example. God permitted the ¤re to do away with them for they had given so much scandal in this parish and had drawn so many young souls astray. They broke so many poor mothers’ hearts when they saw their dear sons and daughters going to destruction. We saw so many other disorders that were caused by his wicked amusement. Many said these things caused no harm, that they were simple pastimes for young people in the evenings when their work was completed. They had no other place they could go to pass the time in the spring or

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fall of the year, after or before the season for the winter amusements had become memory. Those amusements plunged many a poor girl and boy into ruin for life and they never saw it until it was too late. There were two or three nice girls who ran away from their mothers and homes to follow Faranta’s stage troupe to ruin. Faranta will one day be obliged to give an account before the justices of God who says, “Woe to those who give scandal to the little ones. It is better to tie a millstone around one’s neck and throw oneself into the river and drown.”21 Once the young people saw what he was doing, they very soon began to open their eyes and stop following his wicked intentions. We prayed so hard that they would have no more chances to commit sin. Every day for more than two years, we sprinkled the whole ground with holy water of St. Ignatius. We soon washed him out of not only the lots, but also out of the city and state. Just to think that we had to put up with him from 1882 until 1889 when the ¤re chased him out of there. One day, there was a ¤re alarm in this ward and everybody ran to see where it was. It was in Faranta’s circus. Two or three were killed and six or eight wounded. They and their families were looking at the performance when the ¤re broke out and did not think it was in there until they saw ¤remen enter into the tent. Then some of them tried to climb over our wall, but they could not get out and were crushed. Some were taken to the hospital where they remained for ten or ¤fteen days until they were able to go home again. The burning of Faranta’s Iron Theater took place on March 7, 1889, at 5 a.m., just as we were making our morning prayers.22 Mother Mary Austin Jones had been elected to the post of mother superior a short time previous. We made a very near escape, for the iron shutters were red hot in the chapel before any one had perceived it. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene ran to rescue those who were dispensed from rising with the bell.23 When she saw that no one had told the priest from the cathedral nor had a priest from any other church come to take the blessed sacrament, she was obliged to do as St. Clare did.24 She took the white satin benediction veil and candle and took the blessed sacrament to the church which was only across the street from our convent. She was about twenty yards from the church when she met Rev. M. Palmer25 coming to take the blessed sacrament from the altar. But the roof had fallen on the altar and it was ablaze. The only things that remained among the debris were the pink satin curtains that were found after the bricks and the lime had been thrown aside by the builder’s workmen when they were about to repair the convent. Mr. Bill remarked that there had been a miracle in

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this house, for the picture of St. John Berchmans was so strangely found in two or three different places and no one can understand how it came there nor did any one touch it. Some other things were just as strange. Someone found the curtain of the tabernacle in all of the lime and brick perfectly fresh and dry and then took it up to the Church of St. Alphonsus to let the fathers see how clean and unsullied it was. They touched many sick persons with it. They said that it made the sick much better and they are still alive and are said to work as well as they did before. Our dear mother said that it might have been the imagination of those who found it. She did not pursue the matter, but let it drop as we had moved to the convent that was completed on Esplanade and Rampart Street.26 Faranta was suspected by many of putting a match to the theater himself to avoid failing and losing all that he had made from it. But we much bene¤tted by getting rid of his wicked set that had been an obstacle to our classes in many ways. Whether Faranta had any bad feelings toward our holy faith or not we cannot say. We only know that he was the cause of many a one missing holy mass on Sunday. By those means, one could say that he was culpable of sin according to the commandments. Our dear and holy mother, the Catholic Church, the Faith of Christ, the true faith, tells us to hear mass on Sunday and all days of obligation. We believe that when we miss mass on the six holy days of obligation of our holy faith we are guilty of mortal sin. If we, by our bad example, prevent others from hearing their mass, we know the consequences. And that was just what Faranta did, for every Sunday he had the whole city ®ocking to his matinee. We are told that since his mother was a very holy Catholic, he had not taken his father’s name but rather an arti¤cial one so as not to disgrace his family by being an actor in a circus and playing all day Sunday. He did not want to break his mother’s heart as she had so often said to him that he had disgraced his whole family by doing what he did. She had looked forward to a more honorable future for her son than that which he had chosen. He often told our dear Mother Marie Magdalene, when she scolded him about being so wicked, “Now, mother, you are telling me the very same thing that my dear mother used to tell me. What she told me would always come to pass. Every time I have bad luck since I left my dear mother, I remember all of her words to me and weep and feel sad about being so bad. I wish for you to pray for me that I may become a good man and stop displeasing God in all the ways that He forbids in the ten commandments of God.” But that was only from the lips; Faranta was the same wicked man when he went out West in the year

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1890 and that was the last time we saw him. Faranta had no God but his money. After the ¤re, he did not want to lose any time, so he forced poor J. B. Peynaud to dive the last time on Friday night in the ¤rst week of Advent.27 Peynaud broke his back and died the Sunday after that. Since mothers Marie Magdalene and Austin assisted him in his dying moments, they could speak without doubt to his contrition. He had a Bible and a scapular on his heart when he died; our dear mother had brought them to him earlier that day. Before death ¤nally struck him, he had been waiting so long for our sisters. They had not arrived, so he said to his wife, “give me my cruci¤x until the sisters come with the priest.” But the poor man died before the priest came, for the person who went for the priest neither waited nor left the address. When the priest came down, he did not know where the dying man was, so he went back to bed. When he was called the second time, he went but the man had just expired with a perfect contrition. The same priest loaned the wife his tam and buried him from the St. Louis Cathedral on the Monday after his death. What was his wife to do to get back home to her country? She would have had to beg her way to New York had it not have been for the priests and the French Club. Mrs. J. B. Peynaud did not seem to have too much money, for the French Club was obliged to give an entertainment for her bene¤t. Had they not helped her, she would have had to work her way to her country or remain here until some of her friends could send her money to get back to her mother. A few weeks later, Peynaud’s wife went back to her home in France. She wanted to send for his body after a year, but I do not know whether she did or not. She was a stranger in our city; she only had a few acquaintances and they were in New York. Many feared that she might get in some bad company and be led astray, for she was a very bright young woman. It was not only Faranta who annoyed our dear sisters when they moved to this house. Some of our own people also tried to frighten us by coming at night like robbers. They wanted to make us move out of pure jealousy. They believed they could then do what they pleased in this house—have balls and every other kind of wicked amusement, just for the sake of a few dollars. They did not mind how many souls they drew with them to ruin. It mattered not if they missed mass on Sunday, just so they could ¤ll their pockets with money that had been deadly earned by dancing on Sunday or gambling all night. They did not mind stealing the labor of a poor man who had worked all week for money to support his family who

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needed it. Other loafers at barrooms sapped a poor man’s money before he reached his family and could get bread for them. The next trouble for our dear Mother Marie Magdalene was that the tax had been paid but the clerk had not blotted out the charge in the book. Every year at tax collection time, the tax collector came to our house although we had already paid the tax. They even advertised our property for sale, even though we told them so many times that we had already paid. They wanted to make a few dollars extra and thought that we were a lot of greenhorns. But they did not get it, for we had all our tax receipts, so they did not succeed as they wanted. They lost all of their time running after our money, but failed at their attempt to steal from us. We had been incorporated which stopped the tax robbery that may have otherwise succeeded. If they had succeeded, their success would have tempted them to steal from another just as they had tried to do from us, but as that was a failure, they no doubt became disgusted and did not try again. Our house on Orleans Street had been a den of sin. That was why they wanted to get us out, so that they might still have a place of sinful pleasure and would be more free to go and come if this place was a coffee house with a ballroom in the upper story where they could hold their balls during Lent and Advent. Many would have missed their church duties so as to attend those balls. Then when they would get sick, the priests and the sisters would have to break their necks to ready them to receive the last sacraments after a whole life of mortal sin of all kinds. When we moved into the house on Orleans Street, we had four sisters. Some believed that we had been sent for by a priest to teach. In fact, we were founded in this city to teach the word of God and to prepare the poor who had been abandoned by their fellow men and scorned by the world and its vanity. Perhaps these people felt that they were, in the sight of Almighty God, better than the poor whom God so much loved. They felt free to commit sin to please themselves at all times and would not go to mass on Sunday if we did not push them to go. Our dear mother gave herself to serve our people when she was still quite young. At the age of seventeen, she entered into the Holy Family. She chose Christ, but not without His cross. She was at times a victim, but was never despondent. She often told me this, for we had been the two youngest sisters when we entered, and she was the youngest of all. When I entered the community, Sister Marie Magdalene many times said to me that she and another sister prayed hard to St. Joseph for another sister of their age. They wanted one with whom they would not be

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embarrassed. When they saw that I was about to enter, they said that St. Joseph had answered their prayers.28 That might have been the case, for I was to come in March, but was obliged to wait on account of my father’s objecting to my being a sister. It was only when I had pronounced my vows that he was reconciled and expressed the great pleasure that it gave him to see our dear community. He said that his greatest happiness was to think that I had chosen the state that was the true one and the surest of all toward heaven and pleasing God. There were also many other little crosses and trials. One time, one of our neighbors said that we must not let our schoolchildren make so much noise. Another time, someone chained the pipes of our stove. Another complaint was that our music scholars prevented the neighbors from sleeping in the morning. But since these scholars had paid for their school, we were obliged to continue teaching them. So they made much trouble by their complaints, but we very soon got rid of them and all those who were so jealous of our dear little community and its poor little ones. Another dif¤culty that mother had to contend with was that we had no cistern. Not everyone could drink the muddy river water for it made them sick. We owned a piece of property, but could not build on it as soon as we wished. The times were hard and money was quite scarce, and we, being so very few in number, found it was dif¤cult to dispense with the chores during the school year when the classes were so full of children. It was a very hard thing to let any of the teachers go out of the city even for a few days to collect money. They could go to collect money in the city after school hours and get back home the same day or night. While the days were short, one needed to walk very fast to go far and then to return again. They had to be ready to take their classes when the bell rang. To do that, they would not have time to blow in before night. Mother Marie Magdalene was a woman of excellent judgment and of a pious and prudent nature. She was also of noble sentiments which was just what we needed at that time. In her ¤rst administration, she was nominated as mother superior for three years. Then she was elected for a term of three years longer, which was done with a little dif¤culty, but with success. The dif¤culty was that there was a sister who wanted to be the boss. She had been the assistant at one time, and she wanted to become the mother superior. But there were not many who wanted her for she was only for the world, and dear mother was all for God and His glory. We knew that Mother Marie Magdalene was the one for us, as our dear little community had need of one who would forget herself and be all to all.

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It was what we had prayed for. We all wanted her for the welfare of our dear little community, as she was very grave and motherly to all, which made everyone think that God had chosen her to replace dear Mother Josephine. When Mother Juliette ¤rst saw Sister Marie Magdalene, she said to our dear old Father Founder that she was a good subject and that she would, with the grace of God, do great work for the community one day. And so she did with the greatest success. She worked hard for all and at anything that was assigned to her, from the time that she pronounced her vows and took the holy habit. She was neatness itself. No one could prepare a better dinner than Mother Marie Magdalene. Nor could any hands give up a ¤ner piece of sewing than our dear mother. Nor could anyone wash as nice a dress than what had passed through her hands. She was a soul who loved God with all the powers of her soul and heart, so that it was impossible for God to refuse her any petition. She even would no doubt lose her blood to convert an obstinate sinner. I have seen sinners go to mother when they refused to go to the priests. They never refused to tell our dear mother their troubles or what confused them in any way, for she was so motherly to everyone who was poor and helpless, either from pain or poverty. The modesty of her soul was so striking that most everybody spoke of it. She had taken the deepest interest in our dear little community after her entrance and her vows, but we took even more interest after she became our mother superior. Our dear mother was so very holy that she never allowed anyone to encourage vanity in any person or child. When an event was to take place, she would say to the parents that there must not be any vanity in their children’s clothing. I saw her on one occasion so vexed that she scolded a mother for making her girl’s dress in the latest style with plenty of trimming for her ¤rst communion. It ¤t the child well, but Mother Marie Magdalene said that the child would not be thinking of taking the body of our dear Lord, but rather of her ¤ne clothes. She told the mother that Almighty God would ask her, Mother Marie Magdalene, for the soul of the girl, and that the girl’s vanity would draw the malediction of our Lord on our house. That was the reason she did not want anyone in charge to displease God in any of our houses. She did not place anyone over a house whom she thought would displease God. If anyone working for her would bring anything to our community that she guessed was in any way dishonest, she would not allow us to receive it. She also said that she did not want anyone to bring what they needed themselves to the sisters, for that was stealing from God’s poor when they needed it themselves. She said that it was not right to give it

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to the sisters when there were so many poor little children that would be glad to have a bit of bread to eat and others who had not a grain of sugar to put in their tea. She was always regular in keeping the rules and seeing that everything was done as it should be done. She had perfect order in all things. When things were not orderly, she would withdraw the disorder and throw it away so that the sisters who were disorderly would not be able to keep being disorderly anymore. And she would visit every day to see that the sisters did not impose on one another, as they sometimes do where there are a great many persons in the same house. In that way she preserved a good order in the community. She was always trying to prevent sin in our dear little community, when otherwise there would have been many disorders and imperfections. There was, once in a while, a little disorder among the teachers. But just as soon as Mother Marie Magdalene saw what was going on, she stopped it. She also watched over the students that they might not become entangled with the sisters. There was never a time when Mother Marie Magdalene was in the house that there was any trouble about the rules of the classes. If she knew any teachers who did not do their duty, she recti¤ed it immediately and forbade them to do it again. If they did, they would be punished. All that was done when she thought best. It was by these means that she soon had everything straight. She pretended to be very strict but she was not, for I knew her better than anyone in our community. She would not let on that she cared for me, as she knew that it would cause many to have hard feeling against me. We often ¤nd more or less in religious communities that when there are some who are somewhat more intelligent than others, they are imposed on and scorned. But there was none of that with our dear Mother Marie Magdalene. She was fair to those who were just to the reviled. If anyone was inclined to scorn, she would give them the very worst of¤ce in the house that they might not think themselves any better or smarter than the rest of the sisters. In that way, she would soon correct them of their vain and scornful habits which gave much pain to the sisters and also much bad example to the children who were watching everything and might see or hear something that might disedify them in some way. They might say, “I saw that sister do that, and I cannot see why I cannot do it too.” They also might say, “We are children and never made any vows that prevent us from having our pleasure.” In that way, we were obliged to watch over ourselves so as not to give any occasion of scandal to the children in any way. We feared that such example would allow

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them to speak in the halls or stairs. We only spoke above an ordinary whisper when we were either teaching or correcting the pupils. This was necessary for there was no other place for them to go in the house. The yard was only large enough to hold the children who were at recess. So one can see how our dear and holy mother was prudent and tried to have our dear little community and its members progress as they should. She was too fatigued of doing anything she thought would affect us adversely in any way. As far as the chapel was concerned, nothing could be too ¤ne or too rich. She had a very rare and uncommon taste for a person who had not traveled. When she had a say in anything, one might be sure that it was perfect and well done, or she would have nothing to do with it. She was one who was much opposed to any work being badly done. No matter what it was or who it was for, it must be well ¤nished. She said that all work that was done for God ought to be done with perfection as we await our reward in heaven. We should also do our work well for the love of God and the salvation of souls as that was why God called us to our state of life. Our actions should be more perfect than those of others in the world who do not make any pretense of loving God as we do. We are also under vows to that effect and we must not fail to do any act of charity toward our neighbor, whether he is rich or poor, high or low. On the contrary, when a person does an act of charity, it is more pleasing to God when they do it with the right spirit. God is far more pleased with charity toward the poor than with a hundred pounds of gold given for the bene¤t of the Church. The Church has no need of eating, but the poor have much need of care when they are sick and helpless, when they are unable to do for themselves. That was one of our dear mother’s principal virtues; namely, that the sisters would have charity both for sisters and for their friends, for it is true charity that draws the blessings of heaven on all our works. We have much need of charity in all things that we do for God and our neighbor who need charity more than we do ourselves. A rich man has no need of help, but God’s poor have. Almighty God will not reward persons who prefer doing for those who are well and can do for themselves, but not for the lame, blind, and sick who are abandoned by others either from scorn or any other bad feeling. When our good mother was asked to see anyone, she would ask if they were plain and poor. If we said, “no,” she would say, “Well, they have no need of me, and I cannot waste my time with them, for our dear and holy state calls us to aid only those who cannot help themselves, either for the want of

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strength or poverty. By these means, we sanctify our own souls. God is pleased with souls who forget themselves for His holy love and protect those who have more need than they do.” There are three things which our mother strictly recommended in her last moments. First, we should do all we can to comfort those who need comforting more than ourselves. When we do, we can be assured that our Lord will be pleased with those of us in that holy state who had tried to follow his footsteps. Second, those who deny themselves in any way those things they might give to the poor will be rewarded in the next world as He has promised. Our dear mother often said to us, “Try and console the poor in every way that we can so as to merit our eternal crown in the world to come and to draw the benediction of God on our dear little community.” Third, she told us to bring to God the souls who had gone astray from the right and true path of Christ, our dear model and our hope in life. That is one of the best means of pleasing God and meriting the crown of eternal glory in heaven. In our dear mother’s last moments, she saw so many of the most beautiful visions and called other sisters to see them also. She was so resigned to the will of God and, with the greatest and most calm and loving manner, she exhorted the sisters to have plenty of charity. Mother Marie Magdalene always begged her sisters to keep in mind that all who do not have true charity do not have the love of God. They are in danger of losing their vocation and their merit in the sight of God who is all love itself. God prefers one who loves his neighbor rather than one who only loves Him. His commandment is to love one’s neighbor as oneself for the love of our Lord. God also says that we are His by the love that we have for our neighbor whom we must love like ourselves. Our dear mother had much to suffer. Although she was as kind as she could be, she had many who were jealous of her. She shed many sad tears unnecessarily for she was meek and innocent when she entered, but she had her lovely and holy disposition soon spoiled. A malicious sister who hated her for the love she had for God did all that she could to disgust Mother Marie Magdalene against her holy vocation. When the malicious sister could not succeed, she began to push other sisters and tried to have them to complain to their director with the intention of getting Mother Marie Magdalene out of the position. But she failed to remove our dear mother. She wished to make the sisters think that Mother Marie Magdalene was scornful and did not like them. She wanted the sisters to ask for another assistant. Had the sisters not known that sweet and holy soul, they would have done much harm to our dear community. But God loved her pure and innocent heart that had so faithfully served

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Him from her childhood and had suffered for His glory even before her entrance into the religious state of life. She was a perfect model of all virtues, a victim of obedience, both to her inferiors and also to her superiors. She never was ambitious at all and never thought that she had been badly treated, when in fact she was the slave of all in the house. One reason was that she was the youngest of all the sisters. Because of her uncommon disposition, all called on her for everything they wanted. She was the mainstay for all and at all times. Everyone also loved her much, as her manners were rare for one of her condition in the time that she was raised, for there were no ¤ne schools for our children where they could go and receive a free education as they can now.29 Now one only needs books and a bag to attend school. If necessary, one can beg their books as many of them do. Our city is so full of charity that we need only to say that we know a poor child who has no books and we get them without any dif¤culty at all. Some persons many times send poor children shoes when they think that they are without. Our dear mother, if she knew anyone who needed anything either for themselves or their children and if she could not take this from her own clothing, would go to some of her noble-hearted ladies and ask them to give her what was needed. Once, after she became the general of our community, there was a family whose means were too small to meet their expenses. The poor widowed mother of the children was con¤ned to bed with lung trouble, and the only son was away. He was an apprentice and had not the means of doing anything to help them. Dear Mother Marie Magdalene called a few of the sisters. “My dear children, you know that Mrs. G. is sick and her poor children are almost starving. You know that when they were in good circumstances, they never refused to help us. Now that they are in distress it is our duty to help them. I know that we are also poor, but God will help us if we do for the poor who are in need. Now who will be willing to bring them every day some food and anything that they may need until they can ¤nd not only some means of living, but also better health?” We all saw the tears in her eyes. She was a dear, good and compassionate mother to us, so we readily consented to do anything to please her when she requested it. One of our chief purposes is to do for those who are not able to help themselves. This is also one of the best means to draw the benediction of God on our dear little community and to show that we are the true children of our dear Lord. Our dear mother often told us that we are like children of the Holy Family. When she had trouble getting certain members of our community to take a basket and go beg bread for poor old people and orphans,

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she said that she would much rather see us refuse her something than refuse to do it for God’s poor. She said that if we were honored by God, it was not so much because of his love. She said their miseries had pierced His heart so deeply that He has chosen us and sent us to His holy house just as a father would chose a guardian to take charge of his children.30 Dear Mother Marie Magdalene said that many sisters had refused to work for the poor and that God had taken their vocation and sent them back to the world. Many of them had lost their souls for not ful¤lling the duty of their state of life. They will render an account on the last day to the Almighty God for their failure to respond to His graces. The grace that God gives them for their work and salvation can be taken away. He can treat them as He treated Adam and Eve when he turned them out of the Garden of Eden and they had to get their bread by the sweat of their brows unto generations.31 Thus does God treat the bad and proud religious who has refused to beg bread to support His poor after He called them to this holy state of life to keep the poor from wanting bread. Our dear mother many times said, “My children, if I thought I had not responded to God’s call, I would pray that He would withdraw me from this holy state to prevent me from losing my soul. I tremble to think that after having been called by our dear Lord to follow in his footsteps, I would be damned for badly using the grace of my state of life. Many sinners have gone to heaven by making better use of the little grace that Almighty God gave them than we who have been called to a life of perfection in His holy house. I might become one of the greatest saints, and still not completely pro¤t from the grace of God and my vocation.” The thought of not ful¤lling her vocation made dear Mother Marie Magdalene tremble when she saw one of our dear little community who was in any way indifferent to her holy state. So many good souls are deprived of entering a holy state such as ours, either because of their parents’ objections or because they have no means to get their trousseau or dowry. There are also many other obstacles that some could not surmount. Some have no one to advise them about what they should do to enter in a convent where they could better save their souls and shun the dangers of the world of sin and temptation by which so many souls are lost forever. Many are lost by their own fault when they fail to respond to the grace God gives them to work out their salvation. They waste their holy time by waiting for some unnecessary and vain society event; their proud intention is revealed by their love of worldly

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things that would only be a source of disorder in our community and also in others. Our dear mother’s whole mind was ¤xed on her dear sisters. When anyone said or did anything to wound our feelings, she was so sad that she would weep for many days. She said that she knew how hard our poor sisters had to work for the poor. Many who complained against our sisters were persons who had placed some of their elderly family members with our sisters for the sake of charity. They themselves were unwilling to support their poor family members in their bad whims. Our dear mother knew that God would reward her and her dear sisters not only for their care for the poor, but also for the many insults we received from their family or friends who, after we have taken their poor, and done for them, treat us as their blackest enemies. They are the ¤rst to blame us and also to scorn us. When they hear others speak well of us, they try to decry our reputation to them. If others want to do something for us, they are the ¤rst to stop them by saying that we are already too rich. They had better do for some other community than for us. For the love of God, we have often taken one of their poor family members and they are afraid that others will ¤nd out we have their poor living on our charity. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene was a person straight and upright. She never spoke of what the world had to say about her. She said that if she were to wait for the love of the world, she would die for the want of bread. So she was always happy and did not trouble herself about what one or the other had to say or think about her community. She said, “They do not pay the baker for the bread that we eat, nor do they give us the meat that we eat every month nor are they here when the butcher comes with his bill for the meat.” We many times heard parents say that Mother Marie Magdalene is too cross and thinks that everybody ought to be like her. When they want to dress their children in vanity, she would not allow them to do so. They would then take the children away for a short time and then bring them back again to our school. She often said, “Yes, you have taken them and now that they need punishing, you bring them back to corrupt our children.” Their vanity and bad example are worse than pains in the heart of our innocent girls. She refused to receive many of them back after they had been taken from our school and then tried to return. When this happened, she knew that it was not the child’s fault, but the parents needed to see that they were not able to conduct their children as the sisters did. Many only learned this sad lesson by the ugly conduct

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of their girls who often disgraced them after their parents had blamed Mother Marie Magdalene for correcting them for disobedience to their teachers. Such disobedience was the result of the bad advice of their mothers who pampered them too much with the spirit of the world while they were still too young and proud. In this way, the parents ended up by losing the child’s soul and causing them disgust. After the children had given them so much trouble, they saw their wrong and wanted the sisters to make the children good. But it was too late to correct them. The parents’ own hearts were broken and outraged by their children who had no respect. These same parents saw the beautiful conduct of other young ladies whom our dear Mother Marie Magdalene sent out into society after they had completed their studies. They are making their own living in the world and supporting their sick and aged mothers and fathers with the grace of God. They have become the star of their homes and the greatest consolation to the parents in their old days. Many other children have chosen a different state of life by going away to a foreign country. Some of these have become poor and destitute and died. Their poor children did not even have the means to come back to their grandparents and were obliged to go into some poor orphans’ home. Children who were raised with our sisters know right from wrong. They say that Mother Marie Magdalene was the one who converted them and guided their souls to the path of heaven by her good and consoling words. On the other hand, the feelings of our dear mother and the sisters were wounded by sharp words and insults when those same children came to our schools. One may see that our dear mother’s two terms as superior were not easy, either for her or her dear sisters. Certain parents did not meet their dues for many months; they blamed our dear sisters for not protecting their spoiled children enough. Yet when our dear mother presented them with the bills, they would get angry and send them to another school. Then they would not pay that school for a time and when those bills were presented to them, they would send their children back to our school without paying a nickel on their old account. Many children have received a beautiful education even though their parents had little respect for such schooling. Many have never paid their bills. Our dear mother many times told the sisters that she did not wish them to speak of the bills to the children or send them away. She told us to instruct them even if they had not paid their tuition. She said perhaps one day God might give them a vocation. She said they might come to us one day to be a sister and to labor in the vineyard of the Lord where they

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would help souls ¤nd the true way to Christ who has labored for our salvation. Our dear mother during the two terms of her administration did all that she could, both temporally and spiritually, to strictly observe the value of abstinence and holy charity. In doing so, she obtained many victories over the world and its vanity. When she was called by death to her eternal home, she received the reward that was promised by our dear Lord to those who persevered until the end—faithful, loving, and praying, and serving God and loving one’s neighbor and teaching unto justice. Our dear mother wanted to leave our dear community without debt. Six different times, she sent the sisters away to beg, which was a very great sacri¤ce of their time. At one time the Baltimore Council had forbidden anyone to go out of their own diocese to collect money without ¤rst obtaining the permission of the bishop of the place they were to go. Almost everyone had such great objections to it.32 But God loved us so much. When our dear mother had to ask the permission of our dear archbishop, the late Francis Xavier Leray, she was afraid, for he had a very hard reputation.33 But we needed money, and had more fear that our property might be seized and sold for debt and that we would have no way of redeeming it. So after many tears and prayers, our dear af®icted mother decided to go and ask his permission to send two sisters to collect in some other diocese. He easily consented as he knew that we were really in need and saw no other way that we could pay the $18,000.34 Just at that time, Right Rev. Stephen Ryan of Buffalo, New York, and Archbishop William Elder of Cincinnati, Ohio, came to visit their friends in New Orleans. After seeing our great poverty, Archbishop Elder granted us permission to stay ¤fteen days in his diocese. We very quickly accepted. We received a letter of recommendation from the chancellor of New Orleans who was also our ecclesiastical superior in 1885. When our sisters went away to beg, we were afraid that they might be robbed and killed. One time, Mother Marie Magdalene had to wait almost two months before she had any news. When she did ¤nally hear from them, it was only a telegram which caused her more pain. She worried and prayed for three days and lost all hope of seeing them any more in this life. At the close of the third evening, when we had made our prayers to the Holy Face, the bell rang.35 It was the mail that told us in what part of the world the sisters could be found. They had sent mother a check for $900 that we needed so much. Our hearts had been

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almost broken; we had been afraid that we would lose this house and the $14,000 in capital and the interest that had been paid on it. Had we not received the money, we would have suffered a very great loss which at that time might have ruined the whole community, which was just as poor as it could be. With all that our sisters had done, they could not redeem our dear and lovely home which had cost us all of forty-¤ve years of labor and pains in every way, not speaking of the hard times brought on by the late Civil War of 1861, which was concluded in the year 1865 and which demolished the whole country and almost put a stop to the unbounded charity of our noble-hearted Catholic families. Although we are not complaining by any means about their lack of liberality or good will, but about the great reduction of their present circumstances. The country has been so very much changed that those whose means allowed them some one or two dollars to help a poor friend who was in need of it—whether to lend or give them a lift out of their troubles—are today in need of charity themselves. Many previously charitable families in this city are now obliged to call on someone else for a piece of bread to prevent them from starving. Many have lost their homes and cannot get money to pay rent or to support themselves. They would be very glad to get someone to give them enough work that they might earn a small salary to live on. The times are so very hard that they are not able to get by. Many who formerly owned slaves are obliged to take their little children and to go and beg a few nickels for bread. Were it not for the prayers of so many holy communities whose penances are pleasing to the Almighty God, we would starve for the want of bread. But thanks to God, we have so many holy souls in our city whose prayers are so pleasing to heaven that they draw blessings on our country with its many crimes and its jealousy, neighbor against neighbor. Our dear mother often said, “My dear, try always to expiate the sins which are committed every day in this world against our holy faith.” She many times tried to offer some morti¤cation to God that He, in His mercy, might pardon those whose crimes are so displeasing to Him and so dangerous to the little ones. As the Gospel tells us, it would be better for us to have never been born than to have scandalized the innocent.36 God is pleased to raise the little ones who wished to work for His Glory and the good of souls in grandizing the Holy Church of Christ in this world and when it is so much needed. There are very few who think of the salvation of others when they might bring numbers to heaven by their good example and other good works that many think a mere folly. They are too poor in spirit to stop to notice such good works. Mother Marie Magdalene was a holy and noble soul; she could convert

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the hardest sinners when she tried. Her words were so touching that men felt great sorrow for their faults. Often did our dear mother weep over the sins of others and say that she wished she could make our dear little community more holy by her penances. For her daily duties, our dear mother often visited some poor family so as to draw grace on us. In the duties that each one of us had to perform every day, she said that we all had much need of grace when we were occupied and could not pray. When Mother Marie Magdalene was unoccupied and many sisters were in their classrooms and unable to leave them, she would take her basket and make a little visit, either to one of our charitable houses or to some poor person who was in need. She was a mother to both sexes. When anyone came to see her, they went away perfectly consoled. They often sent their friends to mother to tell her their troubles and to get her advice, especially when they intended doing anything that was different. Mother Marie Magdalene herself, before she undertook anything, always had recourse to prayer so as to obtain the graces to accomplish what she needed and also to know the holy will of God. There was a time when dear mother wanted to have our house repaired. But before she began the repairs, she made the whole community pray every day to ask the holy will of God. Just then, though, she had a great trouble and was obliged to defer the repairs for some months. Later, when things were more favorable, she consulted our father director about what was best to do. We thus avoided some little dif¤culty that might have lost us all of the bene¤ts had mother not sounded the thing well in advance. That was what she most always did when there was anything to be done. She did not wish to involve our dear little community in any more debt during her administration. She was always very prudent about the least little thing so as not to have any debts that we could not pay. Never did our dear Mother Marie Magdalene ¤nd herself in any trouble about money that she had borrowed and could not return. We were then very poor, but not in the least troubled about money or any tax collector who might annoy us. Our dear mother was always so very careful to see that every bill was promptly paid. She never left for tomorrow what should have been paid today. If she had been a person who did not pay her debts promptly, our community today would have a great many overbearing mortgages and we would never have been able to raise money in years to come. Only to think of the $20,000 that had been hanging over our heads without us knowing where to get a nickel for the capital or its interest. The times were so very bad that it was a great blessing to ¤nd our bread without

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going into debt. When we needed $60 every day, that was no joke, since our means were so limited. Most everyone had said that we could never be able to meet the ¤rst payment after we exchanged our two lots.37 Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene was a woman of judgment. Otherwise we would never have paid our interest and capital on the mortgage for the motherhouse which was $19,000. This did not include our daily supper, which everyone knows is a necessity of life. Our dear mother had to economize to pay the interest every year and also to keep down the many other expenses for a house of twenty-¤ve or thirty sisters and another twenty-¤ve or more young ladies. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene had her three holy and noblehearted brothers to aid her in many ways. They prevented her from spending many dollars from the money we set aside to make our next payment on the house. This was due every year on the last day of October to the man who had bought the notes from our original landlord, who died several years before we had completed our last payment. We regretted our landlord’s death very much, for we had found him a great and true friend, even though many had misrepresented him to us. We never found him to be dishonest in any way. On the contrary, he was very liberal and did many kind things for us. He favored us with his kindness as did many other persons who took such an interest in assisting us in paying off the debt on our house. Had they not, our debt would have been of much longer duration than it was. We thank him very much for his kindness. He made an appeal in our favor so that we would not lose anything by buying this house from him. So many had predicted that we would never be able to meet one single payment.38 When our dear Mother Marie Magdalene was nominated mother superior, she took the poor to her heart. With the aid of Rev. A. Dufour, S.J., our sisters excited much fervor and drew many to a fresh and sincere practice of their religion. Both Mother Marie Magdalene and Father Dufour were persons of prayer. They had much con¤dence in God and also in each other. They exhorted others to put their con¤dence in God, who would never abandon them in times of tribulation and danger. In that way, they were both very successful. They renewed the whole city of New Orleans until they aroused jealousy. The father provincial was obliged to move Father Dufour to another province and give us another who became, after a time, still more of a success than Father Dufour had been. He was also about to be called away to another post because of jealousy against us. He soon confounded these jealous persons by strictly examining our community and disproving the false report. Those who gave this false report were obliged to say that it was not true. The jealous

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person who gave these false reports envied Mother Marie Magdalene for her love of God which drew so many blessings on our dear community. Our dear Lord is so much stronger than the bad spirit. On January 15, 1881, the day before he resigned as vicar general of the archdiocese, Father Raymond, who had worked so hard to have our rule completed, gave a letter to Sister Mary Bernard Deggs and told her, in the presence of Rev. Mother Josephine, to take that letter, with Mother Marie Magdalene, to Rev. Father W. Butler at the Jesuit College. Father Raymond asked Father Butler to please appoint Father Dufour as our confessor.39 He had given our last general retreat. If this was not convenient, Father Raymond asked Father Butler to please send another father. Our dear Father Butler replied, “God forbid my sending any other but the father that your dear old superior requested for he is a holy and saintly man. It must be the will of Almighty God that I send Father Dufour every Thursday when there are no classes.” So he did, every week up until his three years expired. After the departure of Rev. Dufour, our dear mother said what a great pity it was that father could not stay a little longer to catch some soul whom he was just beginning to make understand our faith. When Father Raymond departed, he left us in the hands of those holy sons of St. Ignatius, the Jesuits, who spare no means to save souls from going astray from the true fold or the right path of Christ who laid down his life to save them from darkness. We have had some of the best of the Jesuit Fathers as our directors. We have always found them the most fervent of any priests since our dear Father Founder. They do not now celebrate all the holy week ceremonies in our chapel, but we have many other advantages that we would not have otherwise. Our good Father Dufour had celebrated the complete exercises of holy week and the Christmas services in our chapel, just as they do in all of the principal churches in this city. Father Dufour was very excited about the ceremonies. It was as if he had been compelled in some way to ful¤ll the exercises as if they were celebrated in a large parish church. We cannot now have what we had in those times. We live too near the church and are told that it would do too much harm by drawing its members to our chapel.40 That was what our trouble was in the beginning. We had been drawing a number of the faithful to our chapel because our choir was better than that of the churches. Then Rev. Father DeCarriere was assigned as our confessor and remained four years on account of our rule which our good Father Dufour had not completed. Even though I was the sister whom our dear old Father Raymond had asked to deliver the letter, my health was too poor

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to go out in rainy weather. So our dear old Mother Josephine sent Sisters Marie Magdalene and Mary Francis to take the letter to Father Butler the next day, January 16, 1881. That was the day that Father Raymond left New Orleans, which was a very sad day for our dear sisters. He had received nearly every one of us into the community and given us our habits and vows. He had been our director for ¤fteen years or more. He had been designated our superior since our founder, dear old Father Etienne Rousselon, had left. Father Raymond had been Father Rousselon’s old schoolmate. Father Rousselon said that leaving us in Father Raymond’s hands would do more for our dear community than he had done himself. And so he did. Our dear mother had many troubles during the administration of Rev. Father DeCarriere. One reason was that our singing at Sunday benediction was so superior to that of the nearby church that its congregation completely abandoned the parish church to come over to our chapel to listen to the lovely singing of our sisters. That was true, because our dear mother was a very holy person and loved sacred music. She took great care in having the sisters’ voices carefully trained so they could sing for God at mass in our chapel. One of many who successfully sang at mass was little Sister Marie des Anges who was Miss Mary Livaudais in the world.41 She had been raised by our sisters since she was a child; she was one of the most beautiful singers to whom one would wish to listen. She died at the age of twenty-six in 1890, seven years after her entrance into our community. She was a native of New Orleans. Her father was a Frenchman, but her mother was a native of New Orleans and from a ¤ne family. Her grandfather, the late Judge Vannedes who had given the diploma of law to the great senator E. D. White of Louisiana, was one of the oldest judges in the state. Our dear little Sister Marie des Anges, Mary Livaudais, was a very valuable and holy sister who could put her hands to anything that one desired her to do. She was one of the best housekeepers that I ever met in my travels. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene only needed to say a word to her; that was enough. She looked much more like our dear Mother Marie Magdalene than her own sister. Both had fair complexions with gray eyes, and sandy hair, something similar to a German lady of fresh skin which is most always a sign of good and industrious nature. That was the case with both our dear mother Marie Magdalene Alpaugh and our dear little sister Marie des Anges, who died as they had both lived, united to each other. One died on October 16, 1890, and the other, ¤fteen days later on November 9. They seemed to have said in death, “As we have lived in life, so we wish to die together so that we may be with

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each other in the next world where we may enjoy our reward the strict and faithful way we have always observed the dear and holy rule of the Holy Family.” They had lived a life of pain, carrying their crosses from one house to the other, working and sharing each other’s troubles in poverty, in ¤re and rain, in sickness and all other kinds of sacri¤ce. They shared the sufferings of this life to partake of those blessing of the world to come which our dear Lord has promised all who have labored faithfully until death in his vineyard by teaching the true way of Christ to those who are ignorant of the faith and have never been instructed when young. Many of those have been deprived of those graces in their childhood because they were born of unholy parents who were unable to have them instructed in the true faith. One of our dear mother’s greatest pains was when she knew a poor family of good will who wished to raise and instruct their children to have human respect. But the parents were old and afraid of what others might say about them being instructed at their age. Our dear mother said many times that she felt sorry for such persons. She said that she could see that their souls were suffering and they longed for that sweet bread of life, but they had too much respect for the world to ask for their spiritual food. She saw what victims they were when their souls were sick for want of injuring that peace or consolation that no man can give to the soul. When Rev. Father DeCarriere came to take our good Father Dufour’s place, both our dear mother and the people who came to our chapel were somewhat afraid of the poor father for a time. However, when they became accustomed to him, they were almost too much attached to him. Just as they began to know him and he to know them, he was called away to a parish in another state. He was one of the greatest fathers in bringing souls to God. His preaching was like a saber that cut on both sides as it passed in the three languages—French, English, and Spanish. He was so zealous and dedicated. He was the father who completed our dear rule in 1887. His Grace, the Most Rev. F. X. Leray, Archbishop of New Orleans, who died October of the same year, approved our holy rule and signed it on March 19, 1887. Rev. DeCarriere was soon succeeded by Rev. Joseph Gerlach, S.J., of New Orleans. He too was a very holy and zealous father and did much good for our dear community. He had a sister bless our house three times a day with the water of St. Ignatius. He had us pray to St. Anne, St. Magdalene, and St. John Berchmans to ask them to convert the landlady who had refused to sell us the adjoining ground; she was waiting to see if Faranta would receive his insurance money and buy the land so he

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could build a grand opera house, such as had never been seen in the South before. He was going to seal up the doors of the Holy Family with a wall so that our poor dear sisters would have been compelled to sacri¤ce to them $21,000 and its interest for ¤ve years or more; not including the $2,700 and $9,685 for repairs on the roof and for many other improvements which have not been mentioned, and that was $13,000. We feared we would never be paid by either Faranta or the landlady, Madame Roberts, for that was their intention. But Almighty God needs no special patterns to ¤t all sizes of big heads who are so puffed up and think that they themselves are the God of the bright world to come. Faranta and the landlady failed to succeed despite all their money and skills, for our prayers went up and God’s mercy came down. Both Mr. Faranta and Madame Roberts had much money, but it was not suf¤cient to upset the all-powerful hand of the great Jehovah, as he was called by the red men in the old days. Faranta and Madame Roberts were soon confounded after their efforts proved all in vain; neither the hot water nor the steam of Faranta and Madame Roberts was strong enough to boil the old Folger Sisters of the Holy Family.42 So Mr. Faranta and his future enterprise were counterbalanced by the prayers of our sisters to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Our prayers proved more powerful than all of the wicked works they taught which were only snares to catch so many pious lives by their bad in®uence and draw many others with them who would no doubt follow. Many fervent souls might little by little be drawn away from their duties and the faith of Christ. None would have thought about the harm they would have done to themselves or others. Their crime in the sight of God would be mortal because they missed attending mass so many times, month after month, that after a while there be no mass at all for either themselves or others. Little by little, there would be no gain to the church. Later they would begin to talk about the fathers and the sisters in order to cover their own faults. They would accuse the poor sisters and ruin the noblest reputations of others who are perhaps just as holy souls as they could be. But that does not matter for souls who have lost the grace of God and who by their slander accomplish their wicked designs and draw others down [into] the abyss of ruin with them. That was the way with Mr. Faranta who wanted to take our house and make it into a hotel for those who were to stay in his wicked den where they might have an easy way of plunging their souls down to destruction by drinking to excess. By those means, their respect would have no value at all. But God be praised. Faranta’s name is almost blotted out from the remembrances of our dear New Orleans. Only God can tell where he is. The only thing we can do for him is to pray. I daresay that

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he never thinks of praying as old as he is. He must be about sixty if not more, for he was over ¤fty some six or seven years ago, his hair was silvered, and he had begun to bend over a little when we saw him the last time, about six years ago, just after the death of the great diver, J. B. Peynaud.43 Our dear mother had many crosses. She was concerned not only about children making their ¤rst communion, but also about our places in St. Louis Cathedral. When we ¤rst moved into our present house, we were accustomed to attend St. Mary’s Church. However, Rev. Archbishop Francis Janssens, our present archbishop, said that everyone must attend church in their own parish, including children. So we were obliged to give up our place in St. Mary’s Church and attend St. Louis Cathedral. For that reason, when we were there on any grand day for a ceremony in the church, all the other religious communities were allowed to pass in front of us.44 They said that they were older communities than ours and took all the front seats. That threw our sisters so far back that we could scarcely see anything. We went to the expense of putting up a small gate at our pew to prevent anyone from going in before us. But that was all in vain, for others would break the gates saying that they were the oldest in the church and had the right to pass in front of us. Then Archbishop Janssens came from Rome and gave us our just deserts. Not only were we assigned our place in church, but also our children were allowed to conduct the singing in the church. This, however, caused us and the children a great many insults from the other side. But since the archbishop was a very holy and just man, he did not allow anyone to lead him by the nose. As he was a Dutchman, he knew no distinctions. The other sisters were, after some years, obliged to keep quiet for they soon saw that it would not be so wholesome to play games with him. All those who went to see him with any complaint would instead soon get the worst of it. By those means, he very soon calmed them all down and made them respect him and attend to their warm ¤res. Every time they come to make any new disturbance, they do not tarry long, for Archbishop Janssens is a man of God. He keeps them all in their place if they fool with him too much. Our dear mother often said that it was God who sent Archbishop Janssens to this city, for the place was infested with scornful people who respected neither the house of God nor His priests. They were getting worse and worse every day. If someone did not do away with all of their scorn and prejudice, the whole country would be destroyed by either water or some other calamity. It is only since the Civil War that this state has become so very prejudiced and the people of this city have so many hard feelings against the

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colored class. We have always been like one and the same family, going to the same church, sitting in the same pews, and many of them sleeping in the same bed. If we had any entertainment, the whites would come by. But our sisters are still well received by all classes. It was the presumptuous ones who caused the great prejudice in this country. They wanted everyone to remain in their rank as they had done before. But many tried to impose themselves on persons of a more superior rank and did not keep in their places until they were invited to a more superior place. And what is the result? They are driven from their presence and are not allowed to even ride in the steam car with them. Those are the instructions. They are treated just the same as those who had no hand in signing the bills in Baton Rouge or at the White House in Washington City.45 Many thanks to God that our dear mother had no such trouble during her administration. On the contrary, our sisters were admitted to the captain’s table when they passed on the steamboats. Many times they laughed about a trip that they had taken on one of the ablest ¤rst class steamers on the Mississippi River. The captain’s family, when their dinner hour came, said to the Rev. Mother Josephine and Sister Marie Cecilia, “Mother, you and the sister must not eat with the other passengers. You must come and take dinner with us.” They made one of their family members go to another table. It is true there is no Yimera steam car nor Texas Roof for anyone, black nor blue. But no one who has been raised with the sisters in one of the ¤rst convents of this state ever has any prejudice in their soul as to color. They only know that Almighty God said, “he who scorns you, scorns me.”46 They have this maxim so deeply rooted in their hearts that no one can change them. So both Mother Marie Magdalene and the sisters had no trouble in traveling. But our dear Mother Marie Magdalene often said that we would later have in this state a hateful law that would cause much dissatisfaction and very great discord among our people. She also said that perhaps many lives would be lost. She had not been dead two years when those words came to pass. It was not only as she had predicted but much worse, for there were some who had never dreamed of such things but are now the hardest cases of all. If anyone says to them a word about any colored person, they get insulted and say that they did not know anything about color, but about respect and virtues which make a man a person in the sight of Almighty God and also in the eyes of society. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene was very prudent and grave in both experience and actions. She was a holy soul who was never known to reveal a word told to her in con¤dence when she was our superior. But when she was only the mistress of the novices, all had the same con¤-

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dence as when she later became our general. She had ¤ne and upright parents who were so very reserved. They taught her to shun all bad society that might draw her into any snares or dangerous company which in turn might cause her to lose her reputation or to entangle her innocent soul with the horrible vices that so soon might creep into the hearts of young girls at that age. Our dear mother, during her whole three years as mistress of novices, was also ever cautious to see after the conduct of all the young schoolgirls who were under her protection. She did not want them to fall into any bad in®uences. She knew what a bad impression could be made on them. She thus drew two of the girls with the most harsh dispositions to conversion. One is now a dear and fervent member of our dear community and can be entrusted with most all in her care. When Mother Marie Magdalene went into the classes, she very carefully examined the girls to see whether they had any previous inclinations to the holy state. She said that one of the most harmful of any bad habits was disobedience or willfulness. She many times said that she would much prefer a person of obstinate or vain disposition to a bad person who would not obey and was too proud to submit to any penance that had been assigned to her. Many a time, she would take the lowest occupation in the house rather than ask another whom she had seen showing their displeasure toward it. She would say to them, “My dear children, if we are not willing to make any sacri¤ces for the glory of God, we need not expect any reward in heaven.” Our dear Lord has only promised to reward those who have suffered for His sake and have done so willingly. The sisters could not complain of their work. They could not complain of it being too hard, too much trouble, too long, too fatiguing, or too con¤ning because others were having an easy time of it. When they were working at their duties, she would take something that was to be made and ¤nish it by herself. She would never allow any disorder in any part of the house or yard. She would have the whole place as neat as it could be. If there ever was a housekeeper who had an interest in her household affairs, it was our dear mother. She had spent twenty-four years of her religious life in doing all the good that she could for God. She never was forgetful of working and gaining souls to God and teaching the faith to those who had never had the good fortune of learning their holy faith when young. Her soul’s delight was to instruct others whether young or old. She could always ¤nd the time to teach them the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, and the Creed which is the principal and most necessary prayer of our holy faith. When one knows these three

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points, they can very easily be saved, but those must be accompanied by a great desire of loving God and fearing His holy commandments. By these means, we have only to teach the words of the prayers, which our dear Mother Marie Magdalene did with her whole heart and with the greatest success. When she was our general, our dear little community was as poor as could be, but it was always in the most perfect order. It far surpassed many that were in much better circumstances, for Mother Marie Magdalene was a woman of labor and also a very thoughtful person. She was always holding raf®es to buy some ornament for the house. It was by these means that she was able to help our two good mission sisters, Mary Joseph and Mary Francis, to place things both in the house and chapel. This was as it should be after a few years of strict economizing and good management. We can well say that God blessed our community by sending us both good and holy sisters who were also well disposed.47 All who came in at that time were of ¤ne families and were also well instructed in either French or English. It is strange to say that all who have entered in this house, with the exception of a few from former times, were of very pious parents who were persons of respectable birth. Some of them also had money. But best of all, they all had the true spirit of Christ and were willing to suffer for God and for His glory. When anyone was sick and Mother Marie Magdalene had no hope for them, she could be often seen in the chapel. Even when the rest of the sisters were taking recreation, she would be somewhere praying and crying. Many times she said to me, “Dear, perhaps our dear sister is sick, and who knows, it might be that someone in this house has in some way displeased Almighty God, and I hope that it was not I.” A few hours after that, you would see her kneeling down in some retired place crying for fear that it was she that had offended God. When Mother Marie Magdalene had no money, she would say to others, “We have offended our dear God in some way and we must ask His pardon.” She would then go off somewhere and make an act of contrition that He might grant us all the graces that we had need of as we were very poor in our dear mother’s times. Had Mother Marie Magdalene not been a person of great skill in housekeeping, we would have never paid for this house as soon as we did. Perhaps it would have been sold long ago. God alone knows where the sisters might be today! Who knows where we would have found the means of ever redeeming our house! The times are so very hard and we have had no one to do anything for our sisters until our dear Archbishop Janssens took an interest in our little community. He saw that we

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had much need of someone who had the charity to advise us what was best to do. All of our old founders and foundresses were already dead when our dear Mother Marie Magdalene was installed as superior of our dear community.48 Mother Marie Magdalene was about twenty-nine or thirty years of age when she was installed, but she had been here since 1859 or 1860 with our dear Mother Josephine and had very strictly observed all of the points that she thought would be of any use to her later. It was well that she did because the burden fell on her later. If she had not copied them as closely as she did, it would have been somewhat dif¤cult for her to take a charge of such importance for the ¤rst time. She did take charge without ¤rst waiting to see whether she could perform the duties as she should. When the superiorship was placed on her, she knew right away what she had to do and how she was to take hold of it. But she never once dreamed that she was to remain superior for two terms with such a heav y burden. She was a true Magdalene who both loved and prayed much, but she also shed many bitter tears after she had been charged with the burden of the whole community, and with the aid of only a few sisters. Mother Marie Magdalene reformed the housework that had once been so fervent up until the death of Rev. Mother Henriette Delille. Mother Henriette was a very holy and heavenly soul who took her fortunes to found our dear little community. She was helped by our dear Sister Jeanne Marie Aliquot whose loan of $700 was a larger sum than that of any other.49 But Delille’s capacity was much more valuable than the money for she was a good beggar and her holiness was of still a greater value to our little foundation than any money would have been to us at that time, even though we needed so many things at the opening of a new abode. This house was to receive its support from charity or the mercy of God or through different prudences. It would be well to say that we sometimes knew not from where the next piece of bread was to come. Mother Marie Magdalene was an enterprising and stern woman who could do a great deal with a little money. She also knew why many persons were so poor and could not advance in anything. She said that most persons wanted others to work for themselves, but some would sit down and that was a very poor way to elevate themselves. One of the ¤rst things for a person to do if they want to advance in this world is to do all that they can themselves and then call on their friends to help them. They should not expect others to work for them and not to work for themselves. By these means our dear mother, in a very short time, lifted our dear community up and caused many to say, “O, what a change there

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is in this place within so short a time.” They also said, “She must be a very energetic woman to do what she has in so short a time.” We rarely ever saw her, for she was not a great lover of company. She had a very ¤erce disposition and was not a person who was great for going around in the world, but instead was against amusement. She loved to pray. She many times said that with prayers one could get everything that was necessary for a community. Since money could not buy what was most necessary for our spiritual needs, we had need of prayer to help us in this life of pain and tribulation. She exhorted us to pray without ceasing. It was by this same means that we obtained the lots for our orphans’ house. We have our new chapel that Mr. Jorlanna gave us in his last will and which we had long needed. We would have never built the orphans’ house if we had to get the money by our own labor or from sales. We had so many things to get and so little money that no one knew how it was to come or where it was to come from. It was very dif¤cult for our dear mother, when she took charge of our community, to meet all of its wants as it had just contracted a debt without having any resources which might have been lent us or things of value and were much reduced. It made mother somewhat despondent for she was not accustomed to having to look out for the wants of so many persons. So one can see how our dear mother had to work very hard to make ends meet as she did. But God was merciful to her for she was a holy and poor soul who had no other intention but to glorify God and to save her neighbor. Those were her greatest pleasures, along with seeking the lost sheep of our dear Lord’s ¤eld who had gone astray or who were strangers to the true faith of our holy mother, the Catholic Church, that great consolation of the poor. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene’s six years were the hardest of any superior’s. She was obliged to pay the whole debt on this house which was no little matter for us since so many were so bitterly opposed to our having the place. It was near the Second District courthouse that was so ¤lthy that they would been only too happy to seize our house and move us out if they could have. But “God was good” to His poor. We had worked so hard for a larger house that we needed. If we had lost it so soon after we had paid more than half of the money, we would have nothing left from our forty-¤ve or ¤fty years of work and deprivation to have a home that was our own. The time had come that we could have things as they should be in the house of God. In this way, we might one day be able to sanctify our souls in the true spirit of Christ after the example of His holy mother who ¤rst gave us the model by which we might ¤nd and lead others who loved God. Our community had truly

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the spirit of poverty when our dear mother was alive. When she died, she also recommended to all charity toward each other in every house of the Holy Family on every occasion. She wished that we might be of one heart and one soul as St. John had said to his children, “My children, love one another.”50 Our dear mother said that even if we had no bread, but loved and consoled each other, God would bless us in all of our works and intentions and aspirations. He had always blessed the Holy Family in poverty and meekness so we can justly say that if we are not grateful to God, we should feel ashamed of ourselves and fear that Almighty God will ask us to account for an abuse of graces. There were about seventy-odd girls in the orphans’ home we took over from the Oblate Sisters; the old house was crumbling down as fast as it could. If they had had to remain there for ¤ve months longer, they might have all been crushed. It was a wooden structure that had never had a proper foundation. It was built on a damp lot that molded the ®ooring in two or three places where the water had penetrated the planks and when one walked on it the whole house would shake like a leaf. Our dear mother did not live to see our dear little orphans in their warm brick St. John Berchmans.51 She was present when the deed was signed and had hoped that they would soon have a cozy home with the grace of God for she loved the poor so much. She knew that after her death, Mother Marie Cecilia, who had assisted her during her last illness, would not fail to complete that glorious piece of holy work. Mother Marie Magdalene had prayed for this work since her entrance into our dear little community. She had founded St. Augustine’s Convent at the village of Donaldsonsville in 1886 and intended to found two others, one at Pointe Coupée Parish and the other at Lafourche. But she did not live to see them as she had desired. But all was for the best, I hope, for God knows better than we do. All that He does must be what He wills or it would never be. Our dear mother, I hope, had completed her series and left the burden for another who had to work for God’s greatest glory. Like everything in this life of pain and trouble, one thing is ¤nished and another begins. In this way, the world is always gaining and it will be so until the end of the world. Then God’s time will come, for all men who have not lived as they should during this life will then have revealed the right and the wrong of all of their actions of this life. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene had those truths always before her eyes. They were like a bridle for her that she might halt her pure and innocent heart from the least injustices to her neighbor, for these would have caused her many a time to weep and to regret. Once I saw her crying and asked her

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what the cause was. She told me something so simple that I was ashamed of myself. I was edi¤ed by her delicate senses and her great charity for others which is so rare in our times when everyone is for themselves. No one stops to see whether their neighbor has been worried or not. Many who have caused pain rejoice to see others in trouble. Few put themselves out to console others at all. They would rather die themselves than see others in some degree better than they are themselves. Our dear mother was a true and holy soul who knew her holy faith better than that. When she did anything, it was for the greater glory of God who gives graces to those who love Him and keep His commandments and those of His Church also. Our dear mother, when she consented to renew the Lining Rosary in 1889, did so in order to draw souls to God. She intended to make His holy mother known and loved to those who are strangers to that devotion. In these times, there are so few who want to pray for what they need. One only has to think of many persons who have money and are doing well. Speak to them of praying and they will say to you, “oh, I do not need to pray for I am doing well as I am all right. But you must pray for one or another who has no money. They need to pray but I do not.” Do we not pray for health to carry on our business also! How many times our dear mother said, “if God takes your health, then what will you do? What good will your money and business do if you are sick in bed with fever and have no one to take charge. At these times, do you think of the Holy Family?” From the time our dear Mother Marie Magdalene became mother superior until the time of her death, there were vast changes in our community. It was as different as day and night. Once our rule had been written, our community seemed to take some sort of wings and ®y away from its former state like other, older communities. But it was true that our sisters had remained at it for more than thirty years and that we had done much during that time. Our dear Sister Marie Magdalene had prayed and begged our dear Lord to open some way for our little community to begin to work for His glory and for the good of our neighbors who have needed someone who would aid them in the path of justice for so long. Just at the time that the late Civil War broke out our dear work began to sprout its timid buds and green leaves on the immense tree of charity. The time had come for us to send forth our fragrant works of charity as in a warm spring. Our Almighty and Most Merciful God, who is our omnipotent and all faithful Lord, had been waiting always for the time that our poor and innocent little Holy Family was to come forth as a beautiful and fresh rose, doused in the dawn of a bright spring morning

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when it shakes off the heav y cloak of the cloudy winter to shine in its lovely green spring dress. Such was the fervor of our dear sisters when they were allowed to visit the sick of New Orleans and give those poor souls a word of consolation on their deathbeds. That was where many of the dying learned for the ¤rst time in their lives to make the sign of the cross and to pronounce the name of their Maker with love and gratitude and to know Him as they should. One thing that consoled the dying was that they were not to blame for not knowing their faith any better then they did, for until the late war broke out, everyone was so suppressed that there was no way of doing anything proper. The war also made goods so very high that one was at a loss to ¤nd a pile of bread to eat unless they had someone to whom they could look for it. The sisters too were, at times, at a loss to ¤nd some means of getting a few bites. Many times, our sisters were short of food and their health became very poor for some weeks. But God was pleased to send us a very kind and careful father whose whole heart was to see after the soul of each and every one of our sisters who addressed herself to him. He often addressed ¤rst those who were too bashful to address Him. In this way he gave them con¤dence in him and consoled them when they had need of it. After the death of our mother foundress, Henriette Delille, our dear sisters were inconsolable for some months. Many of them went back to their families and a part also tried to open a community for themselves but did not succeed. They gave up the idea later and tried to return. They would have been very glad to have been received during the administration of Mother Marie Magdalene had their age not been against them.52 At that time, Rev. Mother Josephine had not yet lost her eyesight, but she had some little trouble seeing. Those who left so much regretted their leaving as soon as they did. No one ever dreamed that our little community would have ever come to what it is today. Had any of them who left after the death of our dear foundress had the least idea of seeing our sisters as they are now, they would have remained with those who were so faithful until death. But our dear mother foundress died. Others were not as docile as she was, for many preferred to return into their homes and live as they pleased. What was worst for them was that they did not fancy our dear old Mother Juliette as much as one would suppose. They only came for Mother Henriette, judging from the way that they acted after her death. A greater part of them who left had talents of a greater value than those who remained. I suppose the good will of those who remained made up for the brilliance of all who withdrew. One who remained, Sister Suzanne Navarre, was the fourth member

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who entered in the old cradle house of the Holy Family on Bayou Road near Rampart where we were only a half a block from the church of St. Augustine. She worked faithfully up until the time of her death, twenty¤ve years later. With her needle she made many thousands of dolls. She was called the queen of the needle and died at the age of sixty-seven in 1887. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene waited three years or more before she took the holy habit. Our dear old Mother Juliette desired greatly to give Miss Marie Magdalene Alpaugh the habit at our dear father founder’s return; Marie Magdalene Alpaugh was the last postulant to come in while he was alive. Instead, Sister Marie Magdalene was obliged to receive the habit from the hands of Very Rev. Gilbert Raymond, the vicar general of New Orleans for ¤fteen years. He resigned this position in the sixteenth year and then founded a branch house in his own parish and donated the grounds to our sisters. By these means, he still had a command over our sisters in that house. When they had need of his counsel, dear mother would go to Opelousas or our dear father would come to New Orleans and advise her. As he had been our ecclesiastical supervisor and had become so well acquainted with almost every one of the sisters, his supervision was one of the best means of keeping good order. No one would have been pleased to have lived in that house without our dear old father as their director for he had given us our habit and vows and also the house and grounds where we lived. He never hesitated when there was anything to be done for our sisters, either in the city or country. He would go out in snow and rain to say mass or do anything for our sisters, the community, or dear Mother Marie Magdalene. Mother Marie Magdalene was always so attentive to Father Raymond and never found anything too hard to do for him. When she was a girl, Father Raymond instructed her for her ¤rst communion. He also gave her the holy habit and the vows of religion, all the while watching over her with a hope of one day making her our mother superior. Father Raymond did not remain with us as long as he wished. He left us under the care of the late Rev. LeCozic who left us under the care of Rev. L. A. Chassé. But since the health of Rev. Chassé was so very poor he was obliged to return to his birth country of France. He died there on February 9, 1893, at the age of forty-seven.53 Father Chassé had been so unwilling to go back to his native France. One would have taken him for a native of this state. He many times said that he was not a Frenchman for he had become, as it were, a native of America. He called himself an adopted son of America and he much preferred to live in this country rather than in the land of his birth. But

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when his health forced him to return to France, he wept like a child at the thought of bidding farewell to the home he had adopted. That made him worse than the illness itself, for he had come to this country to labor for Almighty God for whom he faithfully worked. He well merited the name of a true son of our true and dear mother, free America, who is represented as an eagle ®ying aloft with her wings spread to protect the young ones as they boast of their freedom. We ¤nd also many who impose on that freedom by making it a process of offending God. But our good Father Chassé, I do not think, used his time to do anything but work for the glory of God and the good of his Maker. He used a greater part of his money in charity to the poor. He was a very noble-hearted man who often forgot himself for the poor and rarely ever visited any of our charitable institutions without leaving a note of $5 for refreshments. Father Chassé at one time made his will in the favor of the old women’s home and the orphan girls’ home. But our poor father’s health declined very shortly after that. He became so very ill that he was unable to discharge his duties as chancellor and was for some twelve or eighteen months unable to work. So he was obliged to use part of the money that he had intended leaving for the homes. He returned to his brother’s house in France and then they gobbled up all of the money that he had made in this country. The last visit which our dear Father Chassé made to our sisters was only three days before our dear Mother Marie Magdalene’s death. When he saw our sick mother, he said, “you are much better today,” but mother said, “ah, no father.” He said, “yes, you will live to see the new house.” But mother said, “no, neither you nor I will live to see that house.” And she was right, for she died on Sunday, only three days later. Our good father went away to his friend over in the country. When he came back, he was so very ill that he could scarcely move from his bed to the chapel, so he left for France where he died just three months after his arrival there. And just as our dear Mother Marie Magdalene had said to him, neither the father nor she lived to see the orphans’ home completed. It seemed that God had permitted those two the time they needed. They worked together with so much zeal for our community up until 1888 when our dear mother’s second term had expired. The Ursuline convent at Esplanade and Rampart streets had been vacated with the intention of disposing of it as the grand Ursuline ladies had all moved to their motherhouse. Up until then, a sister had instructed children both for St. Mary’s Church and St. Louis Cathedral. But after the burning of our convent in 1889, our dear archbishop said that all the children must go to their own parish to be instructed if they

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wanted to make a good and holy ¤rst communion. If they did not do that, they would be refused. So we had to send our children to St. Louis Cathedral, but we had always preferred St. Mary’s Church. Our dear Father Chassé had been so devoted to our children that he had given them the front pews for the low masses and one side of the church for high mass and vespers. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene used to send our children every day to St. Mary’s. It was three or four blocks away and she wanted them to walk every day for their health. Our dear Father Chassé had said that it was his greatest pleasure to hear the children saying their beads with him in the morning when their little voices were so pure and sweet. When our children were obliged to go to our own parish church, St. Louis Cathedral, Father Chassé became somewhat cool to our dear Mothers Cecilia and Marie Magdalene. Mother Marie Magdalene was at that time the assistant as her six years as mother superior had expired. Our dear Father Chassé, even after his return to the city when he had been replaced by Rev. J. B. Bogaerts,54 had the same regard for our dear mother as he always had. He never let any of her feast days pass without being one of the ¤rst to congratulate her. The last respect that Father Chassé showed toward our dear mother was to read the gospel at her funeral. That he did in a very sad tone, for well did he and others know that they had lost a true and sincere holy soul who had devoted all of her youth to God’s service and glory. The poor who mourned her loss knew that it was a hard thing to ¤nd a beautiful soul like Mother Marie Magdalene. What she did came from her true love of charity. If she did not fancy someone, she would not tarry long with them. She would not make you believe that she liked you when she did not. Upon entering our dear little community, Miss Alpaugh had been obliged to run away from an old aunt who had chosen, she believed, another state of life for her. But our dear Mother Marie Magdalene had long before that selected her own state of life and, like Mary, had chosen the best part. That was not taken from her until Almighty God called her to her eternal reward for which she had long and faithfully worked in words, deeds, and example. Yes, well might we say that those twentyfour years in the Holy Family had been well spent in good works of holy charity both inside and outside of her community. She did everything that was in her power, and when she could not do herself, she had many a dear and worthy charitable friend who never refused to do what she asked of them. They knew that she was not a vain person who would ask anything of them that was not for true charity or that was not really

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necessary for some poor suffering person who was unable to help themselves. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene would only interest herself in the poor, for she was not a person who was a lover of the world. She many times said that she would not lose a minute on anything that was not for the love of God or the salvation of her neighbor. She was well aware that the rich did not need her for they had their money and were amply able to do all they wanted without anyone’s doing for them. She was a woman who did not want anyone to think for a moment that she would do anything to gain their favor in any way at all. She was a victim as her health and even her eyesight had begun to fail. She wanted to open many branches which she saw would be a most pleasing and meritorious act. That act would no doubt be for us the principal act of our eternal crown on the great day of judgment when all of our deeds, either good or bad, will be our source of joy and consolation. Our dear mother knew too well that Almighty God had a bright and beautiful crown awaiting her when she had completed her earthly mission. She had always worked for His glory, from the very day of her ¤rst communion. That was when she was in her teens, when the world offered her its vain and sensual pleasures. She was like the great St. Charles Borromeo who scorned the world’s pleasures to give himself to God in the spring of his age when so many snares and steel traps could ensnare the heart of an innocent soul who prefers the love of God to that of the world or that of creatures who only wish to deceive with many false promises. They never intend to give a half of what they offer.55 Too well did she know that God alone is faithful to His promises to men who love and fear His commandments. Such persons obey their pastors in what our holy church says. They love their neighbor as themselves for God’s sake and do not give scandal to any one who is not a Catholic or who has not been instructed in the faith because they have no one to instruct them. The latter our dear mother often pitied. She said that if there was such a thing as charity, it consisted of instructing a soul who loved God and who was deprived of the sacraments of the holy Church by a state of life that holy mother, the Church, disapproved of in any way. Our dear mother was a person of deep and solid reason who was acquainted with the realities of life. She knew the weakness of our poor nature and what it was able to contend with. When she had business with anyone, she nearly always wound up by asking them what faith they were, where they lived, and when they had

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received communion the last time. If they had missed, she asked them why they had not gone. She would tell them if they did not go regularly to their duties, God would ask them an account of the time that they had lost in idleness and indifference. She would also tell them they were bad examples to persons who were not of our holy faith who would say in turn, “I see Catholics do the same thing as I am doing. I can do what they do two or three times a week, but I do not.” That was one of the reasons that Mother Marie Magdalene did not want our sisters to keep house for the archbishop. She said that they were obliged to have others around them when they worked; others would be scandalized by such work as housekeepers. Our sisters stopped working at the residence of the archbishop just as soon as she was named our assistant. Our mother withdrew our sisters from there at the time that our Father Raymond went to the country to live. The only one who did not leave was Sister Germaine, who was the sacristan.56 Our dear Mother Josephine had said that she wanted someone to work for the church as long as the church remained in the hands of the same fathers. But God blessed our dear mother by letting Sister Germaine have a fall when she was cleaning for the grand feast of August 15. The last day she worked at the archbishop’s church, St. Mary’s, was August 11, 1887. She did not go back to work at St. Mary’s until some six or eight years and two archbishops later. That was also after the death of our dear Mother Marie Magdalene, who was very bitterly opposed to the sisters working outside of the house. Many of the sisters seriously objected to going there to work, as it was not to teach. Our dear mother would not force them to go for she said that she would never compel any of her sisters to do anything that she would not do herself. Neither did our holy rule compel them to do any work of that kind when it was outside of our convent and against their wishes. Mother Marie Magdalene said they had left homes and parents to love and praise God in some retired spot where they might be better able to sanctify themselves as they wished to do and not to be angered by anyone. That would prevent their living as they had so long desired to do when they entered in our community. Had they ever dreamt of anything of the sort, who would ever have come from their dear homes to do the same as in the world. No one! And if so, what would be the use of all that when one had the very same temptations as they had before. They might lose their vocation by becoming disgusted with their holy state of life and by returning to their homes. They might also lose their souls later by leading a vain and wicked life in the world. These thoughts caused our dear mother to withdraw our sisters from the service of our dear archbishop’s residence and only allow them to

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make the altar bread, which was almost the dying request of our dear Mother Josephine whose love for God and His holy Church had no bounds at all times and places. When we took charge of the Louisiana Asylum for Colored Girls, the girls needed a calm person as it had been badly founded by secular ladies who were not able to manage the girls as they should. That made the ¤rst two or three years much harder than they would have been if the girls had not become so rebellious. It was only the love and respect that the girls had for our dear Mother Marie Magdalene that made them docile. Mother Marie Magdalene was a person of commanding appearance which said at ¤rst glance, “I am not to be tri®ed with by anyone.” That was true, for she was very grave at all times and in all places, even before her entrance into the Holy Family. When anyone saw Sister Marie Magdalene with another sister who was near her age, they assumed her to be the principal because of her commanding appearance and most always addressed themselves to her. She was also very neat in person and duties, no matter what she was doing. We always said to her on the hottest days of summer, “You are dry while we are always wet with perspiration. We must be changing every second, while you stay all day with the same suit as white and dry as can be.” We often teased her by calling her “white dove” or “the immaculate sister of the Holy Family.” It would tickle her when anyone looked at her and make such remarks. But we learned some time after her death that one of the worst things that could happen was to see a person in our warm summer climate who did not perspire. We are told that when such a person catches a bad fever, they very rarely recover. Had we known that before our dear mother’s death, we might have saved her. But by the time we had learned of it, she was dead and we could only bow our heads to the holy will of God as our master. Many of our friends said that we had made a god of Mother Marie Magdalene and that was the reason that God had withdrawn her from our midst, so that we might love and put our con¤dence in Him instead of creatures who have no power to prevent death’s taking them. That might be the truth, for Mother Marie Magdalene was much loved by many. But she also had many who were against her, for she was an upright soul. Mother Marie Magdalene was of a strange nature and was never seen wasting her time. Even after she had lost her health, she worked until she could not work any more. When she could do no other work, she would go and ask the small children where was little Jesus, who is our dear Lord. She would make them say their answer by heart. She would then ask them what would drive Him out. She then told them that only

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sin could drive Jesus out of their heart, and would ask them, “Who was the lamb of God?” She also asked them what our Lord did for us and told them that He came down from heaven and died on the cross to save us from Hell. If we sinned and offended God any more, we would burn in that lake of ¤re. If they did not pray at night, the old bad man would come at night and take them down and put them in his big ¤re. So every day, all of the little ones would wait for Mother Marie Magdalene and ask her if she would tell them all about God and His mother so that they might tell their papas and mamas on the days that they were at home and so that they might ask their friends not to go to bed at night before they had made their night prayers. If their friends did not say their night prayers, Mother Marie Magdalene said that the bad man would take them down into his ¤re and burn them in it and they would not get out any more. So the little day schoolers, when it rained, would steal off from their homes and come to hear Mother Marie Magdalene tell about the angels and about our dear Lord when He was born at Bethlehem when the ox and the ass kept the holy child warm with their breath in the stable. With her simplicity, she drew many souls to our holy faith and explained to them as well as she could in the English language. She did this in many ways better than others whose native tongue was English. At that time, she became more anxious to speak English. Many times, she said that if she had known how to speak English about twenty years sooner, she would have saved many a good and fervent soul who was no doubt lost for want of instruction in the true faith. Many had been deprived of instruction in their childhoods and had not learned the fear and love of God. They had no one to teach them when they were young so they could praise their Maker instead of fearing Him. For many years they had sinned and displeased their dear and merciful Lord who had died for their sake and for the sake of the whole world after Adam and our ¤rst mother Eve who had fallen by their weakness. Our dear mother was a person who had a great compassion for the weaknesses of those whose nature was not strong enough to resist certain faults which often gave them much pain and confusion. Mother Marie Magdalene many times consoled those whom she had found advanced in religious life when she entered and who had the most profound con¤dence in her, although they were in age like the daughter and mother. Her gravity and prudence were so striking that she was admired by the whole community. They saw in her an instrument of God’s glory and were struck by her piety and meekness which were rare in a girl of her age. She had not had the advantages of receiving visitors which many a young girl had at her age.

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When Mother Marie Magdalene became our mother superior, she was in charge of our second and third foundresses. She had been received by Rev. Mother Josephine who later became her mistress of novices. After Mother Marie Magdalene became our superior, Mother Josephine was like a child under her. Both Mother Juliette and Mother Josephine died during her administration. They were as happy as they could have been, even though the poor health of Mother Josephine and the close of the split house of Mother Juliette caused them to become Mother Marie Magdalene’s subjects. This coming together was no doubt the holy will of God for our sancti¤cation. The three of them died the most holy and edifying deaths. One died three years after Mother Marie Magdalene’s election and the other three years after that. Mother Marie Magdalene died two years later. Rev. Mother Juliette was the eldest of the three at the time of her death and had also been superior longer. All three died surrounded by all of our dear community which was a greater grace from God than one might expect. They had all long and well labored for the dear Holy Family and well deserved to receive the reward for their faithful observance of the rules and vows that they had kept up to their deaths, above all the vow of holy poverty they observed so strictly. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene had never known very much about deprivation until her entrance into our community. That was what made her merit so great when one thinks of the sacri¤ce of her dear home and friends who could have given her all that a young lady of her age needed. We can thank her family for their many kind favors. It is true that most of them were planters. Even so, they never refused to do the many things that they did for us. Many times even today after her death, we receive something of their kindness. When her eldest brother visited her last, she said to him, “Israel, I want you to do just the same for the dear sisters as you did during my life. They are so dear to me that I shall not feel happy if you all do not treat them as you did when I was with them. They will be the best friends that you will ¤nd in this life after myself. As far as your children are concerned, try to have them instructed by my sisters if you can do so, for what they can do both for their soul and body.” They, like other children, think that the sisters are only good for preparing them for their ¤rst communion. They then go to destruction as many have, for that is what they do if you do not watch them. After they leave the good sisters’ school and go to the public schools, they are apt to get into bad company and soon be lost with them at the end when it is too late for you to do anything for their souls. When our dear mother was on her deathbed, she occupied her mind in thinking of her duty and gave orders just as she did in good health.

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One might think to hear her directing the sister who assisted her with the altar that she had only separated herself from that duty for some cause and that she was as well as anyone. Only the day previous to her death, many sisters said, “Hear what mother says. She says she is going to die. But she speaks as well as one who has a little cold or fever that will soon go away.” She then opened her eyes, and smiled, for she only lived a few hours after that. But she did not deceive anyone, for she, on going to bed, said, “This is my last.” We tried to put it out of our minds, but that was in vain for she was leaving us soon for her home where no pain could ever reach her holy soul. Nor could the crosses of this world disturb her any more as she well knew that God is faithful to His holy promise to all who leave mother and father for His holy yoke. They will receive their crown and a hundredfold and life everlasting.57 We must all ¤rst pass through this life of pain and toil before we can enter into the heaven of bliss and enjoy God as we hope to one day when all of our tasks are over and we have completed our work of this life and can do no more for our neighbor. That was what our dear Mother Marie Magdalene used to say to the sisters. She said that she had to build up our community by taking in washing; then she tried by the needle. But then she saw that God’s providence was much better than all that man could do, so she tried begging. That proved better than all that we had ever done before. So she said that God intended us to be humble in this life. Thus, while the sisters continued to make dresses and all sorts of needlework, they made a regular thing of begging daily and annually, both for bread and anything else that could be given to us in charity, either for the orphans or for ourselves. We accepted any amount, no matter how small. We were thankful for whatever we received and prayed for those who gave to us. We asked that the grace of God would fall on them and their business, so that they might know what they had done was pleasing to Almighty God. In many cases, those very same people have come to us on different occasions and acknowledged the gift of their charity. They said they had been so wonderfully blessed from the time that they had given to us for our little orphans. They said they had received many graces and that they believed that it was the prayers of our little children, so they asked our dear mother to still make the orphans pray for them. So at the ¤rst of each month, they presented our dear mother with a sum of money for the dear little orphans. Once or twice, she was inspired by a piece of cloth from which she could make some winter clothing. It was as if the cloth was sent from God, for the poor little orphans at that time had much need of warm

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clothes as the cold had set in. Mother Marie Magdalene had prayed that our Lord might touch the hearts of some good soul who would send us the sum of money that she needed to get warm clothing before the cold winter came on. They needed all that they could get to keep them warm. So one can see that our dear Mother Marie Magdalene was right to say that God’s providence would do more than we were able to do with our hands. We only need to have con¤dence in God and wait for the time and the hour when it will please our dear Lord to send us those graces that we were deserving of to work on for His greater glory. Just as soon as our dear mother said that she would trust in God’s mercy or His holy providence, one would think that that was all that God had wanted of the Sisters of the Holy Family. He wanted their true con¤dence in His holy will. Just as soon as we made up our minds to go out every day to beg, we had the best of luck and very soon paid for our house and many things that no one had ever expected us to get as soon as we did. And perhaps never had our dear mother thought before of sending sisters to get what was necessary for our daily wants. Before begging, she had tried many ways for the sisters to live from manual labor. When she saw that the best way was to beg, she said to the sisters, “I think that God wants us, my dear sisters, to be humble in this life. One thing is plain. When we work, we have some sort of trouble and lose in some way or another so that we can never get any money worth speaking of from that work. So we might just as well try something else to live. What we have should not make us in any way vain or proud by thinking that we have earned any of it ourselves, as God gives to the humble. When we pray, we can obtain many graces by great humility of heart which is most pleasing to our dear Lord.” When our dear Mother Marie Magdalene wanted a grace from God, she would do some act which was as humble as it could be. It was rare that she did not obtain the grace of God for which she had asked. And if she did not, she would say that it was not the holy will of God and was perfectly resigned, and she would thank God for not granting it. She would say that the only intention that she had when she left her dear mother was that of pleasing God in the holy state of life which she had chosen. She wanted only to do all that was for the glory of her loving Lord. No matter when it was, she was always ready to go and to do what was in her power to help all who called on her in time of need. She often deprived herself to give to others, but she, many times, would say to us, “That might have been my lot as well as theirs had it pleased our good

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Lord. But He was too merciful to me and for that very reason I must try to comfort others just as someone might have had to do the very same for me today instead of them.” Our dear mother well knew that God is the Master of all. She said, “If it pleased Him to make us as poor as another, it would be not hard or impossible for that Almighty hand to change and give my luck to someone more pleasing to Him than I am in many things. Perhaps they would put them to better use than what I have done. Only to think how many good souls are in want of so many things that we have and think nothing of. But those poor souls are not as lucky as ourselves so they are the more grateful.” We might get their souls in that way, for we have seen in this very house persons who came to beg a piece of bread and had never made their ¤rst communion. Just with a bite of bread, one soul was gained and taught to know and love God, their Maker. Perhaps God sent them to our door, not only to get bread for their bodies, but also for the soul. Who knows if that poor, uninstructed soul had a great love for God and had no one to help them manifest it. They could not do anything against the commandments of God and His holy church for the want of instruction. It was one of our dear mother’s greatest pains to meet someone who was unable to approach the holy sacraments for want of instruction. When there was anyone who was in need of food to nourish their souls, she would say that someone should teach them so they might not be deprived of their heavenly food. Her whole heart was ¤xed on God and the poor. She said that she did not trouble herself to ¤nd the poor as they were sent by men; no one seemed to care for them as long as she had been working for God. She said that when she died, God would reward her for what she had done for the poor in this life. She said that perhaps that was the only way that she was to get into heaven. She said that true charity was the key of heaven. If anyone wanted to go to heaven, they might be assured that they would enter through works of charity, and not only enter there, but make a short purgatory also. Our dear mother never missed praying for the poor souls of purgatory every November so that one day God might grant her the same grace.58 She prayed that someone would do for her after her death what she had done for others. She said her death might not be so long in coming as death, like a robber, comes unexpectedly when many are asleep and do not dream of dying so soon. While our dear mother was our general, she did much toward grandizing our little community, although many found that she was too strict and returned to their families. The women who left were of a different

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disposition. They kept the whole community in an uproar by wanting to be superior and to be boss instead of Mother Marie Magdalene. But they were not admired, so they withdrew but soon regretted it after it was too late and the scandal had been given. But all things happen for the best. They were persons who were of a very rebellious and ambitious nature. They were always disturbing the good peace of our community. They were unhappy and were making others the same. Since our rule did not compel us to elect anyone whom our dear sisters did not fancy, those parties became somewhat despondent and gave up all hope of of¤ce and retired from the community to be their own God Most High as the bad angels did. Since God was not willing for them to reign, He stopped them as He has stopped many such persons who were of their same mind. It was God’s blessing when they left and took with them those they had instilled with the same feelings. Since they and their rebellious spirits left, it proved much better for us. God has multiplied us to a double number. This rebellion occurred when Mother Marie Magdalene’s ¤rst term was almost expired and it gave her much sorrow. The incident might have been avoided so easily if these ambitious sisters had only made known their displeasure to our spiritual director, who would have refused them. He knew that Rev. Mother Marie Magdalene would not have remained under those circumstances. One term would have been suf¤cient for her. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene was naturally suited for this position as she was a person of very rare quality and a ¤ne manager. In the ¤rst place, she had been prepared to ¤ll the position before she was elected. Therefore, the sisters were not mistaken when she was placed at the head of our dear little community. We all knew that no other would take the same interest that she did. Even without any mortgages on the houses, we all knew the great responsibility and dangers we might face by placing in an important position someone who was high-falutin or in any way vain. That might have caused us all to sleep on straw, after all of the deprivations of our dear foundress and all who had worked so hard to have a place of retirement for all those who came after them. To allow one who never had a day’s trouble to walk in and destroy it would have been an awful thing for us. But God would not suffer anyone to do anything of the kind as we had prayed too hard to have a disorder like that. That would have been awful for all of us who had respect for our community or its superiors who had worked so hard to make it what it is today with the grace of God. Many thanks to Him if we are doing what we are doing today for the Church and for our neighbor. We can

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well say many thanks to Almighty God for all of the graces that we have received from heaven. Our sisters would never be where we are now had it not been for our dear friend, Mr. Thomy Lafon. He was so kind to think of our dear community as he did in his will. We were so much in need of help. The times were so very tight for many of our best and warmest friends of this city, although we had no reason to complain. We were much protected by all who knew us. The ¤rst time that our sisters received the holy habit and made their vows, we took up a collection and received over $2.00 on that day.59 On the Holy Thursday after we came to live here, we received $1.60 in the plate. There was a crowd coming and going every day and also on Sunday until six at night when our dear Mother Marie Magdalene was obliged to have the doors closed. She sent the crowd to the parish church to hear their mass so as not to have the fathers displeased with us on account of them leaving the church to hear mass in our house. For that reason, our dear mother had much pain. She was at one time forbidden to have mass and could only have benediction so many times a month. The priests at St. Louis Cathedral had complained about the church being empty and their members assisting at our devotions. In that way, we were cut off from our graces on Sunday and other days when we were accustomed to have mass in our chapel and that was only to please others. Mother Marie Magdalene stopped all who had become accustomed to come to our chapel, even in holy week. That deprived us of many graces that were available to other communities. Our dear sisters who were unable to go to the parishes were compelled to have no mass. That was somewhat hard for them. We were a good distance from our father director and did not have and do not have permission to confess to any other in our city. Our archbishop was in Rome. We were obliged to wait for his return to get one who could hear our confession, even in danger of death, which might have come at any time as we had many sisters who were in very poor health then. It would have given our dear mother much pain had anyone died without the rites of the Church. But God was too good for that, so we did not lose anyone then. Our good sisters prayed to God to preserve us from sickness and death until we would have a bishop for our city who would name an ecclesiastical father for us. It was only the grace of Almighty God that kept us from losing anyone during that time when we had no bishop. I say no one, but I had forgotten that we lost our dear old Mother Juliette, our second mother foundress, who was the only one of four who

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had the great pleasure of living to see our holy rule approved and blessed on March 19, 1887, on the feast of St. Joseph. When our holy rule was blessed, a new and beautiful convent bell tolled forty-¤ve times for the many years since our dear community commenced. What a great pity that Josephine did not live just two years longer to see ¤fty years with us and to receive a gold medal for her work before she went to see our dear Lord. If she had, she might have told all who had died and gone before her what and who had lived to see the old and dear Holy Family with its gold dress on in the city of New Orleans where it had been planted and raised to a useful and dear community with the grace of God. Only to think that our dear Mother Marie Magdalene had the whole community on her shoulders up until there was someone named to take charge of our sisters who was able to direct them as they should be. We were blessed in ¤nding good Father Gerlach, S.J., who stayed more than four years with us. He was only taken when the new Church of the Holy Name was opened and he was made the assistant. The church needed two fathers at that time, so we were the losers. It was the Jesuits’ rule to change the fathers every three years. It had been about that many years since Father Gerlach had become our director. So on May 27, 1892, he was replaced by Rev. Fabian Garbely, S.J., who was also a very noble and holy person. He drew down on our dear community a number of graces and holy vocations. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene had many crosses, trying to break our sisters of a great many little habits which were unbecoming to the religious state. She never had the good pleasure of seeing some of the sisters as she wished to see them. But I suppose that the time had not arrived for them to become saints. Our dear mother was so holy and perfect that she wanted everyone to be the same as she was herself or at least to try once in this life. We had entered a state of life which demanded that we try to become more and more perfect every day. We were to advance toward our perfection so that we might one day arrive at that point to which all good souls aspire. After one had passed enough time in the house of God, she should easily become a saint and try to make others also become as near as she could in this life of sin and misery. Mother Marie Magdalene as mistress of novices and superior had the power to correct those she trained when she saw that it was necessary to do so for the good of their souls and that of others who were in her charge. Our dear sisters who were teachers were to conduct themselves and instruct with most loving and motherly care so as to gain students true to the practices of their holy faith even after they had com-

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pleted their schooling and returned to their homes where they are deprived of so many spiritual advantages. That is where we can do much good for both the poor and the uninstructed. When our dear mother had the young uninstructed in her care, she many times scolded them about piety which she said was of a greater value than all other lessons. When the girls left the sisters, if they did not well understand piety, they might lose themselves and others whom they were with. We did all that was in our power to preserve them from all temptations they would be exposed to in trying to make their own living. Many of them had no mother or father and were dependent on their friends for support on returning to their homes. That was like going to another country, for all had been so much changed. Many had died and others had moved away to strange places to be supported. They were not able to do for themselves as their dear old mother and father had done for them when alive. One, after losing her mother and father, had no one to do for her what they had done for her when she was small. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene knew only too well that she was only preparing the girls to meet crosses, so that when their crosses would come, they would not be despondent and give up for a little or nothing. Many persons give up when God is pleased to send them some pain or sickness as He has does to the souls He loves. He wants to prove their love by giving them some small trouble that might make them know that everything has come from the Almighty hand of God. If we have anything, it also came from our dear Lord who is a kind and loving Father who wants to manifest His goodness to us by giving us a mark of His love. Our dear mother so many times said to us we must always impress on the tender hearts of the children what they will be exposed to after they have completed their schooling. That is when they will have to depend on themselves for a bite to eat without their mother or father to help them. In this life of pain, they will have to do for themselves, to be pure, and to have con¤dence in God. She also instilled the same into the young sisters who were under her. No one could believe that our dear mother was as full of compassion as she was. When one ¤rst met her, she seemed to be very tough, but those who knew her were struck with admiration. Her docile manners surprised those who saw her but had never spoken to her. Her beautiful set of teeth, bright, black eyes, and German complexion were as fresh as a rose in springtime. The modesty of her expression did not need to be published, for all who knew her were well aware of that and did not need to be told that she was one who was innocent. The very ¤rst glance would tell all that she was innocent without one’s asking any questions

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about her. If anyone ever asked, it was because it was so rare to see a person like her in this city. That was true, for we ourselves often remarked that we had never met one whose virtues were stamped on her face as they were on hers. When one looked at her, her cheeks were like a beet. That was because she was so bashful. Despite that fact, no one could take advantage of her in any way at all. She would soon make them understand at one glance what she was and who she was. As far as loving our dear Lord, she was a true Magdalene at the foot of the cross of Jesus, loving Him and begging pardon for her sins and thanking Him also for the graces that she had received. So much did she always feel ungrateful when she spoke of herself and her work with the Holy Family; she always felt as if she had done little. But she still worked up until her death with a great delight. She not only worked for us, but was trying to have an old priest go to a place called Big Cain,60 where she had two or three brothers living. She wanted him to say mass on Sundays and holy days for those poor families who were deprived of hearing mass three or four Sundays every month. Our dear mother was much af®icted to think of so many good and worthy persons who had no way of going in bad weather to receive their good Lord on Sundays as we do in the cities. She often said, “If those poor souls had the chances that we have, how happy they would be.” She said that in that way God would not ask them as much as He would ask us, for we had so many more graces than they. Perhaps they had pro¤ted from them more than we had with our few. Only to think of the many fervent souls who, after fasting and working the whole of Lent, always ¤nd some means of doing some forty days’ extra prayers. They pray many hours of the night after a whole day’s work. One might think that they would be contented to labor most of the day, that that was enough for them. Our dear mother would often tell of someone in her family who, after their day’s work, would go and sit up with some poor sick person of their parish or with a neighbor who was con¤ned to his or her bed with fever or with some other pains for some days. The priest had twenty-¤ve or thirty miles to ride when anyone was sick and needed the last sacraments or confession or communion for the dying. Our dear mother so often said that the life of a sister gave many graces that others did not have. When many of our sisters were really too sick to go to their duties, they would get up and go just as if they had never felt a pain at all. Our dear mother in that way had more sympathy than she would have had otherwise. She would go to visit the aged poor every Tuesday and take them sweets. On Friday, she made a short visit to the

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poor sick children and would bring them candies for she said that they were better pleased to have some candies than other sweets. That was why she did so. When our own poor orphans saw Mother Marie Magdalene coming, they would clap their hands and run to meet her with her basket that contained the candy. She would not take much time to deliver the whole sack. The children would ask for more if there was any to be had. If not, they would cry and make our dear mother promise them more the next time that she came. She knew better than to go without the basket or she would have bad friends that would not be so happy the next time that she went there to see them. She had given them that habit of expecting something whenever they saw her coming. She was under an obligation to them to bring at all times candy and cakes. The poor little ones would pray every day for our dear mother and who knows but that it was their little petitions that drew the blessing of God on our house and community and its members, or what trouble we might have had many a time when least expected it. Our dear mother had the good will of three of our dear sisters whom God sent to help us get a shelter for us to work for God and our people. The hearts of our dear little orphans, the prayers of the old women, and the state of our misery must have touched the mercy of God and made Him send someone who might be able to release Mother Marie Magdalene of her heav y burden of debt. Our poor mother had been at times very despondent over our debt, for we had signed over our best property in payment on this house. Our dear mother was in much fear of losing not only what our poor foundresses had brought in with them but also the labor of so many years’ work. The saddest part was that all that would have gone for no use at all. When we looked at that, we trembled at the very idea of such a thing. The times had already begun to grow dull and many who were accustomed to help us were themselves in want of many things for their own families. They did not know what they were to do later if things remained as they then were in 1883, the ¤rst dawn of the present hard times for our community. One or two years before that, our hopes were bright and we feared no shadow of what was called hard times. Nor did our mother superior dream of anything of that kind. She would have never accepted any such responsibility at that time knowing what the circumstances would be for her and the whole community; also as we had no one to take an interest in us at that time until things were settled for us and our heav y note paid. Our poor mother had many a bitter pill to swallow for the same house in which we now live, although she only consented to buy it. But when the blame came, it all fell on Sister Marie Magdalene, as she had just

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been named assistant to Rev. Mother Josephine. The other sisters were all cowards. They were afraid to be rejected when Mother Josephine resigned and the choice was made to replace her as superior. Even so, they protested against the one they thought might be her successor. They tried to prevent her being elected as the bishop intended. But Almighty God never would allow one who was innocent to suffer such injustices as they wanted to in®ict on her. It was enough to see that those who were trying to take her place were not ¤t to have it. They should never have tried to do what they did to her. One should avoid doing anything to make anyone talk or think of taking another’s place at all. If a soul loves God, they should not try to do anything to give themselves pride. On the contrary, they should assist others in their spiritual welfare and not interrupt them. They should not prevent, as many have done, the happiness of a very holy, fervent, and simple sister who becomes an of¤cer and is thus changed. Some superiors have often lost their vocation and returned to the world because of this. We knew that our dear Mother Marie Magdalene was not likely to do anything of that sort. One could very soon tell that those who wanted to be heard might lose their souls. It was very plain that they were trying to become the mother superior of the community in order to become boss and not for God’s glory at all. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene’s whole heart was on the sisters. She was always thinking and trying to see what would be better for the sisters to do to save their health, what they should wear or eat or drink. She would much rather do without herself than see one of her sisters in need of the smallest thing. In that way, one was obliged to love and respect a dear soul like Mother Marie Magdalene who labored almost thirty-one years for our dear community. She entered when our community was in its cradle and needed some young and holy subjects who would spend their whole hearts in working for the greater glory of God and the poor who had no one to help them. They needed someone whose holy and charitable intention would push them to console God’s poor. Those who helped the poor well knew that what they did for them would be one day rewarded by God in heaven. We all know that charity is a key that will open the gates of heaven when no others can. By these means, one who has been kind to others in this life need not fear. Our dear Lord is true to His promises when He says that even a cool glass of water has its reward in the next life.61 So why should one refuse to do for another when it is in one’s power to relieve our neighbor? That was one of our dear mother’s chief advices. That was also her last wish for all who call themselves children of the Holy Family. She had labored so long and hard for them in this life and died for them. We cannot do as she did,

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but let us try. One day we might succeed with a good will, as the angel said on the night of which our dear Lord was born in the stable.62 Our dear mother wished to see and dress our new and handsome altar for Christmas only one month before her death. We hope that she spent her Christmas in the holy city of heaven where the altars are always ready to sing the praises of God. Her sentiments in regard to the duties of a religious were so beautiful; they were whole-hearted and meant solely for God’s glory no matter what one had to contend with or where one was to go. That made an excellent impression on those who heard and saw her good example. On that very subject, many of those who saw her many good examples would often say, “If I could become as holy as our dear Mother Marie Magdalene whose whole heart and soul was on the poor and their welfare, I would not fear death at any time or any day.” It seemed that when she spoke of death, she was for a time waiting or hoping to have the pleasure of dying as a sister on the feast of the Holy Family. She loved the Holy Family so well in this life and wanted to become a member of the true Holy Family in heaven for all eternity. Our dear mother was one of the ¤rst to dress the altar in the old cradle house of the Holy Family on Bayou Road. What she did not beg, she was able to get from the lotteries for the altar: the laces, the gospel book, cards, and many other things such as candlesticks and wine set for the wine and water. She then begged for all that was needed for the mass and to keep everything neat in every way. Up until her death, she was attached to the chapel in whatever house she was sent to. It was always a part of her work either to obey or to direct those who had charge of the chapel or who were interested in it. One only needed to see Mother Marie Magdalene to know that she was a person of great taste and a lover of trimming altars. Her greatest delight was to work about the churches. On that account, she was chosen by all of our superiors to conduct the chapel with the assistance of a novice who was also inclined to work about the altars. She was so very tasteful about anything that was sacred and was also an excellent manager in anything that needed to be grandized. I have seen her make a small doll and sell it for $25 or $30 to get anything that she needed for the altar; she did it with such ease. If another tried the same thing, it would take them two or three months to dispose of it because they charged a greater value than it was worth. They would sell it only after great trouble and perhaps lose money. But Mother Marie Magdalene was always a person of good luck. I only have to think of how she made our dear little community ®ourish as it did in such a short time. She did it more with God’s holy grace and prayer than

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with all of the money that one could have. The main thing was that she was simple in all of her actions. By that means, she drew many graces on herself and the whole community. A lady who has humility will always draw blessings from heaven on herself and others. The same is not true of one who is proud. She will draw anything that is bad on a whole community. Our dear mother was much afraid of that and watched closely to prevent anything which might have caused scandal in the house. She would often exhort the sisters to avoid against many small things so as not to get out of their religious role of life. She also exhorted them to be on their guard at all times and in all places where they might be more exposed to dangers of any kind or by any way in the world. She was on some points well inspired about certain things which might have occurred if she had not watched with so much attention as she did on many occasions. Had she not been aware of all of those things before becoming our general at the time that she did, many disorders might have had to have been recti¤ed. If our dear mother was strict, she made up for it by the motherly affection she had which repaid her sharp and picking expressions. She had the greatest horror of anything which was unbecoming to a Christian and could never support any which was against either ministry or charity. If, by chance, she heard the least tone of it from a child or sister, she would shout after the one who had made the expression and forbid them ever saying those words any more as they were so displeasing to her. Were they ever spoken in her presence, she would not pay any notice to those who were guilty of such language for she disapproved of such conduct from anyone. By that means, she was not troubled with it any more. Our dear mother was so well acquainted with holy and spiritual things and persons that it was hard for me to disagree with her on many points, no matter what they were. Many have tried to disagree with her, but without success. She was not at all afraid to tell them that she knew what they were after, or at least what they intended doing if they could succeed with their wishes. She was inspired with the ¤rst sight of a person, whether they were good or bad, and she very rarely was deceived in her judgment of anyone she suspected in any way in their views. Our dear mother was a good judge of almost anything in the business line. Had she not been so timid or modest, she would have been a person of rare capacity. She was so scrupulously raised by her parents and she was also so very holy. Thus she was always hidden from the world and its ways. She was only seen by holy persons. I often remarked that she was cut out for a sister when she was born. On all occasions she was ¤rm and perfectly at ease. She never sought anything but what was becoming

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to her state of life. She could never tolerate the least thing that was not becoming to anyone who called themselves pious or who professed to at least want to have others think them so. She was so plain in all ways. She had the greatest horror of those who did not share her sentiment. She said that all who call themselves children of God or rather Christians ought to have these feelings. They should neither have nor show any vanity. If they did, someone might say, “Would you believe that Rev. Mother Marie Magdalene was as vain as that, for she has always objected so much to vanity and was never known to be the least vain in anything.” One must see her, so fresh and rosy and fat with an even set of pearly teeth that had not a speck of decay. Her teeth were so very beautiful that almost everyone admired them every time they met her. Many times she would ring the bell of the streetcar to prevent persons from staring her in the face in the colored section of the car. Many would even say, “Do you not see that she is a German sister. Look at her.” And many would just see the holiness in her face. Who would think that one as young and rosy as that would hide themselves in a convent like she did? But she did good for the poor and the sick or anyone who needed charity in any way. Our dear mother was one of the ¤rst to take hold of an urgent situation and carry it into execution. If at any time, she was called to go to the sick, far or near, she was ready to go. She was so very holy that she was very successful with the sick and dying. Since she was so simple, they were not at all embarrassed to expose their little miseries to her, so that she might help them to examine and prepare for their last confession. That was a great satisfaction for her to know that when they were dying they were in peace with God. To think how near they came to losing their beautiful souls and to see how full of charity she was in contending with scorn against our dear Catholic faith by the uninstructed. One of our dear mother’s pains was to know how sweet our holy faith was and to think of how many poor souls were deprived of this faith. She would also weep and pray that Almighty God would open some way that she would be able to go or to send someone to teach them how to love and praise their Master who is worthy of thanks for so much love of His part and to know how we had been so ungrateful of the many graces received from God. Our dear mother was rarely idle. When she was, she would go into the chapel and there she would weep and pray for hours. At times, she was like Saint Magdalene at the cross of our dear Lord. Many of the sisters would say to her, “You have the right name, if any one of us has.” Many a one remarked that when she entered our community she looked like

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her also for she was fair and had honey colored hair that was so long it nearly touched the ®oor when she was standing. Not one of the three mother superiors who administered before Mother Marie Magdalene ever pushed toward drawing up our rule. They all wanted to wait for the will of God, but she said, “Why not push the holy will of God, as it is for the greater glory of God that we are working and it must be pleasing to His holy will that our community has made its work progress within the last forty-¤ve or ¤fty years since its foundations? So why not draw up some sort of a rule that it might serve us as a staff to branch out into other cities to glorify God in those places. They may need some help also as well as we do ourselves. Their want may be more than ours. If we examine it, it may be a sel¤sh idea of ours to think that it is only in New Orleans that souls have need of instruction or that our faith should be planted. So by those means one might just as well remain at home with her own family.” If that is the case, our dear Mother Marie Magdalene had many expectations for forming new branches. It was only for the want of subjects that she was obliged to refuse them which was a lot of pain for her when she re®ected on it.63 She knew too well that those poor souls were so much in need of some instruction and no one seemed to interest themselves in the least about whether they were saved or lost. And many were very piously inclined. They only needed someone who loved God and on that account was willing to share their consolations with other souls or at least to prepare them to receive their God at Easter time or more often if they desired to do so after having been instructed for that intention. Some have a desire to unite their souls to God in holy communion. That is our only and best consolation in this land of exile and above all when we have trouble of any kind and also if we love God and wish to be loved by Him in return. One of our sweetest moments in this valley of tears is to love God and to receive Him in the holy communion. It not only drives away all the pain and sadness from our hearts; it makes us light in heart. Dear mother was so scrupulous about the candidates who were to be examined for the ¤rst communion. She much preferred to have fewer than so many. She often said that it was better to have one than many who were badly disposed. She said that one bad ¤rst communion would draw the anger of God on the whole city, and would never consent to over ¤fty in a band when she had anything to say about their nomination. Only to think of the great responsibility. So many souls could be lost in a single bad confession. When one re®ects on that, it is enough to cause one to lose their minds if they were the suspects at all or rather

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weak in mind. One only has to read the passion of our dear Lord where He condemns Judas by the one single bad communion—which was his last—that he had made on Holy Thursday.64 Our dear and pious mother was always so much afraid on that day of not being as worthy of receiving our dear Lord as she should. Her spirit of fear made me also afraid of going to the holy table on that day. We passed many anxious nights in that way until our dear old Rev. Gilbert Raymond was obliged to forbid us to think about it. But Mother Marie Magdalene was by nature very scrupulous and her whole family was the same. After very many years in the community, she somewhat overcame this and was as happy as could be. But I afterwards thought that it was only because she was afraid to cause others too much uneasiness, as she knew how uneasy she herself had been in years gone by. I realized that after her two terms of superiorship. She had made a visit of some weeks to her family over at Grand Cane in search of rest. When she came back, she brought with her a little China bush which is now a large China tree out in our back yard, which we were afraid to water on the following Sunday, September 6, 1885, ¤ve months after the death of our dear Rev. Mother Josephine.65 Her death left a very sad gloom on all of our community, but more on our dear Mother Marie Magdalene than the rest. It was Mother Josephine who had taken her hand for the ¤rst time and taught her to make the sign of the cross when she was a stranger to our holy faith before making her ¤rst communion. She also taught her the ¤rst step of the holy state of life which she had chosen. That was why she had been advised by our director to make a short visit home. She needed a few weeks’ distraction as she had been so much af®icted by the death of Mother Josephine. Sisters Anne and Ursula went with her;66 one of these had instructed Mother Marie Magdalene’s ¤ve nieces when they were boarding with us. Since it was vacation, the young ladies who were not from this city had been conducted to their parents until school reopened. Since our dear mother had not enjoyed good health for some two or three months and might have fallen worse at any time, we did not feel that she should go so far from home with one sister. We did not think it too safe as one sister might not be suf¤cient in case of illness and the sisters themselves were also much in need of rest. They too had been af®icted, the same as our dear mother. A little air was good for them as they had taught for many months in the warm classrooms. It was well, for that visit much improved the three. They came home better both in soul and body. They had gone driving every day and the air had

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strengthened them much. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene ate two times as much as before the visit. Not only that, but they received the sum of about $15 per month for the ¤ve young ladies’ board. That very nearly amounted to $3 apiece as it was just when the planters were disposing of their crops and were better able to meet their bills than any other time. They are obliged to deprive themselves of many things or rather deprive their families of little things until their crops are disposed of. If the shops are unjust in dealing with them, they are as badly off as before. If they are not a little sharp in keeping their own books, they labor only for others. Only to think how many poor men, after their whole year’s labor, have been swindled out of their pro¤ts by men from whom they were obliged to take credit until they had gotten their whole year’s produces and disposed of them. In that way, there are many poor families who only work to pay the merchants who set their own price on their goods, so as to come out the richest of the two. When the poor planter comes to settle up, he has not a dime more than before. God had blessed our dear mother. Her brothers were all planters but had been instructed by their father who was a Yankee and a sharp one too. He had made himself rich and then went back to his own country67 to live in ease when the war came. When almost everyone else lost all, he was setting up in New York in grand style, living on the income from the money which he had made in our country. We were almost starving for bread and meat, while they had greedily taken the wealth of one country and then gone back home to live on it. It is true that he was a person who always gave charity to the poor and had always done much for her mother. But he made a large part of his money before the war came on and sent it in New York where it was safe. Even though our dear mother worked much for our dear community, she did not feel as if she had done anything for it. She was trying to grandize our chapel at all times and days, when she was able to do in any way in the world. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene before her death wanted to do many things for our dear little community that would have been a great bene¤t to us. But it pleased God to take her when He did or she would have lived to complete her work. She had worked more than all three who had conducted our community before her. It was she who had gotten up our habit or rather had gotten up our ghimp and also the card.68 One of the best things she got was the white veil for the novices and the large collar also. She said that it was against our vows to make the collar small. After the novices made their vows, they could not use them any more. When they were in a poor branch house, they could

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leave the collars there so that the sisters who remained could use them also. In that way, they would not need to get others and could always save their money for other things that were needed later. Many of our branches were out in the country where it was not an easy matter to get what one needed every day and Sunday too. Many a time, they needed bread or meat and did not have a nickel to get them for the three or four sisters who were assigned to that house for eight or ten months. More than once, they had high water and were unable to get home to the motherhouse for their vacation and retreat. Since they could not come home at the time, the poor sisters were obliged to miss their vacation and retreat. They were thus out there all year without seeing home and their sisters. That was very hard for them, as everyone liked to come to the city sometimes to see how everything looked. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene, after two or three times being caught that way, permitted our sisters to take turns visiting the city during the holidays. That was in case anything might prevent their coming down to the city for vacation during the summer or when their schools closed. Times were too dull to live there during those three months. Our dear mother was well aware of what her dear sisters had to contend with. She herself had lived at all of the branch houses before becoming our mother superior. Our dear mother could have opened a lot of houses had she been another person. But her true and motherly prudence made her re®ect as to how her dear children would ¤nd bread to eat during the wet and cold winter days. She was thinking also of their souls and how they were to get to mass on Sundays and holidays. When she had examined closely all those points, she was ready to comply with their request. We remember that two or three times the priests who had asked our dear mother for sisters were quite angry with her for not sending them. Our dear mother’s only and simple reply was that her duty was to look out for the spiritual wants of the sisters who were entrusted to her care, as if she was doing in all things for herself. She was under the impression that if she were to neglect her duties to the sisters, Almighty God would hold her accountable for causing the sisters to go against their vows. She tried to avoid as much as it was in her power to cause the sisters to go against their vows in any way. She did not want them to suffer unjustly on any hard mission where they were not properly cared for, either spiritually or temporally. She intended to open up a house in northeast Louisiana, just at the time that her second term was expiring. But since we were obliged according to our holy rule to elect another for one or two terms, that ended

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that subject. By the time the two or three years of Rev. Mother Marie Cecilia’s term had expired, our poor Mother Marie Magdalene was sleeping in her eternal home. Mother Marie Cecilia, who had been an assistant to Mother Marie Magdalene for over six years, became our general. As she was well acquainted with both friends and community, she had very little dif¤culty in directing our community. Things went like music paper in the dear old Holy Family, since things were not at all strange to the one who had been elected at that time. With the grace of God, our dear sisters who so much loved and respected our dear and faithful Mother Marie Magdalene seemed not so much embarrassed at the changes of her holy state of life. It is true that Mother Marie Cecilia was instructed well by our dear Mother Marie Magdalene. She received a very strong and perfect training from her during the six years in which she served under her. Mother Marie Magdalene had trained her in her own of¤ce so that when her term expired, we would not have any trouble in replacing her. She knew by experience that we might be troubled about losing her. So she did all in her power to avoid that as much as she could. It was well that she was so thoughtful, as we might have had a bad time otherwise. But our dear Lord counseled our dear mother and granted her the grace of ¤nding one who was to take her place who was very much like herself in regard to the welfare of our dear community. She copied as much as she could all of Mother Marie Magdalene’s intentions. Mother Marie Magdalene died before completing her many wishes in founding other branches for the glory of God and the good of souls in this state and others. She believed that it would please Almighty God for our dear sisters to go into other cities to evangelize the people of other churches who had no chance of knowing the true faith or of receiving the sacraments of our holy mother, the Catholic Church. Our dear mother did all that she could for her own community of dear sisters. She grandized us in many ways, thanks be to God. Rev. Father Dufour was our director and Rev. Chassé our ecclesiastical superior. They drew up our holy rule and began to write it. But since they were [transferred], our rule was completed by Rev. DeCarriere. It was in the last of the two terms of our dear Mother Marie Magdalene that our holy rule was blessed. Mother Marie Magdalene handed the rule to each of our sisters on July 22, 1887. That was the same year that Most Rev. F. X. Leray, the Rev. Archbishop of New Orleans, died; our dear Mother Marie Magdalene died three years later. That was another pain for our dear little community. We were obliged to wait one year for another director. It was an excitement to know who

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was going to replace Archbishop Leray. Many wanted a Frenchman and had already made their choice of an old brother.69 We were under a very heav y debt we had contracted over a period of ten years or more. But a little before our dear Mother Marie Magdalene’s death, God opened the heart of some good persons. We had the great happiness of borrowing the money free of interest which gave us the chance of freeing ourselves of that burden. We then contracted another debt when we opened the new orphans’ home which only received its ¤rst stroke one month after our dear mother’s death on November 9, 1890.70 Even on that day, the rain was so very heav y that the men could not work until the next day, November 10.71 Only to think that she had so long desired to see a new home for our poor little orphan girls and just at the time that God opened a way to have it, she was taken so very ill and died. Her death was the end of her manual labor which was not as necessary for us as her prayers. We have received so many unexpected graces since her death and are still receiving them without ceasing. Many of these are graces that our dear mother had asked for some time before her death and had not received. One may well see that what we ask of God is never lost and many times we ask God for things that might only do us greater harm. God is so good that He would not have us lose our souls. That is why we do not always receive what we ask from Almighty God. If we did receive all that we asked, we would many times regret it after we had re®ected on the dangers that might come upon us had our dear Lord not refused to grant the request that we so earnestly prayed for. That was the case with our dear Mother Marie Magdalene, for she asked God for so many things and many times regretted not having obtained them, despite so many petitions to heaven. But as soon as she was dead, much of what she had earnestly prayed for came showering down on her dear community. One might say that some pray for a grace for others to enjoy after their own deaths. As God is the best judge of all things, we cannot complain of anything that He does, whether it pleases us or not. God, like a good and loving father, is obliged to care for His children in a most particular and loving manner. Almighty God had protected our dear community. Many of the graces which we now receive are no doubt granted chie®y from the many fervent and contrite prayers from our dear mother. Her heart was so penetrated with the love of God, like her holy parent, St. Magdalene. Every day after 4 o’clock, she knelt behind some door in the chapel crying not only for her own sins, but for those of others who do not think

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it anything to offend their God by making new sins each minute. They do not think this an insult to their Maker. Our dear mother had long prayed that God might open some way that the poor abandoned souls in the country might one day get some means of having our sisters open a house where their poor little children might be instructed in their holy faith. Up until her death, our dear mother had worked to have our sisters go to many parts where they were needed. When she saw the sisters on Sundays blessed with hearing two masses, she would say, “Oh, my dear children, you have so many blessings that so many holy and worthy souls are deprived of. Not even in their last moments have they the consolation of receiving the last rites that our holy mother, the Catholic Church, grants to her dying children all over the world.” That is what we should pray for and ask of our dear Lord every day of our lives. We should be ready and willing as our dear mother was when she was only a simple sister. Even when our dear mother became our mother superior, she never refused to do anything that needed to be done in the community. No one was more ready to accept a task. Many would say to us that Sister Marie Magdalene belonged to God and that her example would never die whether good or bad. On the days when there was much work to be done, she was one of the ¤rst to take hold of it. No matter what it was or who the duty belonged to, it was her delight to do it. She never complained about anything at all no matter what the consequences were. In that way, she was never afraid to give orders to others. She never knew what one might call preferences, as she said that in the house of God all were the same and no one could say that he was more than the others. He who was better instructed should give the best example to all of the rest according to the doctrine of our dear Lord. So by that, she had rarely anyone who wanted to pass for more than they were in the whole community. None of the sisters prided themselves on being better or smarter than others according to their own holy rule. As they had left all, they persisted to live as the poor for the love of our dear Lord. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene was never so happy as when she was working for God’s poor, for she had been instructed by one of the foundress mothers who was something like St. Martin, who would undress himself and give his clothes to the poor.72 She had not forgotten these things after she became our general. Being one who loved the poor by nature, she made it her chief endeavor to provide for those who were unable to do for themselves. She tried in everything to make serving the poor one of her principal vows. She always taught that no one could

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better manifest their love for God than to love and do for His poor. Until now, the same spirit has prevailed in our holy little community. It is perhaps stronger than it has ever been before since the beginning of our foundation. Our sisters still have the good will and the true love of the poor that their dear mothers instilled into our Sisters of the Holy Family since our foundation in the year 1842. It would be a very hard thing for me to say which of the four deceased superiors was the most charitable. Rev. Mother Juliette Gaudin was a soul who could not see anyone in want and would go in rags herself to give to those who pretended to have no bread to eat. But Rev. Mother Marie Magdalene would go with her basket and see for herself and then she knew whether she was making the true charity or not. If she suspected any souls, then she would very quickly say that we were too poor to do much for them. But if they were willing, she could bring them some work as we had always plenty of that. Then we could easily teach them and not keep them waiting too long for their work. If they would accept work from others, she would get it; they could then rely on the other persons for that work. In that way, she could do something for them without indulging their bad habits by allowing them to impose on the charity of others as many have often done. Our dear mother was a person of great prudence, even in her charity toward the poor. Her whole soul was ¤lled with sympathy for the needy, but she did not nourish the least vice in anyone. She said that as long as they could work, she would give them support by giving them the means of helping themselves. When the needy became too feeble to work, then she would do all that she could for them with the best of spirits. She was hunted out by many poor girls whom she had taught to respect themselves by not depending on others, but to help themselves in some way so that when they really needed a little help, it would come better and more willingly. But as she often said, we should greatly sympathize with those who came needing one thing or another. But if they called too often, we should not have the same response to them. It is so strange to say that after our dear mother reared so many of those poor girls and made all kinds of charity for them, there was only one who mourned for her after death. That was a little black girl whom she had taken at the age of seven years. She alone asked to wear mourning for one year. Her name was Liza Cole; her mother had died over at Bay St. Louis, Miss. A lady for whom her mother had worked for a number of years was kind enough to tell the little girl’s father to bring her to the Sisters of the Holy Family. Mrs. Brenth was a very holy and generous Catholic person and a member of the best families of both

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Baltimore, Maryland, and New Orleans. She was also a sister to the celebrated lawyer L. J. Semmes. When Mrs. Brenth saw that we had no room over at our little orphans’ home, she agreed to pay the sum of $7 per month to Rev. Mother Marie Magdalene for the girl until she was larger and able to look out for herself. But later when the lady was called to another city by sickness, she gave Liza to our dear mother to keep. The girl is still living with us and will, if we receive her, become a sister of our community.73 Our dear mother has been dead about ¤ve years. Now we have very few girls who have shown the same respect and gratitude as Miss Liza Cole. Many of the girls have more reason to show gratitude, but they did not because they have no respect for themselves. If they had, that would not be the case with them. But after they have completed their studies and learned everything for themselves, they go away and pass for some grand big bugs. Many of them have gone so far as to deny our sisters. They tell people who knew them before that they are not of this city. Those people would come and tell us what they had said about where they had been instructed, although they had never received a day’s schooling in any other school but one of ours. Being so ungrateful, they are ashamed to acknowledge the kindness of our sisters. They thought their best plan was to say that they had been to another school. They were trying to avoid letting others know that they had received their instruction from us gratis. These girls had been so poor, but were too proud to go to the public school and they knew that our dear mother had too much charity to say that our sisters had given them their schooling free. So they took that plea. They believed that if they did not abandon us after they had completed their studies and become grand young ladies, they would not be the big bugs they represented themselves to be. They feared that all that might go against them later when they least expected. The times had much changed and everyone was trying to do the best for themselves and to pass as best they could in this city. Our dear Mother Marie Magdalene’s heart was too large for the poor of all classes. Few of them returned her any feelings after they had received what they needed. When they had their crosses lifted from their shoulders, there was no more Sisters of the Holy Family for them. They wanted to do what they pleased. Only as long as they were under the eyes of Mother Marie Magdalene, did they feel as if they must respect what pleased her, even through they knew that she would always protect them as no other would. I, as well as they, know that a soul so full of charity is not to be found every day in this life. Someone like her could be canonized by the whole

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world. One might say, “Oh, that was only for a person of great virtues. When such a person comes, one might always expect to hear of her.” But I can say that was not so with her, for she was too much detached from the things in this life to try to gain anyone’s favor. For earthly esteem was for her like a thing that should be covered in a tomb. She was so reserved and holy that she would have thought it a mortal sin to try to gain anyone’s earthly esteem. She was too well instructed in our holy faith for that. Our dear sisters loved her so much that they were very deeply pained after her death; it was a long time before they could get over it. Even today, there are many who have not entirely resigned themselves because of the attachment they had for her. I ¤nd very often that I myself am too much and too long weary at the loss of one who was so very holy and worthy of being esteemed. We believe that to ¤nd one who was more pleasing to God would be a very hard matter, for she had many ¤ne virtues that were very rare in our days. Now I am about to the conclusion of my notes in regard to our dear Mother Marie Magdalene Alpaugh who was re-elected general superior on July 31, 1885, three months before Rev. Mother Josephine’s death. She had served a three-year term as assistant administrator before the death of Mother Josephine. There may be some notes found later, but I cannot get them now, as my health is very poor. There will be many things wrong that must be corrected in these pages. June 14, 1895.

PART FOUR

MOTHER MARIE CECILIA CAPLA

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CHRONOLOGY 1851 1874

1875 1876 1879 1881

1882 1885 1888

1889 1890 1925

Adorelia Capla born in New Orleans on April 10. Enters the community of the Sisters of the Holy Family April 13. Four months after joining the community is assigned to the new convent and school in Opelousas where Sister Elizabeth Wales is superior. Begins novitiate August 14, taking the religious name Marie Cecilia. Professes her vows September 18, 1876. Marie Cecilia named superior in Opelousas; then she is named secretary to Mother Josephine Charles. The community opens a new convent and school at 810 Florida Street, East Baton Rouge. Sister Marie Cecilia is local superior. Elected to assist Mother Superior Marie Magdalene Alpaugh. Reelected assistant. Death of Juliette Gaudin January 1. Marie Cecilia Capla elected mother superior; serves all but the last eleven days of her term. Marie Magdalene Alpaugh elected her assistant. Fr. Joseph Gerlach named confessor and spiritual director. A ¤re at Faranta’s circus necessitates closing the convent for several months. Repaired convent reopens in June. Marie Magdalene Alpaugh dies October 16. Marie Cecilia Capla dies December 5.

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MARIE CECILIA CAPLA was perhaps the community’s last mother superior who had known the community’s three foundresses. She was born in New Orleans on April 10, 1851; she was baptized ten days later and given the name Adorelia Capla. Like many Catholic children, she was con¤rmed at the age of twelve, on June 31, 1863. There is a dearth of information about her early life. According to Deggs, she, like the other superiors of the nineteenth century, was reared in a wellto-do family. As a consequence, she had advantages that most children in Louisiana, black or white, did not have. Yet, despite her somewhat af®uent background, she would have had a childhood fraught with hardship and confusion. When she was only eleven years old, the Civil War tore the fabric of New Orleans’ social and political system, and economic circumstances were extremely tenuous. After Union troops occupied the city in 1862, basic necessities like food and clothing were cut off, which proved especially dif¤cult for the city’s women and children. Things eventually improved, but the occupation by Union troops continued to cause resentment and fear. After the war, as the city sought to reassemble its economy, the political, economic, and social climate was in turmoil. Reconstruction politics split the black population, creating even more uncertainty and fear. It was during Reconstruction, on April 15, 1874, at the age of twenty-three, that Adorelia Capla entered the community as a postulant. She began her novitiate on August 14, 1875. She professed her vows on September 18, 1876, and was given the religious name Marie Cecilia. Sister Marie Cecilia’s importance to the community is evident in the way in which Deggs describes her. Her education made her one of the most learned sisters in the community. Deggs tells us that it was only a short time after she entered the community that she was teaching French, the arts, and needlework. Those were the skills that racially mixed middle-class families sought for their daughters. Many of the children of the poverty-stricken, newly freed population received no education, or were apprenticed. A few went to schools run by the American Missionary Association. But the older Catholic schools, run by the Sisters of Mount Carmel and the Sisters of the Holy Family, continued to educate girls in domestic and academic skills. The sisters were always mindful that many of their girls would have to support themselves and thus would need educations that gave them earning abilities.

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After the Ursulines turned the school for free girls of color over to Sister Ste. Marthe Fontière in 1823, the girls were educated in separate schools, away from white girls. But even as the city’s children were segregated into different parochial schools, its Catholic community continued to worship together. It was not until the 1880s and 1890s that the Catholic Church in South Louisiana, including New Orleans, began to discuss segregating its parishes. Doris Egger Labbé describes the beginnings of segregation in the city’s churches in Jim Crow Comes to Church. Catholic parishes of the old or French part of the city contained both black and white families. Canon Peter Benoit, an English Mill Hill father, came to New Orleans in 1875 in order to determine if there was a need for missionaries for blacks in the city. He was rebuffed by Archbishop Perché, who informed him that his diocesan priests provided adequately for the needs of black Catholics, especially those in the French section, though he did suggest that there might be some need in the English-speaking part of the city, where most of the blacks were Protestants. But Benoit already knew that. He wrote in his diary that the position of blacks in the French-speaking part of the city and the relationship of the clergy toward them “differs materially from that of most cities, where the Negroes were mostly Methodist or Baptist.” But that was only in the French-speaking part of the city, where the French priests were anxious to keep the support of their black parishioners. The reasons, as Benoit pointed out, were at least in part practical: “the French clergy would not like to have them withdrawn from their churches because they are their chief support. The Creoles or real French here are, I am sorry to say, as stingy here as in their own country. They support the theatres, and go to them well dressed. But they don’t support their churches in the same way nor are they frequenters of the sacraments.”1 The consciousness of the sisters, the way in which they de¤ned their mission, lay deeply submerged in traditional identities of race, class, and condition. They had each personally borne the full weight of racism. As women of color, no matter their condition, heritage, skin color, wealth, or in®uence, they suffered rejection and degradation, even from the city’s white priests and nuns. Yet, it seems it was only those lightskinned, educated, free women of color from in®uential families who could have succeeded where other women of color would have failed. Deggs tells us near the beginning of her account that it was the pious Frenchwoman Jeanne Marie Aliquot, who was teaching at the St. Claude Street School, who saw “that there were six or eight young

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—Eds.

PART FOUR

quadroon or octoroon ladies who wished to found an order, [and that] she was delighted and offered herself as mistress of novices.” Thus in a near dizzying way, the women who eschewed the conventions so fundamental to the three-tiered social system of slavery in New Orleans were also the same women who were forced to use those same conventions in order to further their mission. Deggs again indicates the racial attitudes of the larger community and of the Sisters of the Holy Family when writing about Adorelia Capla. “Everyone in the city knew of Miss Adorelia Capla. She was the favorite of society. Her father had not spared any money on her accomplishments. One might suppose that she would have been one of the last to say adieu to the world, for she was not only noble and lovely, but also intelligent.” Yet those attributes meant little to Capla who, Deggs tells us, chose while still a child to work with those for whom she had the greatest compassion, the slaves. Deggs’ writings about race, class, condition, and skin color re®ect the fundamental contradiction that lay at the center of the identities of the women, and she tells us much about the attitudes of free women of color in New Orleans in general. Yet her pennings also re®ect the changes in tradition and attitude that accompanied the political changes that occurred from the 1840s to the 1880s.

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mother marie cecilia capla

Let us now enter the fourth part. That is the administration of our ¤fth but second elected mother general. Mother Marie Magdalene’s successor was the Rev. Mother Marie Cecilia Capla, who had also been instructed by our dear Mother Josephine. Mother Marie Cecilia did not enter our community until nine years after Mother Marie Magdalene did. She lived near the sisters, but was afraid that she might have some trouble with her family. They were not too well disposed to the idea of her becoming a nun since she was the right hand of the house and the oldest of her father’s daughters. She was the ¤rst to be instructed in all the arts and had a most lovely and gay disposition. She was the only one whom the whole house looked on as mother for everything they wanted at all times. She had the feeling of a mother before she was grown, which was why God chose her to labor in His house. So even though the world had placed its charms on her, grace gained the victory. When Mother Henriette and Rev. Etienne Rousselon died, our dear Marie Cecilia Capla had not even made her ¤rst communion. She made it when Father LeCozic had taken our dear Father Raymond’s place. That was after Father Raymond’s foot had become swollen. He was unable to continue to instruct the children as he was unable to move out of his seat. That was just at the time of the children’s examination and the archbishop had been called to Rome on a very urgent matter.2 It was on the day of her ¤rst communion that our dear Marie Cecilia announced to her friends her great desire to become a sister. No one believed that she would obtain her father’s consent as easily as she did. But it must have been the holy will of God, for she never gave up her intention and there was much ado about it when the news reached the ears of her old and warm friends. But she was not the least disturbed about what others said nor was she the kind of person who troubled herself about anything that was told to her. She was so very determined to put her wishes in execution, knowing that she had but one soul and if she lost it, all would be lost. The beautiful Miss Adorelia M. Capla choose to enter in the poor and humble ¤rst branch of the Sisters of the Holy Family which was then situated at 350 Chartres Street. When she entered, she was just as fresh as a new-born rosebud and so full of the love of God and His great glory that she could work all day and half of the night without ever thinking that she had done any work at all. She was a very accomplished and

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bright young lady. She had been admired by two or three of the very ¤rst young men of this city. Everyone in our city knew of Miss Adorelia Capla. She was the favorite of society. Her father had not spared any money on her accomplishments. One might suppose that she would have been one of the last to say adieu to the world, for she was not only noble and lovely, but also intelligent. Also her parents were descendants of ¤ne families. On her father’s side, she was of French descent, and her mother was from a ¤ne Spanish family. Her mother was a daughter of one of the ¤rst grocery and wine dealers of New Orleans and a man of estate. Mr. John De Garies did not spare any money on his lovely daughter, Miss Marie A. De Garies, who was the mother of Miss Adorelia Capla. The ¤rst branch on Chartres Street had opened on December 3, 1870. It was there that our dear Miss Adorelia Capla entered and made her novitiate. She did not make her vows there for she was called to the new branch over in the St. Landry’s Parish. That was on August 21 or 22. When our dear Miss Adorelia Capla entered our community on April 15, 1874, just one week after Easter, she was placed in the classroom to teach French and the arts. She also taught fancy needlework. She had a rare and artistic talent for it. She continued in that duty until she received her holy habit on August 14, 1875; four days later she was chosen as the third sister for the foundation of St. Joseph’s Convent in Opelousas. Four years later on July 9, 1879, she was made its local superior. She remained there until 1881 when she was sent to a new branch at Baton Rouge. After that, she was called back to the motherhouse in New Orleans where she stayed for some months replacing the French teacher. So Sister Marie Cecilia ¤lled the position of prefect of students on Orleans Street. There she remained until August 9 or 10, 1883, when she was called back to her same old post as local superior of St. Joseph’s in Opelousas. She remained there about ¤ve years. Next, she, like a lamb, was called to ¤ll a vacancy up in the village of Donaldsonville. She was also the idol of the people up there. When she was elected mother superior in 1888, she was obliged to come back to the motherhouse. Three years later, she went back to Donaldsonville, but for only one year. When they needed her in New Orleans, she again came back like a lamb to the motherhouse and was placed as the prefect of young ladies. She remained in New Orleans for two years and then was called to take charge of a new branch house in Baton Rouge. Then our dear old Mother Josephine accepted that old Louisiana Asylum for Colored Girls. She placed Sister Anne as directress and Sisters Marie Cecilia and Mary Austin as French and English teachers; that

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was on January 27, 1878. But Sister Anne did not remain the directress very long. Years before, Sister Anne had been taken down from the old motherhouse on Bayou Road for unkindness to the two mother foundresses and placed in the new motherhouse to do penances. Mother Marie Cecilia became for more than nine years a local superior over in the parish of St. Landry and did much to build up the place that she ¤lled with great aptitude until called by Rev. Mother Marie Magdalene, the mother superior. She had replaced as directress Sister Elizabeth Wales who had been deposed by the people of the parish, whom she had not pleased. They asked through the voice of their pastor to have that sister removed. Since Rev. Mother Marie Cecilia was so very invaluable, she was placed up there where she was much loved by all. But some jealousies arose between her and another sister who was for a time local superior in the same place. Since the other sister was the principal English teacher, our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was called again to the motherhouse where she was made mistress of young lady boarders. As she was so very presentable, Mother Marie Cecilia was picked to ¤ll the position. Even though she was a little too indulgent with the students, she was not taken out of that duty until there was a new foundation that called her as directress. She was more quali¤ed for that position than any others in the community. The new foundation was excellent and was not to be had every day. So she was called to ¤ll the position with two other sisters who were well ¤tted for the beautiful new convent with its crowded classes of the most charming young ladies and small boys. As superior, Mother Marie Cecilia overcame many obstacles by having as her assistant general Rev. Mother Marie Magdalene, whom many preferred to her. That made for Mother Marie Cecilia a very heav y cross for the three years that she directed our community. In fact, when she was elected, Mother Marie Cecilia had requested that Mother Marie Magdalene go to another house. Mother Marie Cecilia’s term was cut off eleven days before it expired. Archbishop Janssens’ voyage to Canada would have extended her term three months.3 According to our rule, her term had not expired. Mother Marie Cecilia might have remained and ¤lled another three years and might have accomplished just as much as the previous mother superiors. But instead she was pushed by jealous spirits who made so many demands to get her out of the position that she was unjustly hurried not only out of the house, but also out of the city. It is true that she was of a very hasty temper, but she was a perfect lady otherwise and full of real charity. She was at all times personable. She was of a demanding carriage so that everyone saw that she was someone

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to whom respect was due. As far as a ¤ne answer was concerned, she had no superior. She was a person who never spent a nickel of money out of its place. She was a person who drew both children and friends. No matter where she passed, she was much loved by all who had the pleasure of meeting her, either on business or other occasions. She presented many ¤ne and very rare qualities that means do not permit parents of the present years to educate and cultivate in their children. She was on no occasion without ways of making things that would bring her a few cents. She justly responded to the value of every dime. Her dear father, a very grand and intelligent and respectable gentleman, knew three or four different languages and held one or two of the most prominent positions. In better days, his ¤rst two children were both charming ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Lucien Capla was the father of our zealous, little, gay Mother Marie Cecilia. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was blessed with motherly charity toward the sisters. She had very much suffered from the hard treatment she had received from the ¤rst directress who was jealous of her rich and gay disposition which was the source of her happiness in the holy religious state of life. That she was so agreeable to all of her dear sisters caused her many crosses in the dear Holy Family. She was of a more superior descendance than they were. So they knew that our dear mother was deserving of a more superior family post than they were and that she was one who was born in this city and was so well known that she might one day become their general. They did all they could to get her dissatis¤ed with her state of life, but did not succeed. What was worse was that they themselves went away and tried to open another community against us. But before going, they did all that they could to harm our dear Mother Marie Cecilia. They went to the archbishop and wrote the most false letter against her, but did not succeed in what they wanted to do to her, for she was born in the city and of a ¤rst class family. On Mother Marie Cecilia’s arrival in New Orleans, she was persecuted by her sisters who were so jealous of her and tried to harm her by an ugly report that they made against her to Archbishop Perché. So there was no doing her any harm. After they had tried in vain, they then became disgusted and tried to get on the good side of her so as to do her more harm than ever. But that almighty and most powerful God who is stronger than any evil works preserved her from all of her enemies who had tried in so many ways to disgust her of that sweet peace of her dear soul that only comes from a true and just intention to conduct one’s action so that God Himself is pleased. When Archbishop Perché examined the case, he soon found that it

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was false. Those two same sisters left after a most scandalous affair, both before they went away and also after they left. They also lived a very shameful life in the world and one of them died in a state of sin, leaving a little boy who has the stamp of malediction on his face. He seemed to be a victim to himself and to his grandmother and aunt with whom the poor boy lives. It is no use for us to try to deceive ourselves by trying to harm others; for all of the meanness that is done to others will always fall on us ourselves when we do not expect it. Just as we do to them with the intention of depriving them of anything that they need, God will make one day the same luck fall on us. As we have pained others, so might we be pained in a greater way.4 Such were those who wanted to do harm to our dear Mother Marie Cecilia. But all of that only served her as a double blessing, although her holy soul was pained. She knew that she was just in the sight of God and no one could ever deprive her of the happiness of feeling that she had never done any wrong to anyone. Under those thoughts, she did not fear anything that anyone might do to harm her in the least way. All who had known our dear Mother Marie Cecilia in the world and saw her later could see that her vocation was a true one. Although she had been raised by a Spanish father, no one could have judged it at all, for she was of a bright and gay disposition. She was too well instructed to ever hear anything that anyone might say about her. What was the best of all was that her stepmother was on much better terms with her than she was with her own children. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia had one of the most sweet and loving natures. She had been so elegantly trained from her very childhood that her stepmother was very much affected by her entrance into our community. She well knew that a person like our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was not to be met with every day. It was a misery to all those who had ever seen her, for there were so many who had said, “What a pity.” Others said, “If I had only her rosy cheeks and her height, how happy I would be,” and they at once said, “Oh, it must be that she was not happy at home with her stepmother.” But all of that was false, for her stepmother always had great trouble with her own dear daughters; for they said that she did not take any notice of them for they were not as pretty as Adorelia, and that made some trouble in the family. At the same time, when a young lady has everything she wants and would like to be a sister, the whole house loves her; and why? Because she loves her God more than she does the world and its vanity and pride. On the day of her ¤rst communion at the church when her confessor asked the girls who of that band was going to be a sister, she said, “I.” But there

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was not one who would believe it, for they all thought that she was the last one who would ever become a sister among their companions, for none of them were as well situated as she was and none had as many advantages. But her advantages came from heaven. We all know that our favorite young lady need not enter into a community to have what is called happiness. But no other but the power of the Most High caused her to enter as young as she was at that time. Only a true and holy vocation would have caused her to make a sacri¤ce of herself as she did. It was a very striking thing for all of the friends of Miss Adorelia Capla to see that one of their most intimate friends bade them a farewell so soon; they had never dreamt she would do such a thing. But after all, that is no more than natural, for it is said that love is stronger than death. In that, one can say that she was drawn by love to the house of God. And who can blame her for doing what was best for both soul and body. When one grows old and has no real home of her own, she must live with their friends after the death of her dear ones. Our dear and noble-hearted Mother Marie Cecilia was never at a loss for a home, for her rare and superior assets were a lifetime support for her both as a young lady of society and as a nun. Having by nature a charitable feeling for all completed her whole life’s happiness. When she was only a candidate in our dear community, she was loved by all and she was often noticed by the oldest sisters in our community for her unassuming manners toward the most humble persons in our house. What was so very rare was that she did not regard the position of the person who commanded her in the different duties. To all who gave her an order, she was just as respectful as if they had been her mother general and she was obliged under a pain of sin to respect them. With that disposition, she built herself a very high general reputation among the eldest members of our community. She was a consolation to all of her dear sisters in religion, but not without some jealousy on the part of many who envied the esteem which she had gained by her true and holy disposition. She embraced the true spirit of our holy state of life on her own accord and by the choice of heaven and our Almighty Father who loves His chosen souls in this life of pain. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia had the happiness of receiving a profound instruction from our dear old Mother Josephine from the beginning of her preparation for her ¤rst communion. She herself knew that she was chosen by God to enter into some community. She tried over ten years to avoid the thought and persuade herself to pay a deaf ear to the voice of her vocation, but she could not do so. Once she consulted her confessor and asked him what she had best do, he at once advised her to

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enter as soon as she could into some community. Her greatest trouble then was how she was to obtain her father’s consent. She knew very well his sentiments in regard to her embracing a state which he was so much opposed to; it was not what he had hoped for. It was one of the most dif¤cult things for her to express her desires to him; she was like a river pilot and a skillful one too. She ¤rst addressed herself to our ecclesiastical superior who was the vicar general of New Orleans at that time. She was much afraid of him, so she dressed herself in a very rich and elegant gabardine skirt with a white Swiss waist and passed as if she was going to visit a friend. But she went to the church and, after praying for some time, went to ask permission of one of the fathers who was the only one who could admit her. Then she met our mistress of novices who ¤rst conducted her to see our father superior and then to see our mother general. After she had seen the two, she prayed and then knew what to say to her father, which was no easy task for her. But with the grace of God, she was at last strong enough to propose it to him. He re®ected on it and after some time, he saw that it was of no use to refuse so noble an intention. It was an honor to his whole family to have the most charming of his children give herself to God. When he re®ected on the future, he was almost afraid to object to her going. So after he viewed it well, he said that in case of his death she might not have the same holy aspiration and the result might terminate in something sad and that would be his own fault. So it ended in his saying yes to her and giving her a most magni¤cent out¤t of the best of everything. So Miss Adorelia, in becoming a sister, became a success to the whole city of New Orleans. But when she received the holy habit of the Holy Family, then the great mystery was not so strange as before. The whole of our country who lived near enough to assist were present at the reception of the habit of this true and inseparable friend. Sister Marie Cecilia was ¤rst directress or prefect of the young lady boarders in the motherhouse. The nineteen or twenty years she has passed in our dear community have been always as either directress or mother prefect of the boarders, for her very appearance denotes some superior position. As she is so easy in her manners, everyone took her to be an of¤cer of some kind. No matter whether she was or not, they took her to be one. Many a time, she was obliged to say to others that she was not the mother superior. Their reply was that she looked like the superior and that was saying enough. Even though everyone had this impression, our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was of a humble and unassuming nature and did not like to show off, for she learned on many occasions from the reality of this life not to be so easily ®attered at anything like that, even

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though she was the daughter of a very prominent, leading gentleman before she entered into the convent. That kind of ®attery was what had caused her to become disgusted with the world and determined her to give it up and retire into some hidden place where she might only ®atter her soul instead of the body. She knew that her body could one day be the cause of her losing that beautiful masterpiece that God has given all of us that we might become like Himself in glory. It is not everyone who makes such a mark in this life. Many have forgotten who gave them that supreme power. They ®atter themselves that they are the god of all when they have only had the luck of commanding others for some years by chance of the holy will of Almighty God or of the good members of our dear order. That was not the case with our dear Mother Marie Cecilia. She was so well instructed and she understood all the goodness of our dear Lord. She knew that He gave her the supreme grace of a true and holy vocation in His holy house. Here she is permitted to live the life of an angel in this world. Otherwise she might have been living in a state of displeasure to God every moment of her life, standing in great danger of losing God and heaven. Had she not understood that, where and what might her lot have been by this time! We all well know that if Almighty God in His great mercy does not keep us in our state, by now we might have one of the most horrible lives that there could have been in this world. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia says that she at all times gives thanks to our dear Lord for all that He has done for her in giving her a holy vocation. Since she now has neither father nor mother, she might have been exposed to all kinds of dangers in the world. She also says that when she sees the miseries of her friends who are in much better circumstances than we are, she sees that they have none of the graces one has in the life of a sister. Even though we are at times very needy, we have, more or less, a little help from our good friends. We can at times ask them to aid us in some things. Our dear mother has a few of her own family who are also very much reduced in circumstances and are much to be pitied. But our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was by the choice of Almighty God a Mother Mary, who chose the best part which could not be taken from her, except by losing that grace of her vocation that God gave her in His service. When poor Mother Marie Cecilia was a novice, she was under Sister Elizabeth who showed her no mercy and made her teach all day and wash or sew more then half of the night. She was occupied in music and was obliged to go a great distance to visit some sick people. The superior humiliated her in the presence of children and strangers. Also, their old

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house was like an old shell. No one knows the heav y crosses that our dear Mother Marie Cecilia had to carry under this superior who was as jealous as a cat of her. A person could stand in that house in Opelousas on a frosty morning and see the whole village covered with a white frost. When the sisters had completed their tasks at night and were very hungry, they roasted sweet potatoes and ate them. Often it was too late to go up to bed, so the lady directress would make a pallet on the ®oor for them to sleep on to keep them from freezing up in the garret. The two poor sisters were almost starved for more than eighteen months until a very holy and dear soul came to New Orleans and asked our dear Mother Josephine to please go over to Opelousas so that she might see and judge for herself the suffering of those two holy sisters. They were more like angels than sisters. They never said a word to anyone but prayed that God might open some way for them to come to the city where they might have some comforts before they died and where they might see the members of their dear community. It was as if they were forsaken by all. Both our dear Mother Marie Cecilia and Mother Marie Magdalene were so far away from us and under the ill treatment of that tyrannical directress. Of the two, the one who received the worst of it was our dear Mother Marie Cecilia; she was the most talented and was far superior to the one placed over them. But the directress was the eldest in the community and should have been a dear mother superior to the whole house of our dear sisters in that strange place. Getting back home was no little trouble. It was an inland place and a great ways from the river. There was no way of getting there by boat or train; instead, one had to take a hack and pay six or eight dollars for it. They had no one to conduct them, even had they wanted to come to the railway, that was a long way from their convent and was also a great distance to walk or ride. Our dear Mother Mary Cecilia ¤nally had the pleasure of coming to the city and explaining their case against Sister Elizabeth to our dear Mother Josephine. After that, she and Sister Marie Magdalene were relieved of the many pains and deprivation with which they had so long contended without anyone’s consolation or help. They both were of a timid or delicate feeling and would not for anything in this world wound the feelings of one who had been given to them as directress for the greater glory of God. They both were of a very scrupulous conscience and had a childlike submission to the one who had been chosen by their mother superior. They were victims to her orders; they were well pierced by the words of our Divine Master who said, “He who hears you, hears me.”5 No matter what or who they were, it was lawful for them to respect

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and to obey as if the directress had been a king or a queen. It may be plainly seen now that the two sisters who were so humble and obeyed the commands of the one who was so severe to them were later blessed by becoming chiefs themselves. It was only just that one who had so much suffered should be one of the ¤rst to partake in the consolation of commanding the one who had been placed over them. But the providence of Almighty God was enough to make them make any sacri¤ces. As our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was always a person of great respect for those to whom she was subjected, she was, as it were, a perfect model of respect. She had remorse of conscience as to how she had conducted herself in regard to her local superior while away from the house and out of the presence of the mother superior. She had only one intention and that was to work for the greater glory of her dear Lord and her neighbor in the dear community of the Holy Family until her death with the grace of God. She had done as well as one could do under the circumstances. From the very beginning, she accomplished all that was in her power, even though the directress was somewhat less than this position demanded. But after all, that is only in the eyes of this world. God looks at the heart and not at the appearance or station of a person. Mother Marie Cecilia was severely tried in many ways in the two ¤rst branches in which she was placed. She was determined to prevent at any time in the future the least doubt of her vocation. One may see that many are called, as the holy gospel says, but few are chosen.6 Sister Elizabeth, that poor directress who was not as sick as our dear mother, was treated like a queen. But she was only pretending. She had no sickness but was wrecking the health of our dear Mother Marie Cecilia who was so very zealous for our community. Sister Elizabeth was not at all one who ever disturbed herself in the least about anything whatever. She was always trying to split from the motherhouse so that she might become the general of the community since she was not content to be a local superior of one of our branch houses. Worst of all, she had spent as much as $100 on her own instruction while our dear Mother Marie Cecilia had been thoroughly instructed by her own father at home. I have many a time seen Sister Elizabeth take work that was perfect and make Sister Marie Cecilia do it again. If it was washing, Sister Elizabeth would make her put it back in the laundry to be washed over again. She was trying to see how Mother Marie Cecilia would take it. That tyrannical directress knew that there was no better way than to fault one in their duties after they had worked with the best of intentions. She knew that it had been a perfect piece of work

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and anyone who had been accustomed to doing good work as long as our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was could see how she was a superior in rank from her very birth. They could see that Sister Marie Cecilia had to stoop and submit to one so inferior as the person who was directing her. To think that even in the life of a sister there are still feelings of the same old jealousy that are as bad as that of Cain’s way!7 On the same account, Sister Marie Cecilia had chosen a state of retirement from the world. She knew that if she made an act of the most perfect self-sacri¤ce on this earth, she might gain a more perfect victory in all things for Almighty God and the holy will of heaven as long as she lived on earth. She had suffered so much from the narrow-minded directress that she became, as it were, for some time a perfect victim to the ignorant directress to whom she had been so subjected and with whose malice she had so much to contend until the most powerful God, whom the very winds and the mighty waves of the seas are obliged to obey at a single glance of His all powerful will, helped her. After our dear Mother Marie Cecilia passed so much time under the meanness of her jealous directress and had been so pleasing to her Maker, she became indifferent to it all. Then God was pleased to give her a good and holy friend who consoled and kept her in good spirits when her cross was too heav y. Our dear mother had passed time in all the branch houses of the Holy Family but one. She was even there a few days during the yellow fever epidemic of 1878. She was taken so sick that they had her come home to be examined by a doctor who could determine whether it was a new attack and, if so, could give her all that was needed before it was too late. Mother Marie Cecilia had also worked from the very time that she entered into our community. She still does the same without regard to the person who commands her. Even though Mother Marie Cecilia has been our mother general and directress in two of the principal branch houses, she does all that her strength will allow her to do. Not only does she do what she can, but she works to make all have the same interest as she has in all that regards the welfare of our dear community. She is a faithful daughter in spite of all of the crosses which she has received before today both as a simple sister and also as mother superior. One might think that she had just entered and had never done anything for her community to see the interest that she takes in all that she does for each house of the Holy Family, but not without many crosses and drawbacks as all good works have, at least in the beginning. We are told that everything that has a bad beginning on the part of a holy person comes from God and is a sign that they are pleasing to God in some

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way. Otherwise, they would be driven without a single cross at all. That gives one a little hope when they meet with little ups and downs in their life, just as our dear Mother Marie Cecilia did in her ¤rst and hardest administration of the community of the Holy Family. So our dear Mother Marie Cecilia, one may say, has for many years carried her cross like a good soldier of Christ on the battle¤eld and has well merited her crown of a true and faithful daughter of the community of the Holy Family in the city of New Orleans. Our dear sister is a person who has many crosses but seems to be pleasing to God in some way, for she has the best of luck and is always in the highest of spirits. No two sisters have ever passed the half that she has since entering into the Holy Family some twenty-two years ago. The most striking thing is to see that she is always so jolly. She seems to forget her troubles so quickly on the next day and is just the same in a very short time. One may see that as the sign of a true vocation since many who have entered long before our dear mother did not remain after many less crosses than those that our dear Mother Marie Cecilia had suffered. But it is true that a person who loves God has a gay and true vocation. The more crosses they have, the more they love God, and the happier they are in this life. The words of gospel plainly teach us that all who love their holy state of life must also love to carry their own cross as long as life lasts.8 For no one can judge a thing if they are a stranger to it. It stands to reason that one who has experienced something must better understand it and can value it more than one whom has not seen it. So it is with our dear Mother Marie Cecilia, for she is a good old soldier of crosses. If she has not already been puri¤ed by so many heav y crosses, it is of no use for her to try to do anything more. She has proved herself by acts of renunciation on so many occasions when many of us might have given up all hopes and lost our vocation, even after working so long in the ¤eld of Christ. We might have turned back to the world of sin and been lost. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was real and came with a true intention to serve God and to work for His glory and the good of her neighbor as long as she lived. She had too well learned that charity is that true key that never fails to open the gate of heaven after death when all our works will speak for themselves. With that banner, one cannot be deceived. She knew that her works were the bright star that would guide her to that safe port of eternal bliss. But it is also true that she was of a very quick and fractious nature, but would very soon see her faults and repent of them. All who knew her, on

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seeing that she was displeased, would pay no attention. They knew that it was best not to say a word if one wished to get the victory over her and to touch her by their good example. But that was not her natural disposition. She met with so many crosses after becoming a directress of a house of sisters, many of whom were of a bad and ugly manner and who forced her to become like themselves in many ways. One might well see that it was not natural for her to act the way she did, but she had spent her whole life coming into contact with persons who were not what they ought to be. That could make one change and become much rougher than they had been. We might, by a little sweetness on our part, bring [anyone of a bad manner] back to their former conduct and cause them to be more prudent later, after they had re®ected for some time on the realities of their entrance into the holy house of God and their work for His glory. At the same time it is surprising for some to see how our dear Mother Marie Cecilia has accepted the many orders given to her, even after she had been our general for a term and then been called to a branch house. She was as happy as a lark to think that she had been relieved of that great responsibility of being superior and to think of returning to a post where all welcomed her and where she knew that she would one day reap the fruit of her labor. Those who knew her would not deny her anything that was to her advantage. But the evil spirit used all that was in his power to defeat our dear Mother Marie Cecilia in all her work for God’s glory and for the salvation of others. God saw that her work was necessary in our city and state which had been so much and so long deprived. In former times, our race had no power in the southern states where our grandfathers had labored for many a year and month and had been so unjustly treated at the same time by a party of people who had brought them from their foreign homes to this country of freedom where the free knew no deprivation whatever. Even though our dear mother had not been one of those unfortunate ones, she always had the greatest compassion for them from her childhood. There were a great many of them living very near her father’s house and our dear Mother Marie Cecilia believed that working with them would be more pleasing to our dear Lord than spending one’s whole life in prayer. That one thought pushed her to enter into the community of the Holy Family where she knew that the work was done. She could sit in the door of her father’s of¤ce and see our dear sisters, two by two, going to see some poor or sick person who had sent for them to come and exhort them by their good prayers to re®ect on meeting their Maker. The sisters had been advised to try some means of inspiring our

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people to enjoy grace, like that of the good and holy fathers who have gone to meet their crowns after instructing and bringing the happy souls of Jews and pagans to our holy faith. It was that very thought which inspired our dear Mother Marie Cecilia to leave the home of her dear and honorable father to live hidden from her many warm dear friends, consoling those poor and unfortunate souls whom she daily saw kneeling at the open doors of some church. Not only on Sunday but each day of their lives, they were to be seen hungering after those words which could open a dull mind and heart. With an open mind, they might be able to drink and swim in that divine love of a loving Redeemer who is always inviting not only the rich and learned of this world but also the poor and forsaken ones who are the chosen ones of our dear Lord Himself. So we may see that our dear Mother Marie Cecilia had considered well her intentions. She saw that she would only deposit a sum of money in the bank of heaven by entering into the poor community of the Holy Family.9 It was not the grand 717 Orleans Street that we have today, but two little lots at 350 Chartres where we had an altar made of a plank and two trestles. The front was covered with a piece of purple cloth containing the three letters J.M.J. in the middle. Our chapel was a room only ten by ¤fteen feet. It had one small window and a door in the center. It had a very small grate on one side. We still have the box that was our tabernacle where the blessed sacrament was kept and from which holy mass was said. We all knelt and received the holy bread of life when one of those good fathers of St. Mary’s Church had the charity to come and say holy mass for us or when a young father was ordained. Our sisters did their washing and mending for ten or eleven years, so they knew us well. What was used for saying holy mass was cleaned by the sister who had the charge of altar linen. The alb that we had was made of beggar’s lace. The upper part, that is most of it, was cotton and thus could not be used for mass. We were just as poor as if we had none at all. But with all of that, that was the richest of the two houses that existed. Speaking of the old motherhouse on Bayou Road near Rampart Street, which was near Mother Cecilia’s house, one may well see that our dear Mother Marie Cecilia did not enter into our community in search of grandeur. We merely had what life called for and no more. And the strangest of all was to see that the greatest number of our sisters who entered into those two old shanties were, with an exception of the one who had charge of the church, from the highest and best of families. They were all ¤tted for teachers or could hold some important of¤ces that are necessary in our community. They could ¤ll some of the highest

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posts with much satisfaction and have been of bene¤t to our dear little community up until the present day. Those same sisters should walk with the greatest applause, on the account that we have so rapidly grown up within a few years. When our Mother Marie Cecilia was elected general of our dear little community, we were just as poor as we could be, until one dear old lady died and gave us a small sum of money and a two-story house from which we received $18 every month. Then at another time, another kind lady died and willed us $600 and that seemed to arouse the sympathy of others. Since the year 1889, we may well say that Almighty God has wonderfully blessed the Sisters of the Holy Family, for we can, without any trouble, see our way now, with the grace of God. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia has been a very useful and successful member of our dear community. The ¤rst day that she entered, it seemed that the grace of her holy vocation came with her and still remains with her. Every place that has anything to do with her very presence draws a benediction because of her. Many have often remarked about this after visiting a convent she has conducted both in the city and out of it. At the same time, when we have been compelled on two or three occasions to call her from one house to another, we have remarked how the grace has followed her. On thinking of placing her as head, one might be assured that she would be a success in all of her undertakings and that she would have many a warm and true friend also. Her very name attracts all she needs when she needs it. If she cannot live in a place, there will be no use of anyone else trying to either, for she is a person who spends very little and still always has the best things. Everyone was quite happy and agreeable at all times in any of the four or ¤ve houses she has conducted. No one could truly complain of not having either food or clothing under the administration of Rev. Mother Marie Cecilia. One of her chief qualities was to provide for the wants of our dear little community. It was a false tongue or a jealous heart that would make any such false reports against her on any subject whatever, for her whole soul was in the welfare of her spiritual children and their wants. Our dear Mother Cecilia is, it is true, of a hasty temper, but her many other good qualities cover her faults and only give a brighter luster to them. Her most striking charity was one of her charms even before she was a sister. She would many times be in rags to get means to grandize some of the branch houses. Had she not, she would not have remained nine years in one of our principal branch houses in the state. Later, after two or three years in New Orleans when everything was

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going well and the schools were packed with a very ¤ne class of the highest families of the different cities, there was a call once more for our dear Mother Marie Cecilia to go and plant a new cross for God’s glory. She was called to plant the words of the gospel in the hearts of our people in the city of Baton Rouge. Our house in that city had been abandoned for some nine or ten years, but the people there chose our sisters to establish it again as they had preferred our sisters to any others. It was a desire of ours also to take charge. The families called on our sisters because they had so warmly esteemed us for some years and had also shown us the very best of feelings. We were under a great many obligations for their kindness. They had ¤tted out the ¤rst time we were there. There was a house and a school for which they had paid the whole expenses and opened to our sisters. They had also paid the utmost attention to us. From the very day that our sisters landed in their midst until this day, they have paid the same attention to us and done all that was in their power that we might not feel the deprivation of any comforts that we had left in our own home before coming to teach their children. Now that our dear Mother Marie Cecilia is with them, they have a greater respect for us than ever before. We ourselves are perfectly charmed with them and would regret very much if we were called away and could not return to that city any more. No one could dislike a people who have done as much for them as they have done for us. One or two of the fathers of families have offered to build us a more spacious schoolhouse so that we might conduct a more advanced class and without any embarrassment. That was always the luck of our dear Mother Marie Cecilia in everything that a person would wish. Although she had many hard crosses, all would end well. She, at one time during her stay as prefect of boarders, offered, during her spare time every day, to go and teach the poor orphans to do fancy work. And she did remarkably well. All of the girls were charmed with her and have never forgotten her kindness to them. They are always speaking of her. Who can object to one who does charity like that? All her faults can be excused by her charity, for they say that one’s charity to the poor covers their many sins and draws the whole of God’s blessing on them at all times. On that account, Mother Marie Cecilia is the apple of God’s eye, for all that we do for the poor in this life will be rewarded to us in the life to come. She was a real victim during the whole three years of her administration. At the same time, we all know that if we have crosses and take them as coming from the holy hands of our dear Lord, we cannot feel other-

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wise but happy and make others the same. It is sad, as Mother Marie Cecilia said, to live in this world and to be unhappy and to be, as it were, a stranger to our own people who are of the very same faith as ourselves and whose children have received almost the same instruction and training as we have from those holy persons who have the same desire to only please God. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia said that one ought to try to never forget what we have received from God when we were not able to do for ourselves. On that plea, she was always praying that God in His tender mercy would bless all who had been so kind to us when we were in misery and distress. We had, at one time, despaired of paying the notes that were due. That was during the two months when the sun is insupportable in New Orleans and when there was not a nickel coming in because school had closed for the summer. All who have a dime to spend try to make some way to send their children off the western or northern cities where they can get them educated at a lower rate than what they can in the city. That was what caused the greatest drawback to our dear Mother Marie Cecilia. When she was general of our community, she had a great many bills to settle and was obliged to pay by a daily collection and that was no play. Many a time the weather was so bad it was almost impossible to leave the house for some days. We were obliged to try to live on credit. At that season, when the whole city seemed to suspended, our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was obliged to send two-by-two some sisters to collect in the country until late in the fall when business began for the winter and natives returned to their homes again and things were in a reasonable condition. Just then, the ¤re broke out and we were in a very sad condition for twelve or eighteen months, but the sisters of this city and the people were just as kind and charitable as they could be to us. At that time, there was some excitement in the city. Many a stranger who visited New Orleans was touched at the state of our poverty and gave us, as it were, a small alms. That seemed to start a good sequence of events, which were very soon followed by others. That was the beginning of our dear mother’s relief, although our interest had been taken to heart by many of our ladies of this city. They had called a meeting of two or three sets of persons for the purpose of aiding our sisters in many ways, one for the altar, another for the carpet, and another for the orphans. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia then borrowed a sum of $5,000. She paid the interest on the loan which had caused three mother superiors to bow their poor heads from October 4, 1881, until October 4, 1889. It was in 1889 that the sunlight of God’s grace freed the Sisters

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of the Holy Family from that heav y burden. In an act of thanksgiving, our dear Mother Marie Cecilia had a mass sung in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Ever since that day, we have had a most wonderful blessing on our dear little community and have not ceased to praise our dear Lord for the showers of graces that we have received. Not only ourselves, but most of the whole state is amazed to see the progress our sisters have made within the last ten years. They look back at the sad conditions of our community even in 1880 when the diocese was in a most frightful condition and our community was almost abandoned by the archbishop under a false report of many who were our bitter enemies.10 Our own director had objected to our buying the property on Orleans Street and even advised our superiors to compel our general to break the contract. That would have caused us to perhaps lose all of our four years of labor. But our dear Mother Marie Cecilia, a very prudent and thoughtful person, had consulted a lawyer before signing the deeds. She had the old incorporation renewed and it was accepted as the basis of the ¤rst payment. So we had only to transfer the former incorporation on this property and, instead of having to pay a new act, we had to pay the sum of $5.00.11 We were obliged to take many insults for some time and our dear mother worked with her soul and body to get not only the interest, but also the principal.12 We were obliged to deprive ourselves of a great many things that we might have had and did not have until our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was assured of meeting her bills every month. Then she said that God had been so good to us that we might put our trust in Him and our con¤dence in His mercy. She had always preached to us when we were in distress that we only needed to have the same love and con¤dence in God’s love and goodness as before, that is to say that we should return many thanks to our good Lord for all His graces and to ask always the same of His holy will as long as we live. After our house was repaired from the damage of the ¤re and the sisters had returned, Mother Marie Cecilia announced that we would reopen our school on the next Monday and that persons should call at our convent on the ¤rst Sunday of June, 1889. That was only three months after the ¤re at Faranta’s Iron Theatre. On the ¤rst day, we enrolled about 230 scholars in our day department and ¤ve or six boarders. Had our dear Mother Marie Cecilia reduced the tuition one or two dollars, we may have received just as many boarders as we could have accommodated. But she was unwilling to take anything less than $15 per month as we were much in need at that time and had lost many families who had sent us their daughters because they were

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content with our teaching and preferred our schools. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia had no room for the many applicants who had been received and at one time was obliged to put two summer benches together and make beds for the smaller girls. Where there were two of the same family, they slept in the same bed until there was some place for them to sleep. She spoke of getting another house where the girls might receive the proper accommodations and we might have suf¤cient room for as many as might apply for entrance. But our dear mother’s term was nearly expired. She did not wish to leave the next general any bills to pay after she had gone, for she herself was too well aware of unnecessary debts and the result of being dunned at all times. She plainly saw that there was no possibility of her being reelected at that time and perhaps ever again, so that concluded her former intentions in that regard. So she did not make any steps toward that case. But in case she ever has the power of completing those ideas at any time in the future, I have not the least doubt but that she will put them into execution with the grace of God. We all know that our dear Mother Marie Cecilia is a person of energetic spirit who only knows the good of souls and God who is to give us our crowns in heaven one day if we are faithful to Him in the holy state to which we are called. It was sometimes very hard for our dear mother to please some of our members. In some cases, she was a little bit hasty in acting and was to blame for being too easily drawn by some parties who were full of presumption and had ambitions to become superior before God had called them to reign over the house in which they were assigned by their general of community. At one time, she was prevailed on by sisters in a house to remove the local superior as a result of a jealous and false rumor. At the time, this gave the whole city scandal and was a bad example to some persons who had intended helping the house which the superior had directed. At that time, the house was in a very poor condition and it had but a small income from either weekly or monthly donations from the charity of some two or three societies of the parish. The one who was directing the house was a northern sister. If she had not been interrupted by being recalled to the motherhouse out of jealousy and bad advice, that house would today be one of the most successful places in the state and perhaps in the nation. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was at that time unaware of many things that she has since learned by sad experience. This would never occur today. But she wanted to please. She was also a person who had been very much crushed by her enemies in the religious state. This not only wounded her in her capacity to direct but made her a perfect cow-

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ard. The whole truth is that she was afraid to do the least thing without the consent of her worst enemy who was her greatest friend. It was her friend who gave her the horrible reputation in the whole community and prevented her from having another term, which she would have had, no doubt, if justice had been done to her. She had too easily been controlled by a wolf who only intended to dishonor her. She set a trap to catch her, and did in the end make the sister, who was one of her truest and best friends, withdraw. That shut the door on the grace God gave her during her generalship. She called on the advice of her inferiors who knew that on the day that she became on bad terms with that sister, her whole luck would be poisoned and that she would not fail to lose the position of general and the esteem of our archbishop. Some sisters prevailed on her to withdraw Sister Mary Joseph West, who was the local superior at the old St. Bernard Street Home. It seemed somewhat dif¤cult for Mother Marie Cecilia to see that Sister Mary Joseph had done everything she could to improve the old house, and without much expense. Sister Mary Joseph intended to buy the adjoining lots to build a wing that was very necessary, for the place was much too small for a home for aged persons. But, as our dear Mother Marie Cecilia had been so falsely advised against her, she became as bitter against her as she had been warm toward her. So Mother Marie Cecilia fought against her troubles herself, but at last she was overcome. She had much to bear and few friends to console her after that. On that account, she lost the esteem of two or three sisters who had taken much interest in her after the sudden removal of Sister Mary Joseph which was a great shock to her and a lifetime shadow on her. The old women were much displeased at the change. They have until today the same directress and are well pleased with her so far and she has at present a very noble work going on that will speak for her in years to come if nothing prevents it with the grace of God. At the time, it seemed to be a very imprudent and uncalled-for act. But I hope that it was all for the best after all. Thanks to our dear Lord, it was not of any more consequence than it was. It is true that our poor Sister Mary Joseph, at that time, regretted much leaving the old St. Bernard Street Home. But she soon became resigned to the holy will of God and, as she is a very talented person who is capable of holding any position in the community, was very soon named principal of the senior classes which she ¤lled with the greatest excellence and improved them very much until our dear Mother Marie Cecilia assigned her as ¤rst English teacher over in one of our branch houses.

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Mother Marie Cecilia recalled, from one of the branch houses, another sister, Mary Angel James, in the same way that she had done our dear Sister Mary Joseph and without re®ecting a second time on the subject. That excited many people of that place to see that Sister Mary Angel was called to the motherhouse in the city. She had to transfer her classes to another. She had given much satisfaction to both the children and the parents, as they had at that time advanced much in their studies in every way. She had intended doing much more later with the grace of God had she remained in the same house until the end of the year when there might have been a sister to replace her. But the whole school fell on one sister at the very worst time and that made it bad on the part of our dear mother’s administration. Many said that she was not a fair person. Except for that, she might have ¤lled a second term as general and accomplished much more. As it was, she only lit the torch for another to work. She lost all of the merit that she would have had one day in heaven when the great day of reward came. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia never undertook anything without success. She had many very noble intentions and would, after some years, have grandized our little community and made it one of the most beautiful in the state of Louisiana. She would have also established houses in other cities where she wished to evangelize our people. She says that we ought to open a house over in Cuba by any means and give a chance for a vocation to some whose means will not admit their coming to our city to work for God. She also had long desired to go to several other states and open both schools and other charitable houses to elevate our people and to instruct the few Catholics who needed to learn the faith of their grandfathers and grandmothers, who died without any consolation from others of their holy faith. They not only died so but they did not have the consolation of having a holy mass said after their death. Does anyone know that a single communion could be offered for the repose of their poor souls at least once or twice a year if not more often so as to relieve the pains of expiation of the many sins or the faults of this life? She now has work that is of much value; that is to impart French and music to the young children of this late age. She has been most wonderfully successful in doing that work in all of the houses of the Holy Family. She had a very ¤ne idea of how she was to pay for the house. I think, at that time, there might have been some of our friends who would have assisted her in doing all that they could in that regard. At that time, our city was not in the sad condition that it is in today nor could anyone suppose that we would ever be as sad as we are today, for there was never

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as much distress as we have seen in these times. But we all hope that, with the grace of God, there will be some change this winter. If not, we may well pray for all of the poor that they may not perish of the cold. So many of our dear friends have suffered this summer, and what can one expect of the cold weather or the wet days of winter? Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia during her administration was blessed to always ¤nd someone on one side or the other to provide for the old people as well as the orphans. It is for a very great relief to think that a good soul is thinking of you and your poor when they are in most need. Those who for God have given charity are blessed with the riches of this life to help others in need. Father Gilbert Raymond did not approve of any grandness at all. He knew that our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was a person of a very grand and enterprising nature. When something was done to beautify our dear little community, he would blame Sister Marie Cecilia’s spirit of pride and say that she had put the thought in the head of Rev. Mother Josephine. He would at once scold her about it. We have just had a mass of thanksgiving said today; it is fourteen years today, on September 17, 1881, that the agreement was signed for the house at 717 Orleans Street. That caused very great excitement because the diocese was so heavily in debt that many were on the point of rejecting our Archbishop Perché and his vicar general, Rev. Gilbert Raymond, who so much opposed our buying this house. He blamed both Mother Marie Magdalene and Mother Marie Cecilia and wanted them to break the agreement. On that Sunday in 1881, Mother Marie Cecilia and Sister Joseph went to the house on Orleans Street and waited to see the person from whom they bought it. They asked him to refuse to break the agreement. They said that we were sure to pay it off within ten years. And within ten years, we had paid for it and had paid for the lots on the corner also. The bishop, Father Raymond, our dear Mother Josephine, and the man who sold us the house all died before we paid it off, and we lost our dear Mother Marie Magdalene soon afterwards. A man bought the note on our house from the gentleman to prevent him taking it back from us in case we could not liquidate it. We intended having the property and, with the grace of God, we have paid the note and can pay for another house at the same amount if we need it with God’s holy grace. Our dear mother had much to suffer, for she was secretary for the community while our dear Mother Marie Magdalene was the assistant to Rev. Mother Josephine. As our dear Mother Josephine was blind, the responsibility all fell on them, but they could not do anything unless she gave her consent. No one can believe what our dear Mother Marie

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Cecilia had to suffer for this house, since she was neither general nor assistant. It is somewhat hard to think of her receiving so many hard words from others. But she consoled herself by saying that it was for the good of all that she had done it. She was willing to bear anything so that our dear sisters might one day be at home and not disturbed. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia loved her dear sisters and wished them to be happy. She knew that they were worthy of a good home. That was why she did everything in her power and means to let at least the sisters who had so long labored to have some place of retirement in their old days. But she is perfectly happy to see that there is another who takes the same interest in everything and is just as successful, if not a great deal more so. She is no doubt the one whom Almighty God chose to accomplish the work of our ¤rst spiritual parents who had planted the seed of charity of the community of our dear Holy Family. Our dear Lord was pleased to give us our vocations in our holy community. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia still thanks God for drawing her from amidst the many deplorable dangers of this life into which she might have fallen after the death of her dear parents, who died just after she had pronounced her vows on September 18, 1876. She has been working for the best of causes until today. She worked with the grace of God and the good will of her dear sisters who are responsible for a greater part of the success. We all well know that our dear mother could not do all herself and was obliged to have others help her in doing what has been done. On the contrary, it is a most glorious hill of work when one looks at what our dear community has accomplished in such a short time and with such slim means and with no one to direct us after the deaths of our dear old founder and our dear Mother Henriette, which almost broke up the community. Her greatest pain was to see how many of her schoolmates were living and loving only the world and its vanity. One of her old and dear friends came one day when she was our general and asked to be received into our community. She said that she had regretted not once but many times not having entered when Mother Marie Cecilia did. But our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was obliged to say that our holy rule forbade receiving one of her age. After that, she was like one who had lost her mind, but she knew that Mother Marie Cecilia did not act from any bad feelings. They were both of the same class when they were girls. They were never known to have any little troubles as most girls do. The woman saw what a happy life it was to be a religious and what one had to contend with in the world. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia often said that when a subject asked

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to be admitted into our community, she could not refuse to receive them because they were a little bit advanced in age, provided that they were of good health and good will. The angel on the night on which our dear Lord was born sang, “Glory be to God and peace be to men on earth of good will.”13 Our dear mother often said that was the blessing that Almighty God had bestowed on the Holy Family. She believed we are blessed for the good will our members have always shown. Our dear old Founder Father asked no better dowry than good will. He said that one who entered with good will gave our community the best gold that could be bought at a broker’s. We never accept anything more strictly than good will from one who wishes to enter our dear community, for we all think that there are no riches that are better for a holy religious than good will. Dear Mother Marie Cecilia often prayed that Almighty God would send her as many sisters of good will as He pleased. It mattered not whether they had much money so long as they had good will. So our life is all for the glory of God and his poor. That itself is enough to make one happy and willing to work. We are always ready to go at any time or to any place that the holy will of God may call us, just as a soldier marches at the sound of the drums. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia did all that she could to have our rule kept. She wished our dear sisters to feel that they had enlisted in the army of Christ and that we soldiers ¤led under the banner of our chief and that our musket was the holy cross that put to ®ight that bad spirit who would not harm a soul who was under the banner. To march under that banner is to be a member of the community of the Holy Family. We are all assured of victory if we march faithfully under the Lord’s banner on the battle¤eld. Our victory is that of our Lord’s poor who will not forget after their deaths what was done for them in this life. We are told that all we do for God’s poor will be inscribed in gold letters. Very few persons knew the real sentiments of our dear Mother Marie Cecilia, for she seemed to many persons proud and cool. But all who had the good pleasure of knowing her were much pleased with her, for she would make more true friends in one week than others would in six months. In that way she became one of our favorite members. All who knew her when she was quite young said that they often met her going home after her instructions when Mother Josephine had dismissed them. In those days, our rule compelled us to always conduct the girls to the corner of the street so as to avoid their going any other way but to the street on which they lived on. That was to prevent any girl wasting their time after their classes. We are told our dear Miss A. Capla was a girl who was a great lover of arts. She was never seen loa¤ng after her class

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had been dismissed. And our dear old founder, Father Rousselon, many a time remarked that there was something good in that girl. And what was that good but that Miss A. Capla became a charming Sister of the Holy Family and many times wondered why the girls of the present age have shown such little disposition to the sisterhood. Just to see the many advantages girls have nowadays, both instructions and other graces, which the poor, pious girls were deprived of in former years when a common calico dress was from three to four dollars a yard and white carunsteal from twelve to sixty cents a yard.14 Now one may get those very same articles at twelve or even eight cents a yard in any store in New Orleans. One may ¤t themselves out for $25 at present. At the time that our dear Mother Marie Cecilia entered our little community, entrants were obliged to bring $600 in dowry to pay for their trousseau. They had to buy all that they needed, as it requires a great many little things during the three years of trials to prove their vocation. But after one receives the habit of our community, the house supplies them with all. If anything was necessary to preserve one’s health, it would be given by the community after one had received the holy habit of the order. When our dear Mother Marie Cecilia heard a young lady say that she could not get her dowry and trousseau at such a cheap rate, she said that they could soon realize enough to ¤t themselves out by working at one or two dollars a week for six or eight months. There are a great many young persons who use money as a pretext for not entering. That might be quite true as we all know times are at present very hard. But our dear Mother Marie Cecilia told many of those persons that if they truly had a vocation and loved God, they would ¤nd all that they needed. Moreover God would touch someone who knew of their intention and would not refuse to assist them in some way to get what was necessary for their trousseau. On one occasion, our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was able to admit two women who had prayed many years to get all that they needed to enter into our community, but had never been able to do so until our sisters spoke of them to some very holy persons who very quickly gave them all that they needed to enter and would have done much more if they had asked it of them sooner. But when one is poor, they are more or less timid and do not have the courage to address themselves to others for fear of annoying them too much. But those two who entered have both proved themselves very deserving of what was donated to them by their good friends. Not one of them has ever forgotten to return their many thanks to Almighty God for the many graces received from heaven and also from our dear Mother Marie Cecilia. When they ¤rst tried to enter,

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they had lost all hope after having been so many times rejected by two or three generals of our community on account of their being a little bit advanced in age according to our holy rule. Not one of our superiors was willing to admit either of them as they were in poor health and might become encumbrances on the community. But our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was a person of great faith. She said that if God wanted the two to work for His glory, he would give them the health to do so. And if not, our dear community would not lose at all for its charity might draw us some great grace that would be better than the good health of those two sisters. One or two years later, Almighty God showered abundantly his graces on the Holy Family, not only in one thing but in a great many things which no one could have ever expected in our days. Just to think that our dear Mother Marie Cecilia refused to receive one or two young widows! One was of a ¤ne family and had a brilliant education. She also had a very large estate. Mother Marie Cecilia was afraid to receive her after being warned of some chronic troubles. One of Mother Marie Cecilia’s old friends said that the woman, Mrs. Charles Heneff, was one of the richest ladies in the west side of Baton Rouge and her father, Mr. M. Price, was by no means a poor man. He would have also given his accomplished daughter, Mrs. Cecilia Heneff, a nice little sum of money if the Sisters of the Holy Family had not refused to take her. And as far as Mrs. Cortu was concerned, she also had a nice little farm and was a person from better days in St. Louis, Missouri. But our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was afraid that she was a little too old, so she did not admit her. But not without regret. She many times wept for the many poor girls over in the West Indies who, she had been told, would like to become members of the Holy Family if they could stand the climate. They wanted our dear Mother Marie Cecilia to open a branch house there so they might enter in their native homes and work for God among their own people. They believed that there was much to be done if we only could open a house that was near some of their cities that were so full of holy persons of large estates. We would have been pleased to see some of them come to our sisters for a good intention such as an orphans’ home. Such a home might bene¤t their poor friends and dear ones, not only at present but also in years to come. They would be remembered after their deaths by all who had known of their great charity, even after their bodies had been forgotten by so many persons whom they would have aided in their lives. They would have also given a good impression and excited others to do some good works which would speak for them when they were no more on earth to preach by their good deeds. One of our friends wanted our

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sisters to go to Key West, Florida. But our dear mother had so many applications from other persons from whom we had received so many kind favors. She was under a great many obligations. They might have been offended if our dear Mother Marie Cecilia had given sisters to others after refusing them, despite all that they had done and are still doing for our dear community. It is true that we might have received bene¤t from a house in Key West and drawn a great many souls to God. Another desire our dear Mother Marie Cecilia had was to establish an art department for poor girls and boys who had no one to give them money to pay for it. That department would have consisted of music, all sorts of painting and drawing, and needlework in all of its branches. She said we could not support the class as the children would not bring in any income, but they could do so by disposing of their works of art during the eighteen months they were there. If their arts did not bring in suf¤cient money to supply all their wants, we might give an entertainment. If any students during that time became skillful enough in any of the branches to gain any money, they could help to ¤t out a poor girl or boy who was behind, since we all have not the same grace of learning. We all believe that in that way our dear Mother Marie Cecilia would have made very great progress and would have later been able to build an art gallery, ¤tted out with its own work. But she was called to Donaldsonsville and had to let that sleep until later. Good souls with the grace of God want to see their neighbor succeed in our city or country where there are so many drawbacks to all the poor and unfortunate children and persons who are thrown out in this life to make their bread themselves in the city, in the world. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia had seen so many poor children whose instruction had been neglected because they had lost their parents when quite young. Since they had no place to go to get free instruction, they were obliged to labor as slaves for some persons who had no feelings for them. Perhaps those persons were not even their equals, but just the reverse. That itself made our dear Mother Marie Cecilia have so much compassion for them and wish to provide them some way to live and teach others to do so also. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was always inclined to literary ideas and would have others be the same. She had the blessing of having had a father and an only brother who were both men of letters. One supposes that they excited in her the love of arts and sciences, for when a child inherits capacity by nature, they only have to put it in practice. They are almost an artist from the cradle and can be most perfect in their work. Even when our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was our general, she was

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more inclined to arts than to the administration. She was never so happy as when doing something of that nature. I suppose that God must have given her that grace to share with others, rather than to be burdened by other responsibilities. One could quickly see this in her eyes. Just to see her with some new art that she had never seen before! Her eyes sparkled at the ¤rst glance. I remember once when a sister who was sacristan had ordered a piece of work from a man who was a master tradesman.15 After the sister closely examined the work, she was not satis¤ed. So she asked our dear Mother Marie Cecilia what she should do about it. It was holy week, and it was not easy to get someone to do the work. Mother Marie Cecilia said that if she had the material that she needed, she would very soon rectify it. So what did the sister who was sacristan do but give our dear Mother Marie Cecilia all that she wanted and she soon made the most exquisite tabernacle, all bronze and gold. Everyone who came to visit our chapel was perfectly charmed with it. That sister said that Mother Marie Cecilia had done that kind of work before, but never before had done any that surpassed it. One person who had the best taste and was chosen to decorate many altars in this city attested that the work itself was most beautiful. The man said it was one of the most lovely works, that it was made in either France or Spain. He said it was not the work of any lady, that women could not do that. So the sister was charmed and said it was what she called a ¤ne piece of work and no one could say that it could be better done. And only to think how quickly it was done. Our little community can boast of three or four such members since its foundation. Not only was our dear Mother Marie Cecilia a person of very rare talents, but our dear Rev. Mother Juliette Gaudin was also one of the same capacity. Had everything continued as full of zeal as it had been at the foundation, our dear community might today be one of the most important in this state. But there was an obstacle that stood in its light and deprived so many of their capacities, even though at that time it was perfectly beautiful in works of both charity and other virtues. One of our dear community’s chief ends was to instruct and guide souls in the path of justice. And so we did, for at present we may refer to many of the oldest and the most distinguished families of our city. We need no better reference than that of our dear Mother Marie Cecilia, for she is still alive and can speak for herself. She received her ¤rst instruction in our convent which was most noted for its being the only one ¤t to receive young ladies of the very ¤rst rank. And that was so. There is no state that has as many distinguished families as the state of Louisiana.16 Much is always said of Baltimore, Maryland, but only on the part

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of the Oblate Sisters of Providence.17 But as to its ¤ne and select families, there are few comparable to those in the city of New Orleans. New Orleans is well known both far and near by all for its great charity and the love of the poor who are our chief work in this city. Our work draws graces on our community in every house and school. Rich persons who see our work take the poor into their hearts and do much for them with their money. On two or three occasions, our dear Mother Marie Cecilia received generous donations which were always acceptable from different charitable persons. But we all know that to direct a community, no matter how small it is, one needs a good amount of money to keep it going as it should. The head must be someone who has some experience or they will meet with a little trouble until they become more accustomed to it. But administration was no new thing to Mother Marie Cecilia as she had conducted two branch houses ten or eleven years and had very much suffered and learned much experience. She was destined to receive many crosses. We all know that a person who has suffered must have experienced many things, for it is by much pain that one gathers their greatest knowledge. Those who have suffered are better disposed to contend with trouble at all times and are also more prudent when they meet it. Every one in the world will admit that to suffer makes one more competent to conduct a duty, for it enlightens and gives them great strength and more courage to ¤ll their post. One who naturally understands acts with greatest prudence and everyone can tell all about things that they are most accustomed to do. Practice generally makes one perfect in all rules in every state of life which man can choose at present. It is true that some classes are more able than others to assist those who are most in need of aid. We often ¤nd some not as liberal as they might be, but some others would never refuse to give a sum of what they have to others. Some who are more liberal to the poor have less means than those whose means are more enormous. Sometimes, a person would come to our dear Mother Marie Cecilia to board young ladies with our sisters, but their means were not suf¤cient to pay as they ought. They would say they regretted their condition and tell the sisters that they wished to help them when it was possible for them to get means to do so. They often found some way of depriving themselves of a little necessity until they could collect for the crops. A great many of the young ladies who boarded with our sisters when our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was our mother superior came from many parts of the country. Some of their fathers were planters and could not get money until they had disposed of their crops or drew some money

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from their commission merchant as is the custom among the planters. But after all, we did not lose anything, for they very often sent us something which would make up for the time we had waited for the money. Almost all of our best boarders came from other cities and were of rich or comfortable families. Even those who were poor were of very good customs. By those means, our dear Mother Marie Cecilia had so much compassion for them. She often said that God would repay us for instructing their children and perhaps one day they might come and repay what our dear sisters had done for them. That was very true because after our convent was lost by ¤re in 1889 and we were in the arms of charity, who but one of the girls whom our sisters had raised from the age of three years until she was a very lovely young lady, came to our dear mother and asked her if she would please give her permission to get all of the sisters’ clothes and all that had been saved from the water and ¤res to prevent them from being soiled. She wanted to put them in the sun to dry and keep them from being stolen. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia had been so excited that she did not know where to ¤nd anything since the whole house was wet. One or two days were spent sorting the things that had been ruined. We believe that that dear child later hastened her death by wading in the water and exposing herself in all of that. On October 16, 1890, the following year, she was received as a member of our community. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia remarked many times how our charity had been returned by an unassuming and grateful girl who perhaps was one of the last from whom we would expect such a noble act. But our dear Lord did not choose the great or the rich but rather the poor to build up our holy mother, the Catholic Church.18 Mother Marie Cecilia had so many crosses in the beginning. But after the storm was over, she took fresh courage and went to work just as if no one had ever disturbed her in the least. For some time one would have never supposed that she had the happiest life that one ever had. One day she was told by two of her old friends that they would give anything if they could be as happy as she was and to look as rosy as she looked. They said, “What a lovely life is that of a sister. One never has anything to annoy them.” Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia only smiled and said, “One has many crosses, but Almighty God gives us the graces to contend with all of them. He makes us think of all that our dear Lord suffered for our sins and gives us more graces to carry our cross the next time. That is what makes us so young.” She also said, “Do you not see that no one but you who were my schoolmates and are very well aware of my age would ever take me to be forty-seven years of age.” She also told them of our Lord’s promise to give a hundred-fold in this world and

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life everlasting in the next to those who had left fathers and mothers and land to follow His footsteps.19 If our dear Mother Marie Cecilia had had an inclination to any other vocation, she might have been discouraged and become unhappy many a time. On the contrary, she knew the world too well. She was a person of very sound judgment before she entered into the Holy Family. She did not let anyone lead her astray or make her despondent or desire any other state of life. She so often saw the miserable and pitiful condition of so many of her dear and old friends. One day during her administration, our dear Mother Marie Cecilia had a visit from one of her brothers who had gone to live in another city and had two or three little ones. Because they were living in a strange place, he had let them all grow up without any instruction. When the family came to see her, one of the ¤rst things she asked him was if the children had ever received baptism. She made him bring all the children over to the convent. She took young ladies out of the classes for each of the children and sent them over to the church and had them receive the holy baptism before they left the house. She told the little ones that they were children of God, even though they had been little Dickenses before they came to our house and were baptized. Then she asked one of our sisters to instruct them and to prepare them for their ¤rst communion, but there were only two of them who were old enough to be admitted to the next band. The Baltimore Council had ordered that any child who had not reached the age of twelve could not be received in the class or passed from it. The children did not understand what they were doing until they had reached that age. One of her brother’s children could not be passed from the class until the summer when the child had passed eleven years. The others were instructed anyway so that the next time they might also pass, for they had a great many up and downs. They continued going to their instruction and it was well, for they lost both their father and mother. Their grandmother was compelled to give up her place to go and take care of them as she was their only near and dear relative on earth after our dear Mother Marie Cecilia who had been called out in the country and was not able to take them with her.20 There were two or three little boys at that time who had no home and no one expected one, as Mr. Thomy Lafon was at that time alive and no one ever dreamt of his giving what he did to our poor little orphans. That was one of the greatest and most noble acts that one could have ever done in this city and just at the right time. When we opened the house, I think, the Sisters of the Order of Notre Dame gave us a child about ten or eleven and another whom they had found on their banquette.21 No one

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knew anything about that poor boy. So the dear Sisters of Notre Dame kept him until they saw that our sisters had erected and ¤tted out a home for them and were ready to receive them. They presented him as one of their nest eggs, having ¤rst found him just as they had found one of their own boys. It was a pleasure to see how modest the little fellow was and how holy he was also at night. When he was asleep, it was a pleasure to see how his little hands were crossed on his heart. With his eyes shut, he had an angelic expression. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia, so many times, spoke of having a home for boys so as to cultivate them in every way. She often expressed her wishes, but never dreamt of seeing it accomplished. She and many others were quite well aware that she would be defeated at the next election. She never placed the least hope in her intention. But some weeks later, she saw in one of the daily papers that our dear and late friend, the late Mr. Thomy Lafon, had the intention of donating a home to the Sisters of the Holy Family to enable them to receive little orphan boys just as we did for the girls. That was one of the most noble acts, as there were many places for all kinds of girls but no one seemed to think that the poor little boys had any need of being instructed in the faith. They had no one to provide for them either spiritually or corporally and were so very unsure of knowing and loving God. They are still doing all that they can to get the true instruction so as to be able to help the sisters. Some days later, our dear Mother Marie Cecilia said, when she saw that our present superior, Mother Mary Austin Jones, had a home for our dear little boys, “Thanks be to God that our dear Rev. Mother has done one of the most noble acts that ever was in this city when she opened the home for the dear little orphan boys so that one day the Sisters of the Holy Family can have brothers of the same order to take care of the orphan boys. That will allow us more sisters to teach the girls both in the city and country and also in the other states where they have demanded our sisters and preferred them to others.” Although we had never dreamt of opening a house in other cities, a letter came, asking Rev. Mother if she could supply them with sisters—if not within one or two years, just as soon as she could. They believed that we were more able to send sisters than other orders since we had so many subjects from the western cities. We had the very highest reputation in those places. Everyone who has ever visited the convent at 810 Florida Street, East Baton Rouge, knows that Mother Marie Cecilia is much admired by all who met her on the convent’s opening day. A great many families said that they hoped that the dear sisters would take a lively interest in their

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children. Thanks to our good God they have at last met with good luck after waiting for ten or eleven years. They said they were just as happy as they could be and did not ask any better graces than those that God had given them when He sent our dear Mother Marie Cecilia to conduct the convent in Baton Rouge. They promised our sisters to do everything in their power to make their children advance in their studies. Their children had been somewhat deprived for some years because our sisters had withdrawn from that city and had not returned, as the old late Father LeCozic had requested. But not long after the poor old father’s death, our dear sisters were again received with open arms by the whole city and not only by those whom they had formerly known. All those in that city had spoken of our reputation in regard to the movement and good order of our schools for both boys and girls and had also encouraged others to send their children to our sisters. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia told many persons in Baton Rouge that her greatest fear was that they would not succeed because of the hard times. But they very soon saw better, for many of them not only brought their own children but went around and advised all of their friends to send their children too. One of the fathers acted a very noble part toward our dear sisters and now that is one of the happiest little cities that one would ever wish to see in this world. Many of the poor mothers prayed so hard and long to God to act to preserve their holy faith in that city, both for them and their dear children and grandchildren before their deaths. Our leaving had been a source of pain for the many good and holy Catholic families who had been so very attentive to our holy faith and given such good example to all that they drew so many souls to God. We are told that Baton Rouge is not the same place that it was two years ago. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia has been obliged to call on the motherhouse for another sister to do more extensive work in Baton Rouge, such as visiting the sick and dying. We have also been told that during the eight or ten years after our sisters vacated that city, many in the dear old ¤rst Catholic families died without the consolation of our holy mother, the Catholic Church. A great many families lived and raised their children without ever having made their own ¤rst communion, but with much pain. At present our poor dear sisters are kept just as busy as they can be and have no time to play. After their classes are dismissed, the children who are preparing for ¤rst communion are all waiting. And after that come the young ladies who take vocal music. In that way, their whole day is

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well ¤lled up. I am sure each minute for our poor sisters is like a day. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia never has a bit of time to herself, for she never says no and she teaches French and music. By those means she cannot sleep during the day. Now that the holidays are coming soon with the grace of God, they are trying to give an entertainment to make a few nickels to help pay up their bills. There are many little bills during the year that cost money. In all the places where our dear mother has been directress, she has worked most cheerfully. She has not neglected anything that was in her line of duty or that of any of the sisters under her direction. She was always trying to ¤nd something to make an addition to the house for which she was responsible. And, it is strange how rapidly our sisters succeed when they go into another place to open a school for either boys or girls. Everyone remarks that it is so very strange to see how soon our sisters grandize a house in a strange city where so many others have completely failed after having so long in the very same class of business. Many of them lost money after many years of labor and without making any progress. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia said that our ¤rst intent was to grandize the soul and then to work on the body. She told of many who put all their work on beauty and appearance, and none on the soul. But after God, only one thing is necessary. That is to give the children their instruction in regard to their state of life and to teach them what they should do for their souls. By these means, one could very easily get all that was necessary to live in this life, as we all are very assured of death. But death is not all if one loves their God. No one could ever believe the hard time she passed over in St. Landry Parish where the holy Catholic faith is so little kept among our own people who might do so much to propagate it with so much ease, if they were at all disposed to do so. There are a large number of persons in that parish who have been Catholics from their cradles and every one of them has some means of doing a little for the church if they only were disposed to do so. We all know that St. Landry Parish is one of the oldest and richest lands in this state. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia said that during the nine years she was directress, the sisters did much work and saw the fruits of their labor. They had the pleasure of seeing some of these same persons die a most beautiful and holy death. One was a young man who was a person of vain, wicked habits and who had never given one word of thanks to his God during his whole life. But just as soon as the sisters entered the room, he felt the grace of God and said, “Sister, I wish to see Father Dubourg. Will you go and get him for me?” But as it was the

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hour of benediction and quite late, sister said, “It is a little bit late but we can try.” And so they did and the father came with much pleasure both that night and the next day. Before he died, the young man asked the father if he would call and see after his sister and see if she attended to her duties. He received all of the sacraments of the holy Catholic Church and then he died a very happy death. Another subject was a girl whose mother was very coarse to her and wanted her to stay at school. When her child was too sick to sit in the class, the sisters said to the mother, “That girl is too sick to stay. Take her home and give her something to relieve her. Then you can bring her back when she gets better.” So what did the poor girl do but fall on the porch on arriving at her home. She died praying that her mother would get the priest to give her the last sacraments before she died. When the priest came, she had no breath. The poor child had just breathed her last with her eyes turned up toward heaven. What pain it gave her mother. They said she could not speak for some time to think that her dear child had died without one word of consolation from her dear mother. And also to think that she had never dreamed of her daughter being so very sick and had scolded her some hours before that. The poor child did not have time to say one word in regard to her soul and that gave much pain to all of her friends, but above all to our sisters who had known her from her childhood. One of them had instructed her since she was very young and often had said that she did not seem strong at all. Today is Christmas and one that will not be forgotten soon by many. On this day in 1895, we have one of the grandest and holiest Jesuit Fathers. The community of the Holy Family is one of the ¤nest communities of New Orleans, but was at one time too poor to demand a chaplain for our special use. Since we lived so near the parish church, the father had objected to our having mass in our chapel. One year during the generalship of our dear Mother Marie Cecilia, we all had to wait until 7 a.m. for our chaplain to say the usual three masses on Christmas day. Once on August 15, after the parish father had made some complaints about our having mass, the people in our chapel were ready for mass and it was long past the hour. Our dear mother dispatched a person to go up and see why the father was so late. The reverend superior said that he had just received an order from the parish father forbidding him to send us a father on Sundays or any days of obligation unless we had ¤rst obtained permission of the archbishop. All were compelled to resort to the church that day and also the next Easter as we were unable to pay our chaplain to come regularly. What a sad thing it was for our dear Mother Marie Cecilia to see so many sisters having to go out every day

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to mass after becoming accustomed to hearing mass in our house for so long. They were also obliged to leave a nice, cozy place for one side of the main aisle. Since many persons were compelled to be at their duties by 7 a.m., the sisters were obliged to remain in their seats until these persons had gone out of the church. The sisters allowed them to pass. The sisters would not have detained those poor souls from their daily labors. That delay might some day later cause them to lose their places. Many of them had large families and we might have on that account deprived their poor families of bread to eat. (This is the ¤rst Friday, 1896.) Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia said that our act of charity would draw many blessings on our dear community. We received from the same persons much charity and would have been much the loser if they did not have work. So we were not any the worse for letting those poor laborers pass before our sisters. It was no small matter to ¤nd some work in this city at that time when there were so many poor homes without a nickel to buy a bite for days at a time. Many persons had seen better days and had owned very many large estates and had been some of our best and most generous friends at the time we ourselves were in much need of help. So they touched the heart of our dear and charitable Mother Marie Cecilia and caused her to give them much more liberty than she would have otherwise. Our sisters had many of their own dear relatives who were just as needy as any one of those dear friends of perhaps much, much more than those on whom we looked as some of the poorest of this city. Today, Mother Marie Cecilia has the esteem of all and is drawing souls of every denomination. She has their con¤dence and can do almost anything that she pleases with them. She only has to let them know in time if they need to assist the church or the poor. In that way, everyone helps with pleasure and open hands if they are noti¤ed some days beforehand. Every family promptly responds to any plea for charity; they also respond promptly when they hear that one of their friends has need of help, or is sick or in distress. No one has ever called on our dear Mother Marie Cecilia or any of our dear sisters but that they received what they demanded or something which served the same purpose. Many have often remarked that it had been to them a very great disappointment by not having our sisters during those many years which they had spent so much and had not realized anything. But God knows best what one needs in this life. One may see that God has destined the Sisters of the Holy Family to evangelize his people all over the world. Many of the Holy Fathers have

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told us often that to go from one place to another to instruct children is one of the greatest and most meritorious acts that men or women can do in this life. We truly believe that, as we have some experience with it, since we are daily teaching in some three or four schools. In fact, we have in Baton Rouge a great many advantages that we have not had in other places. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia says that everyone up there is contented with our method of teaching their children and also with us in other respects. Our dear sisters have always been just as careful as they can be with their pupils, not only as regards their spiritual welfare, but also as regards all that can bene¤t their future. It is then that they will get some idea of being able to conduct themselves and all of their business, as many poor girls have suffered from not knowing how to conduct themselves. After our sisters opened up in Baton Rouge, the girls very soon found some means of paying for their evening class. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia says in order to give them a chance of having some instruction, she allows them to do any sort of work to pay her in exchange for lessons. In that way, they are not at all embarrassed at learning anything that might serve one day to support them in their future when they have no one they can depend on for support. Our sisters have some very bright and competent scholars. One of them is trying to complete her studies in the summer, if it pleases our dear Lord to grant her the grace to do so. Her parents are very much in need of her to assist them. Her father has very poor health and that might prove later something more serious than it is at present. They might be forced to dispose of their dear little home and seek another place to live among strangers where she would have much to suffer as times are very sad with very many persons. Our sisters in Baton Rouge are obliged to do many things that they were never accustomed to do in former days. No one can say that there is any pomp in that house. Everyone who has ever visited it is very much astonished to see that those poor girls who at one time were so far back in their books all at once have caught up. Many of them are so much forward and even over half completed. They could be expected to complete their studies in two or three years if they did not waste their time in some amusement or foolishness as often girls do until it is too late for them learn any more. Then the sisters have to kill themselves in order to teach the girls what is necessary for them to make their own living in this life as some poor girls have been forced to do many times. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was not afraid to say on many occasions that parents should force their children to study very hard so as to complete their studies at an early age. In that way, they would be ready

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to assist in supporting their families who had spent so much having them instructed. Their families had kept them during the time that they were going to school and they could not work much as they had to study. Everyone knows that to do justice to one’s study is no play. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia was very strict in pushing parents to do all that they could to advance their children in studying. Since time is so very short, death might deprive them of the great pleasure of seeing their dear children complete their studies which is one of the most important points in life after the grace of God. She pushed them to pray to prevent their children from losing their souls as many do after spending many years in school and learning arts with which they could support their families with ease. But some made bad use of their schooling and did far worse than many a poor child who, on the contrary, had been deprived of any instruction or the kind and loving care of any relative who would have done something toward having them instructed. No one could ever expect to see many a poor girl or boy come to such height or become such an honorable or noble person as we have many times seen. Over the two years our sisters have been there, they have a large number of young ladies who are quite advanced in three or four branches. Some of them did not have even the ¤rst idea of the three rules nor could they work out any of the most simple examples.22 But at present most any of the best pros could not give our girls any example. I think that they would ¤nd it dif¤cult to confound them. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia said that no celebrated person would be able to confound any one of them unless they were timid or surprised.23 Some girls had only been coming about six months but had pro¤ted more than those who had been coming to school for two or three years. The ones who have been coming for six months understand more than the others and, if anything, seem better instructed on many points. The older students were sent every day by their parents but wasted both time and money instead of pro¤ting. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia says with the grace of God that while passing from Baton Rouge to the small stations that surround it, no one who has visited them would believe what an immense amount of good our sisters have done up in that part of the state. She says that whenever she is in any way embarrassed in means, she has only to address herself to any one of those planters and they will quickly respond. Many of them, if short of money, will send what can be disposed of or what will serve our purpose. She says that many times during the summer she has taken the train and gone some ten or twelve miles after completing her foremost duty

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and then returned on the late train after having disposed of $8 or $10 worth of fancy articles by which they were supported until they could teach school. Many of the children’s parents are very poor and are obliged to labor very hard and do not always have money in their homes, nor can they get it from those for whom they work. Thus, our dear mother and sisters are often obliged to take up a small collection so as to meet their little bills. We all know that at present we are not able to work since there is no money. Who would credit us without some hope of getting paid someday, no matter how little it may be? Money needs to come in at times when one has need to settle up or on the ¤rst of each month when everybody expects to be paid, so as to avoid trouble or lawsuits. So many prayers were made in favor of the foundation at Baton Rouge before it was opened. That must be what gives them such great luck during the hard times of today. It is so sad to see and to hear the complaints of all classes in regard to their deprivation and that of their families, who are without many necessities. But with the holy grace of God, our dear Mother Marie Cecilia thanks Almighty God that the students have all been blessed with excellent health so far and prays that they will remain the same until the winter is over. A good many of them have passed two or three years in our schools and are so well advanced. They will no doubt have the ¤rst prize and some may, at the conclusion of the next session, receive, on condition, their diploma with a gold medal and with the grace of God if they are not prevented by any sort of sickness this spring. That is the intention of our dear Mother Marie Cecilia and the other sisters up there at present. Our sisters have worked very hard to advance some of the young ladies they think are too old to come to school another term. These young ladies would like to learn some new fancy work or art or music. But they do not need to spend so much time learning as these younger girls. They can come only two or three times a week to learn well some branch of learning which does not require as much application as books do in general classes. These lessons are not as necessary as other lessons will be in future years when they will be too old to learn to knit or to learn another branch of any kind. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia says to their parents when she advises them on the welfare of their children, someday when perhaps they go away from their own country, they could be taken advantage of by strangers who will be unkind to them or will try to get the better of them or discharge them without means of support. Or they might ¤nd themselves in poor health, too weak to do their duty as is

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often the case among teachers after completing their studies and obtaining from some good friend a post. Our dear mother well knows because her own dear brother had been brilliantly instructed by their father who spared no means in procuring for them a great passion that they might try speaking three or four languages. But he afterwards lost his health and was an object of compassion to others. The family was obliged to live on a kind friend until God was pleased to grant them a way of doing something that was easy and did not require any exposure at all. At present with the grace of God, our dear Mother Marie Cecilia has just begun to make the parents understand what the reality of life and necessity of instruction is for the future welfare of their children. After very much dif¤culty, our sisters had much to contend with in the beginning as many of the parents were non-Catholics and did not understand what danger it was to expose their young ladies in many schools where a girl’s principles could be ruined for life. Nor did they understand why there was any impropriety in having the two sexes mixed together in the same class. There were a great many girls who came for awhile and then went to other schools after dear Mother Marie Cecilia announced to them that we could not have both girls and boys in the same room nor could they, on any terms, play in the same yard on our premises. What risks the teachers run in mixing the two together! It was only then that our dear sisters made an impression on some of their parents. After some months, a great many non-Catholics came and presented their young daughters, because of the great admiration they had for the modesty of the girls of the Convent of the Holy Family and our measures of raising girls. They also ¤nd such a striking change in their conduct. Some time later, our school had almost as many non-Catholics as there were in other schools. Of course, each school did its best to surpass the others. And had God not protected ours, we would at that time have been completely ruined. But we had a very holy father who had always taken an interest in our schools and assured those who placed their children in our classes that they would be pleased at the capabilities of their children. And so they were. They never withdrew any of them and seem perfectly content at present. It might not last, but we have some good friends, we think, who have a very great con¤dence in our sisters. We hope it will always remain as it is at present, for our dear Mother Marie Cecilia has done all that she can in gaining their souls to God by doing everything that she thought was in any way pleasing to Almighty God or was of any use

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to the souls of our people. We hope to even see those who have been scorned by some people become perfected. Owing to the many disadvantages of the past years, they were deprived of things from which they might have pro¤ted. We are all very thankful to our good and loving Lord who has granted us so many favors within the past few years. We pray that we can always be worthy of them as we should be and will try to do everything that we can to give the parents just as much pleasure as we can. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia and the sisters are all just as happy as they can be and they owe very much of their happiness to the families of that city, for their kindness in trying to make the sisters feel at home as much as one could in a strange place. They have succeeded, for we do not have a branch house at any place where the sisters are as contented as they are at Baton Rouge. Since it is only seventy-¤ve miles from this city, if they want, they can take the boat and come down on Friday night and return on Sunday or the next Monday and arrive in time to have their classes open at the bell without any trouble at all with God’s holy grace. But they are all so very stingy that they prefer to keep their nickels for hard times rather than spend them in coming on the railroad. If there is any money over what they need to spend on the railroad, she says that it would be better for them to save it and give it to our Reverend Mother to pay for the sisters’ board during our annual retreat after the school is closed for vacation. That is when there will be nothing coming to the house and the expenses will be great. Perhaps someone might fall ill and need something during the summer while we are all on retreat and without money. So it is well that you who have a little change on hand try to save it for hard times so we may not involve ourselves in too deep a debt or put ourselves in an embarrassment which well might cause some trouble later. Not only did He deliver the malicious superior Sister Elizabeth from her cruel direction, but He drove her out of our holy community. She was punished by Almighty God who can and will give justice to all men when the time comes. He will put a stop to their malicious power over others whom Almighty God had given them to conduct that they might glorify His holy name on earth until it pleases His holy will to call them to their eternal reward according to the merit of each one of us who was chosen to labor under the banner of Christ after the example of our dear Lord who said to his disciples, “go and preach to all nations.” That is to say that we should forget ourselves to teach all men in all parts of the world. On the other hand, no matter where His glory or holy obedience sends

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us on any day or at any hour, we must be ready to go and without a single sigh. Our dear Mother Marie Cecilia has faithfully kept that part of our holy rule for she has passed in almost every house of the Holy Family either as directress or as subject. She has never once refused to go to any one of them. She said, “At any time or house we are called, there is our sancti¤cation.” It was her intention on entering into the holy house of God to do all that was possible to work for the glory of God in all parts of the world. She said that in doing so, she would merit heaven and that she was ful¤lling the duty of a good member of her order and the state which she had chosen on her own accord and also the three vows which she had made on the day before the altar in the presence of God and man. We do not think that there is anything for which she will be reproached at the hour of death when she must give any account of her vows. She has been so far very true and faithful with the grace of Almighty God.

PART FIVE

MOTHER MARY AUSTIN JONES

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CHRONOLOGY 1861 1877 1879 1891 1892

1893

1894 1895 1896 1909

Birth of Mary Ellen Jones in Donaldsonville, Louisiana. Enters the community. Begins her novitiate and takes the name Sister Mary Austin. Elected mother superior. A school for boys opens. Orphan girls’ home completed and opened with 67 orphans. Fr. L. A. Chassé resigns as ecclesiastical superior. Fr. Fabian Garbely, S.J., succeeds Fr. Gerlach as confessor and spiritual director. The community celebrates its golden jubilee. St. John Berchmans Girls’ Home opens. Elderly moved from St. Bernard Street home to a new facility at 410 Bayou Road. Girls moved from old Louisiana Asylum for Colored Girls to St. Bernard’s School in September. St. Maurice’s School for girls and boys opens in New Orleans. Fr. John B. Bogaerts succeeds Fr. Chassé as the community’s ecclesiastical superior. Annex to accommodate men added to home for elderly on Bayou Road. Lafon Asylum for Orphan Boys on St. Peter Street opens. St. Louis School for Colored Children in Carrollton (now part of New Orleans) opens. Sister Mary Austin Jones elected to second term as mother superior. Sister Mary Bernard Deggs begins her journal. Sisters return to Baton Rouge to open St. Joseph School. Death of Sister Mary Bernard Deggs. Death of Sister Mary Austin, February 12, 1909.

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MARY ELLEN JONES was born in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, on May 7, 1861. Since she was from a devout Catholic family, she was baptized at the age of eight days and then con¤rmed at the age of eleven, in 1872. Sister Borgia Hart writes that Jones’ family was so devoted that when she asked her parents, at the age of sixteen, if they would allow her to enter the religious life, they enthusiastically consented. She entered the postulancy a short time later, on August 15, 1877. Accounts of community life suggest that even as a very young woman she was as competent as she was devout. Just days after she began religious life Jones began teaching English at the Louisiana Asylum for Colored Girls. Deggs credits her with instituting important reforms there. Women entering a religious community customarily spend one year as postulants. Jones entered her novitiate training approximately a year after she had begun her postulancy, in 1878. Her entrance as a novice, on December 10, 1878, however, was unusual. Borgia Hart reports that she was the ¤rst sister to ride in a carriage through the streets to St. Mary’s Church to celebrate her entrance into the novitiate. Not only that, but Jones was dressed in full bridal attire. This suggests that by 1878 the sisters no longer felt they had to hide their identities or their mission from hostile whites. Their hopes for racial equality, by that time, must have soared. When Jones ¤rst entered the community at the end of Reconstruction in 1877, racial politics in Louisiana had changed. Black men had won the right to participate in the political process. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 prohibited segregation in public places. Yet, those advances were much more meaningful in New Orleans than in Louisiana’s rural parishes, where whites isolated and terrorized blacks. Louisiana was predominantly rural, with most blacks trapped in peonage systems of labor from which they could not escape. The single-crop economic system came to dominate rural life in Louisiana after the war, and it was overwhelmingly one of subsistence farming based in sharecropping and tenancy. Poor Louisianians, both black and white, were thus forced into a system that was one of widespread poverty, accompanied by the highest illiteracy rate in the nation. The possibility of social reform taking root in rural Louisiana was farfetched, even compared to the rest of the underdeveloped South. White campaigns of terror against blacks in rural areas usually prevented them from participating in the political process, effectively segregating them; but these techniques were not so effective in New

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Orleans. There, both freed people and free people of color successfully united and made some gains in both the social and the political arenas. Yet, even in New Orleans, Reconstruction failed to interrupt white supremacy. Many factors in®uenced the success of blacks in New Orleans after Reconstruction. The black newspaper, the Tribune, contributed to a more united and thus in®uential political front. There was a large group of men from in®uential free colored families who had been well educated before the war. These men, who were mostly young, were ready to step into the political arena when the opportunity presented itself. And ¤nally, the three-tiered racial structure that had evolved in New Orleans during the colonial period and the shared identity that cut across race of the Creole population continued to ameliorate conditions in the city, as well as in the convent, throughout the nineteenth century, though the impact of a Creole identity slowly declined over time.1 Notwithstanding the fact that they have heretofore been virtually overlooked in Louisiana’s political and social history, women of color contributed in fundamental ways to the advancement of their people and to the improvement in race relations. As Jones, who was known in religious life as Sister Mary Austin, grew into her role as a sister, she struggled to advance the cause of Louisiana’s freed men, women, and children. She spent her ¤rst year of religious training in the convent in Opelousas, where she was praised for her missionary work. Shortly after she was formally received into the community in 1879, she was appointed principal of St. Mary’s Academy. She remained in that post until she was elected mother superior in August 1891. Even though Mary Austin was only thirty when she was ¤rst elected mother superior, she was exceedingly successful. In fact, she enjoyed so much success that she served in the post until her death on February 12, 1909. Her extraordinary competence won the respect and love of the community; in all, she was elected by her sisters to serve six consecutive terms. Indeed, it was Mother Mary Austin who led the community through the turmoil of the waning nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth. Hers was the hand that steered the community, in both urban and rural convents, through the tumultuous and even violent years of disenfranchisement and Jim Crow segregation. The optimism the sisters felt during the late 1870s and early 1880s, which had all but vanished during the turmoil of the 1890s, was replaced by fear. In an unusual passage dealing with political and economic conditions in the world around her, Deggs addressed the issues that most concerned the sisters and the black community. Dire

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economic circumstance held her religious community and her people in a viselike grip after the depression of 1894. In the infamous elections of 1896, blacks and poor whites were disenfranchised and Jim Crow reared his ugly head. Deggs wrote: “No one knows how things will come out after this election is over.2 Many are speaking of suspending public gatherings for some ¤ve or six months. Many say that many persons will be without work and that our whole state, owing to present appearances, is in the great and merciful hand of Almighty God. No one can tell what the future will be. Many have prophesied war. If something is not done, there will be some trouble later. If someone does not interest themselves, the whole country will suffer and more so, many think.”3 Faced with the political and economic uncertainty that nearly paralyzed blacks and poor whites in the state, Mother Mary Austin made plans. In writing contemporaneously, Deggs tells us that even though “the times are so very hard and so many persons are without work, Mother Mary Austin has some great enterprises going on at present.” Mother Mary Austin had come into the community at a time of great opportunity for blacks in the city. It had experienced unprecedented growth during the 1870s and 1880s, when Mother Josephine Charles and Mother Marie Magdalene, each in her turn, directed it. A list of sisters drawn up during Mother Marie Magdalene’s superiorship, at some time between 1882 and 1888, enumerates thirty-¤ve names.4 As this section of Deggs’ journal will demonstrate, the community grew in size and function as the world shrank around it. Yet, the race-based changes that occurred in the 1890s cannot be interpreted as a radical departure from the years of racism that preceded them. The foundresses had created their identities as religious sisters during the antebellum years as a consequence of the distance between the free people of color of New Orleans and its white population. Since they had originally founded their missions and their identities in response to segregation, they knew how to respond. They had their mechanisms in place within which to address the issues of the social reform movement of the early twentieth century. Social reform was not new to the Sisters of the Holy Family.

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mother mary austin jones

Mother Mary Austin Jones, who was in the world known as Miss Mary Ellen Jones and who is our sixth mother superior, was the fourth daughter of the late Mr. H. A. Jones and Miss Christine Johnson of Baltimore, Maryland. She entered our dear community on August 15, 1877, when she was ¤fteen or sixteen. On entering our community, Miss Mary Ellen Jones, while quite young, faithfully proved to have a true and perfect vocation. Between 1877 and 1882, she merited, by her many rare and heroic virtues, to be elected general assistant to our mother superior. She has also given to all of us the most strict example by her beautiful conduct. She was selected by the greater number of our members to replace Mother Marie Cecilia, who was one of the most esteemed members of the order. Mother Mary Austin was chosen in preference to Mother Marie Cecilia and to many others who might have been chosen because of their age. That is a true sign that she is more ¤tted and more esteemed in some points because of her loving qualities and rare virtues. Not everyone has the nature to persist or has arrived at the point of which we speak. Both Mother Marie Cecilia and Mother Mary Austin are devoted members at present and still do a most glorious work for God. With grace and good health, we hope to see much more growth soon, as there are in many cities people who have called our dear Mother Mary Austin to supply Sisters of the Holy Family. Many have asked her for sisters since her work is very striking, even after so short a time. On August 17, 1892, she celebrated the golden jubilee of our foundation.5 Fifty years have elapsed. Next, she established the St. John Berchmans Girls’ Home, a boys’ day and boarding school, the Lafon boys’ home, the old men’s home, the St. Bernard Street School for girls and boys, and the Carrollton German School, which was donated by our dear father, the late R. Vallée, who was at the time of his death the devoted pastor of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Carrollton.6 Next she opened St. Maurice’s School for girls and boys on October 1, 1892. Sister Mary Anastasia was the teacher, assisted by her little orphan girl, Nellie, for the ¤rst two years.7 The third year, Sister Mary Anastasia was assigned an assistant and protector, as St. Maurice’s School was some distance from our convent on Orleans Street. The St. Louis School in Carrollton for boys and girls opened on September 1, 1893; Mother Mary Austin also established St. Anne’s School

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for Boys (old St. Bernard’s School). The latter school ¤rst opened on Orleans Street near Bourbon Street. St. Bernard’s School had been the old St. Bernard’s Home for old women until the girls moved into their new home on Orleans Street and the old people were transported to the old Louisiana Orphans’ Home, allowing their old home to be converted into St. Bernard’s School for boys and girls.8 The blessing of St. John Berchmans Home was on August 20, 1893.9 After the girls vacated the old Louisiana Orphans’ Home on October 1, 1892, the old women moved into it in 1893. On August 13, the new annex which our dear old papa, the late T. Lafon, had donated for the old men and annexed to the old building adjoining the new chapel which he had built to accommodate both sexes, was completed. The old men took possession on that day. The next Sunday, August 20, 1893, our dear archbishop blessed the newly completed Lafon Boys’ Home and gave benediction of the most blessed sacrament. The boys and three sisters remained there. The rest moved in the next day with the grace of God and with many thanks to their dear papa, the late charitable Mr. Lafon, who was the only one to think of the motherless boys of this city and state. It might have been that our dear Mother Mary Austin Jones was pleasing to Almighty God and thus drew so many striking graces on the Holy Family. She is the only American superior who has ever governed our dear little community since its foundation.10 She entered and was formed by the three previous mother generals. Her lovely and rare qualities were so grand and noble. Not on any other has God bestowed so many such uncommon favors as on our dear mother, as all may see. Her qualities might have come from her father and mother who were both very holy and upright persons. They were just as simple as they could be in our days when most everyone is so full of vanity and jealousies that they regret to see another take one drop of water if they do not give them the half of it. Our faith teaches us that to be sel¤sh is a sin which will one day return to us. Or we can ¤ll our crown with gems that shine bright in the next life. Our dear Mother Mary Austin worked only for the glory of God and the good of souls. She well knew that what is done in this life will be rewarded in heaven after one’s death when we will be unable to work for ourselves. All that we have done during our life on earth will make punishment much shorter in the world to come.11 Our dear mother, on entering our community, was greatly blessed with many graces. She seemed to have been called by Almighty God in the most extraordinary ways. By her conduct, she had the esteem of our mother superior and all of the sisters. While Miss Mary Ellen Jones was

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a mere candidate, our dear Mother Josephine Charles chose her as one of three sisters to serve as the reformers of the old Louisiana Orphans’ Home when we took over that desperate place. The three were Mother Anne, Sister Marie Cecilia, and our dear Miss Mary Ellen Jones. Some eighteen months later, she was called back to assist the principal of the lower young ladies’ class and to prepare herself to pronounce her initial vows. Some months later, at the request of our dear Father Raymond, she was assigned as ¤rst teacher over at St. Joseph’s Convent in Opelousas. Some years later, she was called to the motherhouse on Orleans Street as principal of the young ladies’ higher class. She remains there still. She was elected mother superior of our community in 1891. She has completed one term and has been reelected for another three years. So you may see for yourself how God has blessed our dear Mother Mary Austin from the time of her entrance into the house of the Holy Family. She has been promoted from one of¤ce to another during her seventeen years in religious life. She has worked as much as any old member of the order. But her work is valued much more than that of many of the elder sisters. She would have done much more had she had the acting powers sooner, but it did not please our dear Lord to give her that grace too soon for fear of giving her too much pride and at the same time risking her vocation as many have done. She was somewhat younger than our holy rule generally permitted one to be who is entrusted with such an of¤ce. Her case was the one of which the rule speaks when it refers to a sister being thirty-three years of age before she can take on the responsibility of a mother superior. Only to see how much courage our dear Mother Mary Austin had! When we elected her, she was not yet thirty-three. Although our holy rule says that if one has all of the capacities of a superior, then she may be installed regardless of her age. The rule says that she must just discharge the duties of her position by economizing what belongs to the community and keeping the holy rule in a perfect manner. She must not do anything that might allow others the chance to complain of her conduct at any time. We have not as yet heard of any objection to her. Nor have we ever been governed by an American since our ¤rst foundation, although we welcomed her capacity and never had the least doubt.12 Our dear Mother Mary Austin by her striking docility was the very one that God had chosen to complete some of the most important work of our grandizement which was intended by our Reverend Founder, Father Rousselon, whom God was pleased to call to his reward before he had completed the work of his long wishes. It was the same with our dear Mother Foundress, Henriette Delille, who departed this life to pray for

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those whom God had intended to complete her undertaking after her death. Only to think after four superiors, one of them, the ¤fth, has been the most successful. She is also the youngest and the most capable as far as the customs of our country are concerned.13 Yes, we can truly say that our dear Mother Mary Austin has done almost the principal part of what has been done up to the present time and within much less time than any of the other four superiors. However, we must not forget our dear Mother Marie Magdalene Alpaugh who, by her uncommon experiences, did much toward forming and educating our dear Mother Mary Austin’s judgment during the time that Mother Mary Austin acted as her assistant. The parents of Miss Mary Ellen Jones had hesitated to give their daughter an education, though she had already shown rare promise of natural gifts for both virtue and profession. It was a very holy day for the Sisters of the Holy Family when they admitted as one of their own members Miss Mary Ellen Jones, for she has proved herself to be one of our most valuable members, not only by her ability but also because she had drawn on our dear community a great many blessings. Our dear Mother Mary Austin was so simple in all of her actions that she embraced the lowest or most humble duties of our whole community without any repugnance. Not only was she loved by all of our dear sisters, but the little animals of the place would follow her wherever she went. It was a very hard matter for us to keep one of our cats from getting up on the table whenever our dear Mother Mary Austin would take her repast. When our holy rule called her to the presence of the blessed sacrament or in any other part of the house, the cat would sometimes go to the parlor to see whether she was there or not. If she was, the cat would jump, as a boy would, to sit upon her lap until it would be drawn off of her and then it seemed to complain at the person who drew it away, just as if to say, “You had no right to speak to me in that way about my mother.” It would march away on one side of our dear mother as much as to say, “I will not obey you at all.” It was the same with the children, even those who had not seen her before, either in the street or in the convent or in any place they saw her. It is not that our dear Mother Mary Austin does not correct them, for she gives it to them well when she thinks that they need it. But for all that, no one seems to feel it, and if they do, no one has ever resented it. At the times that she has scolded them, I have never heard a word of complaint uttered by any of them against her. Even the smallest child would say, “Oh, mother,” and smile, just as if a word had never passed

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between them. Often they had been punished beforehand by her, but did not feel hard toward her. No one could say that she ever spared the rod or allowed them to do any act which was against a point of our rule or the class. She knew that to allow one act of disorder in a school would be the means of much pain. So she was always very strict in doing all that she knew to avoid any act that would later grieve anyone. Our dear Mother Mary Austin had much experience at that, not only as a teacher, but also during her childhood in school. Her strictness proved to be one of the best instructions that the children learned at school when they were young, as those things which we learn at school are not as easily forgotten as others. It often occurs that even after we have forgotten many things that we learned in school, something will quickly bring them back to our memory again. Perhaps we will never again forget them on earth. Among the different Jesuit fathers, there was one, Father Ph. DeCarriere, who was our director for four years or more. He so very often remarked that it was a rare thing these days to meet a person who possesses such rare qualities as our dear mother—her docility, her gentleness, and her leadership—for one of her age. He said that no other but heaven could have ever have given her those virtues. He also said that she was one out of many and that she was a child of benediction. He predicted that she would become our mother superior at a very early age and would do a noble and glorious work. On his last visit, which was only some eighteen months ago after some of our dear sisters had died, our good and Rev. Father Ph. DeCarriere reminded the sisters of what he had said in regard to our dear Mother Mary Austin’s becoming our mother general. He said that Almighty God had given her riches which no man could take away from her. Rev. Mother Superior Mother Mary Austin reestablished the saying of our of¤ce that had been dispensed with on account of the blindness of our dear Reverend and Venerable Mother Josephine Charles.14 When the sisters opened a house on Chartres Street in 1870, there were but three sisters there; they were given a dispensation from saying the holy of¤ce for about eleven years, which was the whole time they stayed in that house. We had been dispensed from saying the holy of¤ce for about twenty-six years until last Thursday, November 21, 1895, which was just eight days ago. Our holy of¤ce was reestablished by the younger of the four superiors general during those twenty-six years. Our present and dear Rev. Mother Mary Austin Jones has been the most successful of all the superiors general since our foundation, even more than our dear Mother Marie Cecilia. She had been instructed by

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our sisters and had by many points a better chance of doing a great many things that others could not. Our dear Mother Mary Austin, as young as she is, has suffered much pain and has always been perfectly charming as could be, even when she lost her father and mother. Only twelve months later, she suffered another great pain when our beloved Mother Marie Magdalene died on November 9, 1890. Our dear Mother Mary Austin was so perfectly devoted to her. It seemed as if God wanted to try our dear Mother Mary Austin’s love for Him. Just to see, she lost her mother on February 12, 1889, her father on December 22, 1889. Of the three, I think that the death of our dear Mother Marie Magdalene seemed to af®ict her just as much, if not more, than that of her parents. It is true that our spiritual love is much stronger than our blood love. But even so I have not forgotten that only eleven months after our dear Mother Mary Austin entered the Holy Family, she lost, on July 19, 1878, her brother, Henry, whom she loved most dearly. How she wept for him. His death might have caused her to have the yellow fever. No one could visit another during the fever of 1878. Just to think that we had four who had the fever and one of them had not had her foot out of the yard, not even to see a sick person, and she caught it anyway. Our dear Mother Mary Austin was not expected to live either, but the great mercy of God was much stronger than man. God gave her health back that she might work for His greater glory and for souls which she, I hope, has done with the grace of God and does still. No one knows how things will come out after this election is over. Many are speaking of suspending public gatherings for some ¤ve or six months. Many say that many persons will be without work and that our whole state, owing to present appearances, is in the great and merciful hand of Almighty God. No one can tell what the future will be. Many have prophesied war. If something is not done, there will be some trouble later. If someone does not interest themselves, the whole country will suffer and more so, many think. Our dear Mother Mary Austin has anticipated this for some time and has remarked about it on several occasions. Even though the times are so very hard and so many persons are without work, she has some great enterprises going on at present. Mother Mary Austin often notices things that seem a little strange. But as she is not too certain, she does not say too much to others before investigating the matter. Then our dear sisters who have responsibilities begin to take great care to save all that they can so as to not suffer later when there will be no way of making ends meet as one would like. If she knew that what was being said at present was true, there might be

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some means of avoiding it. But it is uncertain and everything may be changed for the best. As many persons have false ideas about others, it may after all be a mere rumor and one may regret having disposed of anything which they could not replace so easily. I have just completed my subject in regard to the future times. Our dear Mother Mary Austin received a notice compelling all property holders, both priests and sisters, to pay an annual tax which will mount up. The lowest tax will be no less than $2,000 or $3,000 per annum, plus perhaps the interest. Sometimes, property holders are not always prepared to meet the taxes when they come due. In that way, our dear Mother Mary Austin might sometimes forget them. The assessors know pretty well the values of our property, and that might do us some small damage or cause a misunderstanding. That itself often causes some disagreements or brings on some very hard feelings, which, of itself, is disagreeable to us. We have many times seen in our city and have read about many cases where others have suffered great pain. This was also the cause of their ruin and many persons died later after becoming so deluded in their old age. Our dear Mother Mary Austin, in former days, saw her own parents lose their property by some misunderstanding by a member of the family in paying their annual taxes. As his son was a minor, the whole case was a very heav y burden on that dear old father and may have brought on his early death. We are also told that he had inherited property from his old grandfather who had been quite wealthy at the time of his death during the late Civil War. It was some eight or ten years later before anything was resolved, as all our courts were for some time suspended and no one was able to settle anything until after peace had been declared. Many who were employed in the courts had been killed so that was a drawback to business. Many cases were, as it were, lost and only heaven can tell what things were settled after the war ended when everyone was for himself. Many lost what they owned and no doubt many a dollar perhaps was stolen in some cases that were in the court at the breaking out of the war. Many thanks to our dear Lord that the Jones family did not lose what was in the father’s name at that time. They gave their children a nice upbringing for some years after the conclusion of the war. When our dear mother was growing up, her father was able to give his children a very handsome instruction. As far as our dear mother is concerned, Almighty God must have destined her for the Holy Family. All who knew anything of her in her cradle said that she must be the one to whom God in his mercy has given extraordinary graces. Out of her whole family, it is only Mother Mary Austin whose works are so much

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admired all over the United States and in many parts of Europe and Canada. With the grace of God, we will do the same in many states both far and near, although at present things are somewhat dark for our dear Mother Mary Austin. But as God is so good, we have great con¤dence in his grace and don’t think that we need to fear because we lost two of our dear sisters to God on January 15 and 23, 1896. During Mother Mary Austin’s whole administration, that was one of the greatest pains she has felt. She also has some pain with a person about a will that was made some seven years ago. We do not fear in the least losing any part of it. Sometimes, lawyers may be bribed with a great sum of money to draw up a false will and sometimes do so successfully. I do not suppose that our dear Mother Mary Austin has any fear of the opposing party doing anything like that, as I think they seem to be somewhat short of money. That is why they have acted toward our dear Mother Mary Austin with the hope of getting some money. But we are not much afraid that the case will come off as they expect, although it seems at present a little bit uncertain, for many persons are interested in that case. We are not to be played with nor are we at all green. So one may judge whether we are soft or not. Although they have lawful ties, they may lose and will regret ever undertaking such acts against our dear Mother Mary Austin without any cause. All who know anything about the will of Madame Reass or Faure are well aware that the persons who brought the suit stand a very poor chance. As far as returning the $900 is concerned, it would not have been very natural for Mr. P. Reass to make his will in favor of a natural cousin and to exclude his wife. Another point is why did this lady, if she had so much charity for his widow after the death of Mr. P. Reass, not attack Madame Faure? Why did she wait so long to annoy our dear Mother Mary Austin if she was the only heir to Mr. P. Reass? Now it seems somewhat strange to us as we have had the $900 for seven years and no one troubled us about it until now. The tale about the will having been found in an old safe is another lame story that will not be believed by many who know that an unjust act has quite a poor chance in a case of this sort. Coming from the parties who parade it only makes it the more insigni¤cant and ridiculous. Our dear Mother Mary Austin has once or twice been mal-sued by three or four parties about wills that were left to the Sisters of the Holy Family. With the grace of God, those parties have all failed in their wicked intention against our dear little community and have never had any success. Many have become our very warmest friends in our distress

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and have tried to repay all the harm that they had done to us in former times. Thus, we cannot feel hatred toward them nor could we ever fail to pardon them after such deep signs of regret. No matter what others think of them, we ourselves expect to receive from Almighty God the pardon of our past sins. We must forgive those who have given us some signs of repentance for what they may have done to us through ignorance and lack of re®ection. God alone knows how much they have suffered in their poor souls for having tried to do something against our dear Mother Mary Austin who is like a lamb to all. For these reasons, we are more grieved to see that they are so sad about their past weaknesses. We ourselves would regret that anyone would refuse to pardon us for what we have done, especially if we were to show that we had regretted doing anything to wound their feelings. How could we ever hope to receive a pardon of God if we had continued to show our revenge to another after they had sought our pardon and we had refused to grant it? We would not be true children of Christ. If we are true children, nothing can make us feel hard toward our neighbor. Our dear Lord who had not committed any sin was always ready and willing on seeing the ¤rst sign of sorrow to pardon those who were so weak as to insult His Majesty. Were we to refuse to follow His example, what would the world say of us since we are religious? How could we ourselves preach to sinners? What would be the use of putting on the holy habit of our holy state of life? Many thanks to our dear Lord, since we can say that there is no one who can truly reproach our dear Mother Mary Austin for not having the conduct which corresponds with her holy state. She tries to imitate our dear Lord as much as she can in many ways. She tries to avoid critical remarks and to give no one scandal in any way. Thus she never feels any regrets after her actions. She is so prudent at all times and in every place, whether indoors or out. She has never given anyone a chance of reproaching her for not doing all she can to gain lost souls to God. The ¤rst heav y cross that our dear Mother Mary Austin had in her ¤rst term was quite unusual. It happened when Miss Angela Colani entered into our community.15 She was a noble and bright young lady. But we learned from some of her schoolmates that she had always been troubled by weakness of the brain. If anyone excited her, she would become like a maniac. Since she was so very strong, she could be quite dangerous for some days. And so she was on August 24, 1892, at the blessing of the St. John Berchmans Orphans’ Home. While watching the priest perform the ceremonial blessing of the building, she was so affected to see what pain she had given her poor sister by deceiving her

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in that way that the effect gave her a very strong fever which lasted some four or ¤ve months. At last our dear Mother Mary Austin was compelled to send her home to her parents, but not without some pain and disagreement. On two or three occasions, she has come and hidden herself in our house. No one knew that she was there until bedtime when she thought it was too late to send her home. But she was quickly dispatched by two persons. We were afraid that we could not get rid of her again as she was so very devoted to us. It would have been all the worse for us to keep her, for that would have been the cause of our losing every subject we had. She was very strong and came very near breaking our superior’s arm. The second cross was that the city gave us a notice that the streets in front and back of our house must be paved with stone. This was after we had drained our last dime to meet the last payment of the new orphans’ home. “What or where were we to get $700 for one side and $1,000 for the other?” That was to our dear Mother Mary Austin a great pain. She was still young and in the ¤rst year of her administration. How troubled she was at that time until a good soul advanced her the $1,700 without interest for seven years. So our dear Mother Mary Austin was again at ease and began to grandize the community in a very rapid way; she opened ¤ve or six schools in our city. We intend to open a kindergarten for poor mothers who are obliged to go out in the day to work and cannot take their little children. If they do, they lose some of their day’s work. They would prefer to leave their little ones in our care until they return. The cost is one dollar a month or only twenty-¤ve cents a week. The mothers can keep their children with our sisters as long as they please or until they are large enough to go to school. They can go to one of our schools at the age of six years, according to the scholastic rule and the custom of the state or city. Many people say that to captivate them too young makes them disgusted with their books. Later, they refuse to study any more and never learn. We have often seen children in their late years, so very brilliant in many branches while young and all at once lose their taste. One might teach them every day and they never learn. But we only intended to open a resort for the ones who are too small to be captured in a real class all day. One and a half hours each day is suf¤cient for them until they are six or eight years old. Then one might begin to push them just as hard as you please. Once they are large enough to remain all day in school, our dear mother thinks that they should not play, so they will not lose a single minute and become lazy. The most important thing for children, when they ¤rst go to school, is to make them pro¤cient.

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Our dear Mother Mary Austin was one of the most enterprising spirits and a studious girl while at school. Well has she pro¤ted during the time that God has given her for His glory. We all can say that she has been destined to do a lot of work in the ¤eld of our Lord. If she had played in her childhood, what would she do today when her duty calls her to so many new occupations that she never expected until she presented herself to do them. Had she done as many girls at school had done, it might have given her plenty of pain today. Instead, she is able to do her own business as she likes. If things are not just as they should be, she can rectify them without calling on others to rectify them for her. We all believe that from the very moment our dear mother was created, God must have intended her to be the superior of the Sisters of the Holy Family. He was for her the star which guided her to the crib where the child Jesus lay. We lived in the old school on Chartres Street when our dear Mother Mary Austin obtained the permission of her parents to become a sister of our community. That alone is enough to prove her vocation. To see the striking contrast between the old house on Chartres Street and our present house on Orleans Street, one would say that God has helped us by sending one who is as capable as our dear Mother Mary Austin. The old house itself was in no way like a convent for sisters to live in. But our dear Lord was born in a stable and the slave is no better than his master.16 Our dear Mother Mary Austin was another Mary who presented herself to God in the temple.17 She was so very happy that she saw only the love of God and the true spirit of her holy vocation in all things. Well might we say that she was like Mary, for the very conduct of Miss Mary Ellen Jones, upon entering into our dear little community, was, as far as we could see, that of a perfect and holy nun who had only the love of God and the salvation of souls. She also had, for a person of her age, so much strength and real judgment which is so very uncommon in a girl of ¤fteen or sixteen years of age. Even when she was the assistant to our dear Mother Marie Magdalene, it was she who directed the greater part of the most important affairs. In all things, she kept the rule in the most scrupulous manner. I have seen her do many things and settle a number of little occurrences that are natural in all communities, most especially among young sisters who are so often somewhat dissipated while at their duties in the same room together. We have an old sister, Sister Anne Fazende, whose father was Indian and whose mother was Spanish. We all are very well aware of the bad tempers and malicious habits of the Spanish, French, Africans, and In-

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dians. Just to think of what it must be like to have a mixture of the four! She is one of the most scornful persons that you could imagine in this life. Of our ¤ve superiors, there never was one who could conquer her terrible temper. However, I saw our dear Mother Mary Austin who was a very docile but strict person tell Sister Anne to kneel down and she did not hesitate for one moment. At that time, our dear mother was only twenty-eight and Sister Anne was sixty-three or sixty-four years old. Sister Anne submitted herself like a lamb to our dear Mother Mary Austin and went and asked pardon of the other old sister whom she had insulted by her scornful words and manners. Sister Anne let her twenty-¤fth anniversary pass in silence, for she entered some thirty-six or seven years ago. Her anniversary passed uncelebrated during the administration of our dear Mother Marie Magdalene who regretted this very much. Sister Anne is the oldest of our sisters. She entered on September 6, 1853, but was obliged to return home to obtain the consent of her mother, which she did. When she returned, she was escorted by her brother-in-law, Mr. E. Meinerie, a Frenchman who was a lawyer of the second district court of this city. He brought her to us on July 4, 1854,18 only one year later and fourteen days before the feast of our Mother Foundress whom she loved so much and who had the same name as she had.19 But our dear old Father Founder gave her the holy habit of our community and changed her name to Sister Anne Marie, as he loved that name so much. Our dear Sister Anne was of a very wealthy and distinguished and ¤ne family. Her mother was descended from one of the ¤rst old Spanish families who settled in Baton Rouge. The Pintado family has the love of the whole state of Louisiana. They have kept our holy faith in a most edifying manner up to the present time. It was our dear Mother Mary Austin who gave our dear Sister Anne her perpetual vows in 1892, as she was so very scrupulous and refused to pronounce them any sooner for fear of violating them and losing her soul. Since she had such a perfect fear of making her vows, our dear mother advised her to consult our dear archbishop so he might give her a more thorough understanding in regard to those vows and encourage her to make them without the least doubt of losing her soul.20 Today Sister Anne is one of the most charming sisters one would ever wish to see; she and the other old sister now live together like doves. It seems now that one cannot live without the other. It would please you to see them now after the good instruction they received from our dear Mother Mary Austin. It made a great impression on Sister Anne, that

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dear soul who had caused so much pain by her spirit of scorn toward others whom she thought were inferior in some degree. She has changed so that she is not the same person that she was before our dear mother corrected her. We are all surprised to see one so much more docile than she had been some years ago. She is the consolation of the house. She was received by our dear founder, Father Rousselon, and is the last living member whom he received. She has been in the midst of the Holy Family for forty-two years; there are few who have been in our dear order for even twenty years. Our community is full of young members, the majority of whom are white veils who have entered under our dear Mother Mary Austin.21 They are still novices and cannot have any important responsibility for some years according to our holy rule. That would be exposing their holy vocation to trust them with great responsibility too soon. It could also do much harm to the whole community. All who have the direction of the community are obliged to suffer so very many things. It seems that many crosses are too hard for us to contend with. If we do not pray much, we will not have the strength to bear these crosses. It is a hard thing for a young soul to support so many crosses while a mere novice. It is at that time that one stands most in danger of losing her vocation, especially if she is not very careful in watching over herself. With the grace of God, Mother Mary Austin is a person who does not attach herself to anything, even as young as she is. She takes no notice of things that might annoy her. She is a very quick person who has no trouble acting at all times, although she has much to contend with and perhaps could become discouraged. Many times, she might even want to give up her post. But many thanks to God, as young as she is, I have never once seen her in what one might call a dispirited condition. It is not because there was no occasion for despondence. But because of her very rare and most extraordinary sweet temper, she does not pay much notice to such things. She also knows that it would not pay to stop at every little gnat bite. Anyone distracted by all that is said and done will lose all her merit in heaven. Our dear Mother Mary Austin has seen much. Although she is the youngest mother superior that our community ever had, her age does not prevent her from acting with great prudence in many things, though she fears dif¤culties and their consequences. She has seen some sad occurrences lately and would not herself like to come in contact with such things. She knows that the times are so very hard now. If one gets into such trouble, there is no easy way of getting out.22 Our sisters are all very careful about what they say, to whom they

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speak, what they do, and with whom they deal for the simple reason that it would not pay to be too easily entangled with all sorts of persons. Nor could Mother Mary Austin do so. Even though she has been friendly with some such persons, she must be a little more formal with them. Our sisters are very well aware that they should not give anyone a chance to criticize us in regard to our schools or our teaching. Our dear Mother Mary Austin says that she has never heard anyone complaining of our scholastic rules or of any other action. Many people knew and loved our sisters for many years before they went back to Baton Rouge. They begged us to return after we withdrew in 1881. It was at a time when our works were just about to take their deepest roots in the heart of men. God’s glory had just about spread its ¤rst shade over the desperate blazes of the most criminal state of sin. From March 22, 1881, to September [12], 1882, our dear sisters had prepared and assisted in having as many as three or four persons make their ¤rst communion and had their holy marriages blessed. They were in a most fair way of bringing a large number of lost sheep back to the true faith of Christ from which they had been lost and gone astray. That was only ¤fteen years ago! But on this day ¤fteen years ago, four of those sisters returned to their motherhouse where one died a very holy and happy death. The only one who survives today, a Sunday, celebrated her silver jubilee on March 17, 1896, in the new chapel at 717 Orleans Street.23 Our dear Mother Mary Austin had the great pleasure of presenting Sister Mary Joachim Preval, one of our older sisters, the silver crown of twenty-¤ve years a member of our community. Sister Mary Joachim was the former Miss Chloé Preval and the widow of Cloary Joachim. Sister Mary Joachim was also the ¤rst sister received by Mother Josephine Charles. She was received on December 3, 1870, in the ¤rst branch of the Holy Family on Chartres Street. She has worked faithfully up to the present under four mother superiors. She was a member of our council under previous two mother generals. She has also kept their con¤dence. Her conduct has always been very edifying. At the grand high mass, Rev. John Whiting, S.J., preached, taking for his theme the hidden life in Christ. He said that Sister Mary Joachim had on this day just received the silver crown of her religious life that represents her twenty-¤ve years in the Order of the Holy Family. She was the seventh person who entered into our ¤rst branch house on Chartres St. under its founder and foundress, Very Rev. Gilbert Raymond and Rev. Mother Josephine Charles. Mother Mary Austin has worked with great fervor during her ¤rst

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two terms and has been most wonderfully blessed in all her undertakings, even though she has lost six of her most valuable sisters. The two who were the greatest loss to all of us were our dear Sisters Mary Joseph and Agnes, one from New York and the other from Puerto Rico, Central America. One was a Yankee and the other Spanish. Both have been greatly missed since their deaths, especially by our dear Mother Mary Austin who so dearly loved them both. They loved her also and did all that they could to make her administration light and easy.24 Many persons call Mother Mary Austin “the lamb of sweetness.” She sits in the parlor night and day without eating anything or seeing her sisters and would pass half of her time in entertaining secular persons, except we will not allow her to be annoyed in that way. Our holy rule allows us only ten minutes in the parlor on business occasions. Even those visits must not keep her too long, as our divine of¤ce requires much time. She also has to attend to our seven houses, to say nothing of our three or four schools. These schools require two to four teachers who leave the motherhouse at 8 or 9 a.m. and return at 3 or 4 p.m. They must also assist with other duties of the house. Our dear Mother Mary Austin has directed the teachers to say the divine of¤ce as they walk to school. In this way, they will not have their spirits entangled with the things of the world or listen to the vain expressions which are all poison to many young religious and which would only ¤ll their souls full of temptation. The recitation of their divine of¤ce prevents a great many dissipations that might be the ruination of their vocation when they meet with a heav y cross of some kind. Among the sisters who died recently, Sister Mary Agnes merited her crown before her death for her rare talents both in ®ower arranging and with her needle, for she was not at all embarrassed in making anything. You only had to give her your measurements and to let her know when the article would be needed, and you might be assured of getting it at the appointed time and even at the hour which she had told you. Often the work was already in the person’s house and had been used two or three times before it was due. Our dear Mother Mary Austin had no trouble about asking Sister Agnes to do anything for her for she did all things nicely. She was neatness itself. She did not need anyone to push or pull her to ¤nish what she had commenced to make. She did not have to remake any work completed by her hands. We all regret her death very much even now and have tried to replace her. As of yet, we have found no one who can replace her in our chapel, for so she had an extraordinary touch and was so very scrupulous and humble as she often said that she was in the presence of the blessed sac-

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End of Journal

PART FIVE

rament. And on many occasions, she was obliged to have others assist her in doing many little things and would have to teach them just as one would a child. But that was not helpful to her work, since to teach another required as much time as if she did it herself. When you do work yourself, you need not to go back and revisit it as you would if another did it. Also, you do not have to have hard feelings when you pay someone to do work and are not pleased with it. You might as well do work yourself as lose time in directing others to do it. Our dear Mother Mary Austin is able to do so many things herself as she has the time to do them. Only the sisters do not think that they should allow their mother general to do as much as she does. They often take work out of her own hands and do it themselves. They ask themselves, would it not be better to do a piece of work and keep one’s money rather than have the work done badly by others who receive money they do not earn? When our dear Mother Mary Austin is told that someone has done work in a bad way, she only says, “Oh, what a pity! And to have to pay for it.” She has much charity for everyone. Some months past, the doorkeeper had a man install an electric bell which did not work. Our dear Sister Mary John Berchmans was very much displeased about it and remarked to our dear Mother Mary Austin that she had paid the man $5 for nothing, since the bell would not ring at all. The person had gone back to his home in New York City and had the money in his pocket. So our dear sister was obliged to call another to come and do the work over again for another sum of money. It was important that the bell could be heard in our chapel during the hours the divine of¤ce was said. That was when the whole community was obliged to attend chapel according to our holy rule and especially the last part of it when all the local teachers had returned from their classes for the conclusion of our last part of the prayers. We concluded the divine of¤ce with singing and music, ending with the hymn of thanksgiving for all the graces which had been received during the day by all of our seven or eight houses and schools both in the city 25

201

notes

PREFACE 1. “Journal of Sister Mary Bernard Deggs,” Archives, Sisters of the Holy Family (hereafter cited ASHF), 204. 2. Convent of the Holy Family, No. 17 Orleans Avenue, Golden Jubilee, of the Sisters of the Holy Family, Sermon by Very Rev. J. Bogaerts, V.G. (New Orleans: 1892), 3–10. 3. Matricula, manuscript in the Archives of Sisters of the Holy Family. This volume includes brief biographical information on each sister. We searched census records for each year of Deggs’ lifetime, city directories for New Orleans, and sacramental records for East Feliciana Parish and New Orleans, trying to more clearly understand Deggs’ background. Unfortunately, her family appears to have escaped the notice of governing and religious of¤cials. The U.S. Census of 1880, however, did shed some light. U.S. Census, 1880, Orleans Parish, P. 493 (b) (21). There are many inaccuracies in the 1880 census concerning the Sisters of the Holy Family, some of whom are listed as Sisters of Charity, some with both European parents, some from out of state as natives of Louisiana. It appears that the census taker did not realize that this was an all-black religious community. 4. “Journal of Sister Mary Bernard Deggs,” ASHF, 93–94. 5. Recollection of Mrs. Clarice Lebeau Brusly, cited in Mary Francis Borgia Hart, Violets in the King’s Garden: A History of the Sisters of the Holy Family of New Orleans (New Orleans: [Sisters of the Holy Family] 1976), 22. 6. While Deggs interchanges the descriptive titles mother superior and superior general throughout the text, mother superior usually connotes the woman in charge of a house of women religious, and superior general refers to a woman who is elected superior over an entire community, which includes several houses or institutions. A superior general, however, is usually the mother superior of the mother house of a congregation. A note about the term “nun” is perhaps in order. By the strictest de¤nition, it connotes a religious woman who has taken solemn vows and who generally lives in cloister. The Sisters of the Holy Family, like nearly all women religious in the United States, took simple vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, but they did not live in cloister. It was not nor is it today uncommon for the sisters to be referred to as nuns. INTRODUCTION 1. Oral history interview conducted with Sister Sylvia Thibodeaux, the present superior general of the Sisters of the Holy Family, September 1998.

NOTES TO PAGES xxiv–xxIX

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2. The best work on the legislation that increasingly restricted the activities of free people of color is Donald E. Everette, “The Free Persons of Color in New Orleans, 1803–1865” (Ph.D. diss., Tulane University, 1952). For the effects on women, see Virginia Meacham Gould, “In Full Enjoyment of Their Liberty: The Free Women of Color of the Gulf Ports of New Orleans, Mobile, and Pensacola, 1769–1860” (Ph.D. diss., Emory University, 1991). 3. Library of Congress Micro¤lm, Records of the States of the United States of America: Louisiana, 1678–1810 (1949). 4. Elizabeth Rapley, The Dévotés: Women and Church in Seventeenth-Century France (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1990); Jane Frances Heaney, “A Century of Pioneering: A History of the Ursuline Nuns in New Orleans, 1727–1827” (Ph.D. diss., St. Louis University, 1949). An edited version of this dissertation was published under the same title in 1993 by the Ursuline Nuns of New Orleans. Early sacramental records of St. Louis Church, New Orleans, in Archives, Archdiocese of New Orleans, hereafter cited as AANO. 5. Student records in the Ursuline Archives, New Orleans. 6. Emily Clark, “ ‘By All the Conduct of Their Lives’: A Laywomen’s Confraternity in New Orleans, 1730–1744,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 54 (October 1997), 769–794. 7. Sacramental Records of St. Louis Church (Cathedral after 1793) in AANO. 8. Clark, “ ‘By All the Conduct of Their Lives,’ ” 769–794. Emily Clark and Virginia Meacham Gould, “The Feminine Face of Afro-Catholicism, 1727–1852,” William and Mary Quarterly, forthcoming. Virginia Meacham Gould, “Piety, Social Activism, and the Dynamics of Race: The Foundation of the Sisters of the Holy Family,” in Free Women of Color in the Americas, ed. David Barry Gaspar and Darlene Clark Hine (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, forthcoming). 9. The St. Louis Cathedral sacramental records are incomplete for the years before 1731. Marie Anne and her daughter, Marianne, would have been baptized before 1731. Cecile, Marie Anne’s other daughter and Henriette’s great-grandmother, was baptized December 31, 1744. Delille’s grandmother, Henriette Le Veau, was baptized on November 8, 1763, St. Louis Cathedral Baptisms, vol. 5, 1763–1766. Her mother, Maria Josepha Diaz, was baptized June 8, 1787. Baptisms of Free Negroes and Mulattoes, 1786–1792. 10. For a full treatment of the growing involvement of free women of color of African descent in the church in New Orleans, see Emily Clark and Virginia Meacham Gould, “The Feminine Fall of Afro-Catholicism in New Orleans, 1727–1852,” William and Mary Quarterly, forthcoming. 11. Charles Edwards O’Neill, S.J., “ ‘A Quarter Marked by Sundry Peculiarities’: New Orleans, Lay Trustees, and Père Antoine,” Catholic Historical Review, 75 (April 1990), 235–277; Roger Baudier, The Catholic Church in Louisiana (New Orleans: Baudier, 1939), 249–267. James Woods, “A Church in Deterioration: Catholicism in the Lower Mississippi Valley, 1785–1805” (unpublished manuscript: 1980), AANO. 12. Olivier to Carroll, n.d. Cited in Annabelle M. Melville, Louis William Dubourg: Bishop of Louisiana and the Floridas, Bishop of Montauban, and Archbishop of Besançon, 1766–1833 (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1986), II:282. 13. Melville, Louis William Dubourg, II:282–283. 14. Cited in Heaney, “A Century of Pioneering,” 281–282 and 452–453. 15. Ibid., 280, 453. 16. Dubourg to Archbishop [Marechal?], de la Trappe near Sorol, France, July 20, 1826. Copy in St. Mary’s Seminary and University, Sulpician Archives, Baltimore. 17. Heaney, “A Century of Pioneering,” 309–310. Dubourg recruited nine women for the Ursuline Convent in New Orleans, including Sister Ste. Marthe Fontière, a former Hospitalière Sister, who, curiously, wore the Ursuline habit but was not considered an of¤cial member of the community.

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PART I. MOTHERS HENRIETTE DELILLE AND JULIETTE GAUDIN 1. Sister Mary Francis Borgia Hart began writing her history of the community, of¤cially published under the title Violets in the King’s Garden, in 1916. She explains, however, that other duties drew her away from her task and that it took her several decades to ¤nish. The timing is important. In 1916, Suzanne Navarre, who had taken the religious name Anne, was still alive. She had come into the community in the 1850s and thus knew the foundresses as well as their struggles and triumphs. 2. Sister Mary Francis Borgia Hart, SSF, “A History of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family of New Orleans,” Master’s Thesis, Xavier College, 1931, 21. 3. See below, Part I. 4. Chloé Preval was born in St. Bernard Parish, January 21, 1839, at 11:30 p.m. She was the legitimate daughter of Jean Baptiste, negro slave of M. François Chaler, and of Marie Louis [sic] negress slave of Mlle. Aimée Rousseau. She was baptized June 18, 1839. 5. Borgia Hart, “History of the Congregation,” 22–23.

NOTES TO PAGES xxx–6

18. The John Carroll Papers, 3 vols., ed. Thomas O’Brien Hanley (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1975), vol. 3, 344–345. 19. Charles E. Nolan, “Bayou Carmel”: The Sisters of Mount Carmel of Louisiana, 1833–1903 (Kenner, La.: Nolan, 1977), 14–24. 20. DuBourg to Blanc, New Orleans, June 27, 1824. New Orleans File in Propagation de le Foi, Oeuvres Ponti¤cal Missionaire, Lyon, France, AANO. 21. Portier to Cholleton, New Orleans, September, 1820. New Orleans File in Propagation de le Foi Archives, Oeuvres Ponti¤cial Missionaire, Lyon, France. Copy in AANO. 22. Sacramental records of St. Louis Cathedral and St. Mary’s Church on Chartres Street. AANO. 23. This prayer, written in French and signed by Delille, was inscribed in an 1830 French book of spirituality, L’Ame unie à Jésus-Christ dans le très Saint Sacrement de l’autel . . . by Madame la Comtesse de Carcado, ASHF. 24. Règles et règlements de la congrégation des Soeurs de la preséntation de la B. V. Marie . . . , fondé à la Nouvelle Orléans, le 21 novembre, 1836. . . . The rules and regulations were copied by hand into the account book. ASHF. 25. October 13, 1840, petition of Bishop Antoine Blanc to af¤liate a “certain group of pious women occupied in pious works” in the city to the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Rome so the women could enjoy the indulgences of the main sodality. Permission was received and registered in Registrum actorum diocesis neo-aurelianensis on February 5, 1841; here the New Orleans women were listed as f.c. or femmes de couleur. AANO. 26. These notes were inscribed and signed by Henriette Delille on February 15, 1842, in an 1835 book on spirituality entitled Le St. Rosaire et les Vertus de Marie . . . (Lyon: Chez I. M. Barret, 1835), ASHF. 27. Matricula, 1–3. ASHF. Religious sisters take public vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience at the end of their training period or novitiate. 28. The Ursulines are one example. They had their beginnings in a similar fashion. St. Angela and the women who founded the order with her in Brescia, Italy, in 1544, banded together in an informal secular arrangement. The women ¤rst lived at home, taking vows of chastity. Their mission had at ¤rst consisted of a wide range of charitable works. It was only later, after the order had become very popular, that they became semicloistered and narrowed their mission to teaching. 29. Obituary in Le Propagateur Catholique, November 18, 1862. 30. The Morning Star, December 4, 1886.

NOTES TO PAGES 6–9

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6. Ibid., 23. 7. Archives of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Rome, Italy; Archives of the Marianites of the Holy Cross, New Orleans. 8. For a discussion of the problems housekeeping evoked, see below, Part III. 9. Random notes Borgia Hart gathered from interviews with her religious sisters, Borgia Hart collection, ASHF. 10. See Part III. 11. Karen Cosse Bell and Joseph Logsden, “The Americanization of Black New Orleans, 1850–1900,” in Creole New Orleans, ed. Arnold R. Hirsch and Joseph Logsdon (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1992), 218. 12. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. 13. Matthew 20:16; 22:14. 14. New Orleans became an archdiocese in 1850. Father Antoine Blanc was its ¤rst archbishop. He died in 1860. 15. This description is confusing but appears to be reasonably factual. Apparently the community’s foundresses ¤rst moved into a rental house on St. Bernard Street. It proved to be too small, so the women moved into a rental home and then a few months later into a more permanent house on Bayou Road at Rampart. In 1851, Delille purchased a permanent house on Bayou Road. After the disagreement between Sisters Juliette and Josephine, Josephine and two sisters moved to 350 Chartres Street. Juliette stayed on Bayou Road with six other sisters. In 1881 the women united at 717 Orleans. Another document suggests that the foundresses of the community had some control over other property besides the houses on Bayou Road and Chartres Street. For instance, L’Association de Sainte Famille was incorporated on July 11, 1847, with Henriette Delille as its president and Juliette Gaudin as its secretary. The foundresses, along with several other of¤cers, incorporated as a religious association in order to be legally recognized in Louisiana, raise funds, own property, and avoid taxes. On September 18, 1848, the association, represented by president Madame Cecilia Denouy LaCroix, spouse of François LaCroix, purchased property on St. Bernard Street between Marais and LaHarpe streets for 540 piastres from Widow J. J. Collard. Printed act of incorporation and purchase agreement, ASHF. 16. Catholic parishes had lay trustees who managed the ¤nances, property, and, in this case, the needs of the poor. 17. Throughout the manuscript Deggs refers to Bayou Road as either Bayou Road or Hospital Street. We have regularized the name to Bayou Road. Henriette Delille purchased the Bayou Road property, which included buildings and improvements, for $1,400, from Aristide Polenne on December 12, 1850. Of that, $1,091.25 was cash. She signed a one-year note for the outstanding $308.75. Jeanne Marie Aliquot loaned Delille $700.00 at no interest for the down payment and also guaranteed the $308.75 note. The contract of sale states that Delille was determined to establish “in perpetuity an establishment or asylum of charity for the religious education according to Catholic doctrine of colored people.” Felix de Armas, notary, December 12, 1850, and June 13, 1853. Originals in the New Orleans Notarial Archives, hereafter cited as NONA. 18. It was important for Deggs to be able to follow the movement of the foundresses from house to house, or motherhouse to motherhouse. Deggs does not identify any of them as a convent; they were always simple houses to her. Yet from the very beginning one house after the other served the women as a convent and a sanctuary. The possession of a house/convent demonstrated the women’s commitment to religious life and their rejection of worldliness. 19. Genesis 37:3, 23, and 32–33. 20. A fair to bene¤t the sisters was advertised in Le Propagateur Catholique, December 20, 1851; May 7, 1860, fair brochure in ASHF. 21. The ¤rst work of the foundresses was to evangelize slave women and free women

205 NOTES TO PAGE 10

of color. For the organization that served as a precursor to the religious community, see: Régles et réglements pour la congrégation des Soeurs de la presentation de la B. V. Marie . . . fondé à la Nouvelle Orleans le 21 November 1836 in ASHF. The association was founded by Henriette Delille and Juliette Gaudin. This pious group of free women of color, known as la Congregation de la Presentation or the Congregation of the Presentation, appears to have been a transitional group, bridging the gap between an early group of pious laywomen and the later group that took their identities as women religious. The pious congregation of the Sisters of the Presentation was af¤liated with one of the ancient Catholic sodalities in Rome in 1841 at the request of Bishop Antoine Blanc. 22. By 1836, there were four communities of women religious in Louisiana: the Ursuline Nuns, the Sisters of Charity, the Religious of the Sacred Heart, and the Sisters of Mount Carmel. The New Orleans Ursulines were originally cloistered, although the cloister was modi¤ed to meet local needs. Concerning the evolution of women religious communities in France, see Rapley, The Dévotés. 23. The ¤rst and second superiors were Henriette Delille and Juliette Gaudin. According to oral tradition, both were educated by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Convent, St. James Parish, Louisiana. Borgia Hart writes in her account that Delille had become aware by 1850 that it would be impossible to give prospective members the proper training if she had not received it herself, so she turned the direction of the house over to Gaudin and traveled to the Sisters of the Sacred Heart in St. James Parish, or Convent, to be instructed “in the principles and duties of the religious life and subjected to the trials of a novice.” She would have returned to New Orleans near the beginning of 1851, at which time, Borgia Hart writes, she spent a year instructing her two companions on what she had learned. There is no record in the Sacred Heart archives that Delille was instructed either there or at the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, St. Michael’s Convent, in St. Michael’s, Louisiana. American Archives of the Religious of the Sacred Heart, Saint Louis, Mo. Borgia Hart, Violets in the King’s Garden, p. 10. Yet, Archbishop Blanc was very close to the sisters of the Sacred Heart and it would have been the logical place to send Delille for a more formal religious formation. The annual reports and chronicle of St. Michael’s convent and school reveal that the sisters of the Sacred Heart regularly taught and even provided retreats for slaves and persons of color; Borgia Hart writes that Delille spent nearly a year with the sisters at St. Michael’s. 24. Sister Ste. Marthe Fontière was a member of the French religious community Les Dames Hospitalières when she arrived in New Orleans in 1817. Les Dames Hospitalières signi¤ed many different communities of religious women in France in the nineteenth century. Sister Ste. Marthe left France for New Orleans in response to a request made by the Ursulines to Bishop Dubourg. Upon arriving, she took charge of the classes for free girls of color that the Ursulines had conducted. When the Ursulines arrived in New Orleans in 1727, they established a school that included African girls among their ¤rst catechism and boarding students. By 1823, Sister Ste. Marthe had established a separate school for free girls of color on St. Claude Street. Records demonstrate that by 1829, the school had about eighty girls in attendance; monthly tuition was $1.50 to 5.00. The Ursuline nuns, the pious woman Jeanne Marie Aliquot, and the Sisters of Mount Carmel successively took over Sister Ste. Marthe’s school in the early 1830s. 1829 Report on Status of the Diocese of New Orleans by Bishop Joseph Rosati. Historical Manuscript Collection, 1.8. Archives, Archdiocese of Boston. Archives of the Ursulines, New Orleans. 25. Jeanne Marie Aliquot came to Louisiana from France in 1832, according to the oral tradition of the community, in order to join the Ursulines. She was following the lead of one of her biological sisters, Felicité Aliquot, or Sister Francis de Sales Aliquot, who was an Ursuline. Another sister, Adele Aliquot, also traveled to New Orleans but died of yellow fever in 1833. However, Jeanne Marie Aliquot did not join the Ursulines, but rather devoted herself to the salvation and care of blacks in the city. As the story is

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told by Borgia Hart, Jeanne Marie slipped and fell into the Mississippi River while disembarking from the ship upon her arrival in New Orleans. A black man dived into the river and rescued her. In response to that experience, she vowed to devote her life to the city’s blacks, a mission that was not possible as a member of the Ursulines. Consequently, Jeanne Marie soon began teaching at the St. Claude Street School. However, in 1836 she sold the school to the Ursulines, who in turn sold it to the Sisters of Mount Carmel. Ursuline Archives, New Orleans, Archives of the Sisters of Mount Carmel, New Orleans. Nolan, Bayou Carmel, 19; Borgia Hart, Violets in the King’s Garden, 7. 26. The bell was rung to notify each person in a religious community that they were to report to a particular activity or place. The idea of promptly responding to the bell re®ected an immediate response to duty. 27. Deggs confuses the 1881 debt on Orleans Street with Aliquot’s $700.00 loan to Delille in 1851. Jeanne Marie Aliquot was buried in St. Louis Cemetery #3 on April 12, 1863, not in the Holy Family tomb in St. Louis Cemetery #2. And while she was closely associated with them, she was never included in any of¤cial list of early sisters. St. Louis Cathedral Funeral Expenses, 1860–1871, p. 285, act 840. AANO. 28. According to Borgia Hart, the sisters were perturbed when Aliquot’s body was claimed by white friends after her death and laid out on the second ®oor of a house a short distance from the convent; a ¤re broke out, and the ¤re department was called. Just as it appeared that it would be impossible to retrieve the body because the stairs had burned, the ¤re died down. The bucket brigade was able to bring it out by way of a ladder. It was then taken to the convent, where it lay in repose until interment, “when all classes of persons in New Orleans gathered to pay their respects to the mortal remains of one who had sacri¤ced her life for its down-trodden people.” Borgia Hart, Violets in the King’s Garden, p. 17. 29. The house to which Deggs refers was the old motherhouse on Bayou Road, where the sisters lived from 1851 until 1881. 30. St. Leven has not been identi¤ed. 31. Because the women could not have mass said in their chapel they were obliged to go out to one of the local churches and to visit the blessed sacrament. 32. The Sisters of the Holy Family were incorporated in 1847, under the name La Société de la Sainte Famille. The incorporation was created to “aid indigent sick people” and to eventually purchase a hospice for them. 33. Matthew 18:19–20. 34. Matthew 9:13; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:32. 35. Matthew 10:24; Luke 6:40. The biblical text refers to disciple and master; Deggs substituted slave for disciple. The women Deggs lists here were not included in the community’s Matricula or of¤cial book listing the professed sisters. We do not recognize these names from other sources; most are probably phonetic. These were apparently “not successful” in joining another religious community, and kept in contact with the women who remained in the community. 36. Rousselon died on June 15, 1866, while returning from a trip to France, from injuries sustained when he fell through the hatch of his ship. Burials of Clergy, in AANO. 37. In her book, Borgia Hart recounts what she learned about the evolution and historical signi¤cance of the habit. The women wore a blue percale dress and a black bonnet during their early years of common life together, or between 1842 and 1852. It appears that Father Rousselon recognized that they needed to be as discreet as possible and thus advised them to dress simply and without pretension. On October 15, 1852, when the women took their ¤rst vows, Rousselon allowed them to change their blue dresses for black ones. So as not to threaten the white nuns in the city or to alarm their fellow New Orleanians, who would have seen them as having pretensions, they wore dresses instead of habits. However, in 1866 when the war was over and the sisters were attempting to break down the prewar racial barriers, Rousselon obtained permission for the sisters to

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wear a habit, and was bringing a pattern for one from France when he died en route. In the confusion that followed his death, the pattern disappeared. For a time, the sisters wondered if someone who disapproved of black women wearing habits had disposed of it. There is some evidence that the sisters began wearing a habit designed by Josephine Charles in 1876. Yet, as Deggs states in this passage, it was not until 1881 that formal permission for the habit was obtained by Gilbert Raymond. 38. The word “differences” is the editors’. Deggs wrote “eareatians,” most likely meaning “variations.” We substituted “differences” in order to make the text more accessible. 39. The community split in 1870 when Josephine Charles left the old motherhouse located on Hospital at Rampart Street, near St. Claude Street. It is not clear how many women Charles took with her, but she established the split house, or second house, at 350 Chartres Street. The split lasted until 1881. Deggs in several passages addresses the issues and personalities involved in the rift between Sisters Juliette Gaudin and Josephine Charles, including the in®uence of Sister Elizabeth Wales and Sister Juliette’s refusal to accept the religious habit. Yet even though Deggs never describes exactly what led to the split, oral tradition has it that it was over whether the women should accept a freed slave into their community. Supposedly Charles was willing to accept the freed woman into the community, while Gaudin was not. 40. The original text confusingly reads: “She had disrespected her age as was one of principal and having had a more superior intellectual capacity and having kept the all of the books for the whole community since the entrance and long before it was opened. So by those means she as assistant for the ¤rst general superior had worked more as she.” 41. Bayou Road is now called Governor Nichols. Deggs identi¤es the house on Chartres Street as “the split house.” 42. Sister Marie Philomene left the community before the Matricula was composed; she is not included in that list of sisters. 43. The original text reads March 8. Other information she gives indicates the year as 1876. 44. Deggs wrote 1877 in the original text, but other records prove that to be incorrect. There were two women named Sister Anne in the community during the nineteenth century. In this passage, Deggs refers to Sister Anne (Harriette) Fazende, one of the oldest members of the community. Deggs describes her as both gifted and abrasive. Harriette Fazende, daughter of Martin Fazende and Marcellite Lange, was born on August 11, 1826, in New Orleans, and baptized January 25, 1828, at St. Louis Cathedral. Her parents had been married at St. Joseph Church in Baton Rouge on April 9, 1821; Diego Pintado was one of the marriage witnesses. St. Louis Cathedral Baptisms of Slaves and Free Persons of Color, 1827–1829, p. 59, act. 266. AANO. Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records, 1820–1829, Volume 4 (Baton Rouge, 1983), 338. She entered the community in May 1858. She died February 5, 1919; thus, she was still alive at the time Deggs wrote this historical account. 45. The date, 1882, given for Juliette Gaudin’s taking the habit, was only a few months after the houses were reunited. And since Gaudin went alone, out of the parish, to St. John the Baptist Church, to accept the habit, it appears that there was still a considerable amount of discord in the community. 46. Fr. Thomas Kenny was the pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish at this time. He died on August 19, 1881. Roger Baudier, St. John the Baptist Church, New Orleans: A Century of Pastoral Service, 1852–1952 (New Orleans: St. John the Baptist Parish, 1952), pp. 31–32. 47. The Dominican Sisters staffed a school for white girls in St. John the Baptist Parish in the American sector of New Orleans. 48. The obituary of Mother Juliette Gaudin appeared in the New Orleans Daily Picayune, January 2, 1888. 49. Leo XIII, who was pope in 1888, had declared that year a papal jubilee year with

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special prayers and indulgences. Pastoral Letter of Archbishop Francis Janssens, New Orleans, December 3, 1888; AANO. 50. Both the Deggs journal and other community records suggest that Juliette Gaudin and Josephine Charles received a more formal education than did Henriette Delille. 51. Deggs does not say if she herself is among this group. 52. The community confessor by church law was someone other than the community’s clerical superior. 53. Deggs was evidently in the house on Bayou Road with Juliette Gaudin.

PART II. MOTHER JOSEPHINE CHARLES 1. Renunciation of Succession, December 8, 1841, A. Mazareau, Notary Public, New Orleans Civil Court Building. The document suggests that Josephine Charles had ¤ve brothers and sisters but that only three, besides herself, were living at the time. 2. Joan Campbell, S.L., Loretto in Louisiana: The Legacy of LaFourche (Nerinx, Ky.: Sisters of Loretto, 1987). See also American Archives of the Religious of the Sacred Heart, St. Louis, Mo. 3. Daily Picayune, May 21, 1885. 4. Ibid. 5. Ibid. The St. Claude Street school would have been known as the Carmelite Convent by the time of Charles’ death in 1883. 6. Gayarre made this statement to Edward King. Edward King, The Great South, ed. W. Magruder Drake and Robert R. Jones (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University, 1972), 32–33. 7. Joseph Treagle, Jr., “Creoles and Americans,” Creole New Orleans, 131–185. 8. There were several orders of Sisters of St. Joseph founded in France. The one in New Orleans was the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille, founded in LePuy, France, in 1650. Their mission was to the needy, the abandoned, the sick. They also worked with prisoners, prostitutes, and the uneducated. The order was nearly disbanded during the French Revolution but was refounded in Lyon, France, in 1812. On November 30, 1854, three of the sisters arrived, but were sent to the Mississippi Coast. In 1856, Bishop Antoine Blanc requested that the sisters come to New Orleans to take direction of a home for the aged and an orphanage. In 1857, three more sisters of St. Joseph arrived from France to open a day and boarding school. Those early efforts grew rapidly. 9. Charles, Wales, and Alpaugh left the motherhouse on Bayou Road in 1870 and opened a split or branch house on Chartres Street. Charles took direction of the split house. Juliette Gaudin continued to live at the motherhouse and to serve as mother superior. The two groups remained separate until 1883 when they all moved into the recently purchased (1881) convent on Orleans Street. 10. St. Mary’s Church, on Chartres Street. 11. This passage tells us that Deggs went to the motherhouse on Chartres Street with Josephine. 12. Mother Superior Josephine Charles and Sisters Marie Cecilia Capla, Marie Magdalene Alpaugh, and Mary Francis Harison purchased the Orleans Street property in the name of the Sisters of the Holy Family. The community bought the property from George Fredrichs on July 27, 1881, for $21,000. The women exchanged their house on Chartres Street and the lots they owned near Sacred Heart Church, valued at $3,000, for the down payment. They agreed to pay the remaining $18,000 in equal installments over the next ten years at 6% interest. The original agreement is in ASHF. Deggs gives several different ¤gures when referring to the cost of the property and the amount of the outstanding loan. We have retained her ¤gures throughout. The sisters were given permission to beg for funds in other dioceses by Archbishop Francis Xavier Leray in the 1880s.

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13. Matthew 10:30; Luke 12:7. 14. The Sisters of the Holy Family required that entrants bring a dowry into the community to pay for their upkeep and clothing during their postulancy and novitiate. The dowry was important to the ¤nancial well-being of the community, but it also set a standard for those they accepted. The community sought self-reliant, educated women, or women who could contribute to the life of the community and its work. The Holy Family Sisters could not allow themselves to be used as a refuge for poor or abused women. Their goal, instead, was to address the issues of poverty and abuse with social services and charity. In her thesis, ¤nished in 1931, Mary Francis Borgia Hart writes, “From the early foundation in 1842 until the death of Père Rousselon, only the members of the privileged class sought and obtained admission in the ranks of the sisters.” She also notes that in St. Mary’s School, run by the sisters, “the social distinction was recognized among the pupils for whom separate classes were conducted.” Sister Mary Francis Borgia Hart, “A History of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family of New Orleans” (thesis submitted for the B.A., Xavier College, New Orleans, May 1931). 15. When Deggs writes that the house was empty, she is referring to a lack of students and boarders. The women could hardly get by without tuition payments from their pupils. 16. The rule of life to which Deggs refers was an early one. The rule of each religious community was de¤ned and then recorded to specify the mission of the community and how the mission was to be carried out. The Sisters of the Holy Family had an informal, or unwritten, rule until one was provisionally approved in 1886 by Archbishop Perché. 17. Deggs wrote that Mother Josephine “had no human respect”; it is clear from the context that she meant that she did not respect local conventions of race and class. The passage indicates that conventions of class and race in antebellum New Orleans were hierarchical and rigid and that the foundresses, before the Civil War, respected, to some degree, those conventions out of necessity. All of the early foundresses were free women of color from in®uential families. They were all educated. And those were the kinds of women they welcomed into their community. However, it is just as clear that the women rejected the conventions of race and class. 18. Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:7; Luke 3:16; John 1:27. 19. Deggs wrote Nashville, Kentucky; however, the child was from Nashville, Tennessee. 20. The belief that giving to the poor was like depositing money in the bank of heaven was a popular one in nineteenth-century France. It was especially evident in the spirituality of Marie Pauline Jaricot, the foundress of the Propagation de la Foi and the Rosaire Vivant. Jaricot’s work with poor working women in Lyon is recorded in her positio, archived in the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Vatican City. It is in Jaricot’s work that one ¤nds the best evidence of the early activities of the Propagation de la Foi and the Rosaire Vivant. Also, Edward Hickey, “The Society for the Propagation of the Faith: Its Foundation, Organization, and Success (1822–1922)” (Ph.D. diss., Catholic University of America, 1922). David LaThoud, Marie-Pauline Jaricot, Vols. 1 and 2 (Paris: Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1938). The records of the Rosaire Vivant are housed in La Maison Dominicain, Lyon. 21. The ringing of the bell was an integral characteristic of convent life. It was rung to notify the women of their obligations. It shaped the day, beginning with a call to wake up and ending with a call to sleep. It also gave structure to meals and worship. 22. When children and adults are formally introduced into the Catholic faith they are instructed in the simple liturgical traditions of the Church and in personal faith. In the nineteenth century, someone, a Catechist, was commissioned by the Church to pass down those traditions in faith. Though Catechists were responsible for this education in faith, parents, priests, religious sisters, and even the Church community were expected and even obligated to be involved in the educational process, along with the Catechist.

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23. The Holy Family to which Deggs refers in this passage was that of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and not her community. 24. The rule was a small printed rulebook that set down the rules of life and daily horarium. Deggs sometimes interchanged the words rule and bell. 25. Infractions of the rules in a religious house were often punished by a penance. The idea behind penance is that correction and forgiveness form a central part of community life. In the nineteenth century, penance was both a personal and a community act. Someone who was repentant would have had contrition of the heart, which includes a resolution not to sin again. They would confess to a priest, seek forgiveness by prayer, fasting, or almsgiving, and then seek forgiveness from a priest. Richard McBrien, Catholicism (San Francisco: Harper, 1994), 840. 26. The idea of purgatory as a place dates to the twelfth century. However, it was not until the Council of Trent that purgatory was more precisely de¤ned as a place where souls are retained after death, who can be helped by acts of intercession by the faithful, both through prayer and through the saying of mass. The idea of purgatory includes also the belief that those who have gone before are not lost to us, that they could bring grace to those they have left behind. McBrien, Catholicism, 1167–68. 27. Matthew 26–27; Mark 10:43–44. 28. Matthew 22:34–40; Mark 12:28–30; Luke 10:25–28. 29. They moved the orphans into their convent at 717 Orleans Street until they could build an orphan girls’ home. 30. Deggs cited the date as 1866 in her text; however, the year was 1876. The house of which she writes is the same one that was purchased by the Association of the Holy Family in 1847 as an asylum for elderly and in¤rm women. In New Orleans a sidewalk was called a banquette. Mr. François LaCroix was a free man of color who supported the Sisters of the Holy Family throughout his adulthood. He and his wife, Cecilia, were of¤cers in La Société de la Sainte Famille. See Association de la Sainte Famille, Imprimé par Maitre Desarzant, Nouvelle Orléans, 1847. 31. Deggs again confuses the chronology. She is speaking of the house on Bernard Street which the Association of the Holy Family purchased in 1847. It appears that at some point after it was opened, the asylum was turned over to a group of laywomen to run. 32. Religious communities traditionally referred to the individual room of a sister or boarder as a cell. 33. March 19 is the liturgical feast of St. Joseph. 34. The home run by the Little Sisters of the Poor in New Orleans was called the Old Men and Women’s Asylum. The Little Sisters of the Poor were founded in Breton, France, in the winter of 1839 by Jeanne Jugan who had placed an abandoned old woman in her bed. By 1879, the women had become an of¤cially recognized community with an approved constitution. Yet even before the women were formally approved, they took their mission to the United States. They arrived in New York in the summer of 1868 but waited until fall to travel to New Orleans. They arrived there on December 11, 1868. The women ¤rst established themselves in the house that had been occupied by Les Dames de la Providence, a pious group of women who cared for widows and also for a few of the elderly. The Little Sisters of the Poor took over their work when they could no longer continue it. For more information on Les Dames de la Providence, see the letters of Archbishop Antoine Blanc, Archives, University of Notre Dame. 35. Louis Charles Roudanez (1823–1890) was a prominent African American physician, newspaper owner, and civic leader in New Orleans. He was educated at University of Paris and at Dartmouth College. His philanthropic endeavors included support for the Providence Asylum, the same facility Deggs mentions here. Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, s.v. “Roudanez, Louis Charles.” A Charles Roudanez, perhaps his son, was volunteering for the sisters after the turn of the twentieth century. ASHF.

211 NOTES TO PAGES 38–45

36. The community that Deggs refers to as Oblates of St. Francis is in fact the Oblate Sisters of Providence. The Oblates were founded in Baltimore in 1829. Between 1866 and 1867, the Archdiocese of New Orleans paid $4,441.25 to the sisters for travel, lot purchase, repairs, furnishings, insurance, and operating expenses for the orphanage; donations to offset these expenses totaled only $313.10. Diocesan Account Book, 1865– 1869. AANO. 37. The sisters’ concern for family life is re®ected in Sister Anne’s mission to see that all couples had their marriages blessed by a priest. The marriage of the faithful had always been an important part of the ministry of the women. From their early days they had faced a population of slaves who were forbidden to marry without the permission of masters and mistresses; thus the legitimacy of children was central to the concerns of the women. 38. In this passage, Deggs is referring to quadroon balls: balls which white men attended in order to meet free women of color. Frederick Law Olmsted wrote about the class of free women of color in New Orleans who used their connections and beauty to form liaisons with white men which would also have ensured, to the extent possible, ¤nancial security. Olmsted writes, “Their beauty and attractiveness being their fortune, they cultivated and cherished with diligence every charm or accomplishment they are possessed of. Of course, men are attracted by them, and not being able to marry them legally and with the usual forms and securities for constancy, make such arrangements, as can be agreed upon.” According to Olmsted, when a man made a proposition to a young woman of this class, and she agreed, she referred the suitor to her mother. Her mother then determined if the man was able to support a family. If so, she would extract a commitment from him for her daughter and any future children. Any such arrangement, however, would have been extralegal and thus impossible to enforce. Frederick Law Olmsted, The Cotton Kingdom (New York: Knopf, 1953), 235–236. The origin of the quadroon balls is uncertain. Slaves and free people of color had balls together throughout the colonial period. Liliane Crété argues that in 1799 Monsieur Coquet and Monsieur Boniquet requested and then obtained permission from the city to organize a public ball for free people of color. The Black Militia also organized balls. Those continued during the nineteenth century. In addition, in 1805 Coquet began to organize balls for free women of color that excluded black males, unless they were musicians. Yet, as Crete points out, it appears that by 1805, such balls were already a tradition. The New Orleanian Judge Thomas C. Nichols wrote, “Drums beat occasionally at the corner of the streets . . . to inform the public that on such and such night there would be a grand ball at the salle de Condé, or to make announcement of a ball of another sort, for coloured ladies and white gentlemen.” After 1809, quadroon balls were held publicly and regularly. By 1815, they were a New Orleans institution. Liliane Crété, Daily Life in Louisiana, 1815–1830, trans. by Patrick Gregory (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1981). The grand Quadroon Ballroom on Orleans Street that later became the convent of the Sisters of the Holy Family was built in 1817. 39. Sister Mary Francis Harison entered the community on August 15, 1876; she was still a novice at the time of this incident. 40. In this sentence as in many others, Deggs confuses the word “taught” with the word “learned.” We substituted “taught” in order to facilitate comprehension. 41. The Oblates of Mary, a community of black women religious, took charge of St. Elizabeth Parochial School in St. Louis, Missouri, around 1882. Catholic Directory, Almanac and Ordo, 1883. 42. Thomy Lafon (1810–1893), a free man of color before the Civil War, successful businessman, patron of the arts, and philanthropist, left substantial bequests for the construction of the Berchmans Home, the Old Folks’ Home on St. Bernard Street, and the Lafon Asylum for Orphan Boys on St. Peter Street, all run by the Sisters of the Holy Family. Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, s.v. “Lafon, Thomy.”

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43. Two sisters of Mount Carmel came to Louisiana in 1833 from France. They settled in Plattenville on Bayou Lafourche for ¤ve years, then came to New Orleans to take charge of Sister Ste. Marthe Fontière’s former school near St. Augustine’s Church in 1838. Rousselon served as their father, superior, and advocate until his death in 1866. See Nolan, Bayou Carmel. 44. Sister Mary Agnes (Rosario) Gomez was born in Puerto Rico in 1857, entered the community in 1881, professed her ¤rst vows in 1883, and died on September 4, 1894. Matricula, 36. 45. Dr. Charles Faget, physician, 226 Esplanade Avenue, is listed in New Orleans City Directory, 1894. 46. John Cardinal McCloskey was Archbishop of New York from 1864 until 1885; he was named a cardinal in 1875. Most Reverend John Williams was Archbishop of Boston at the time of the trip; Most Reverend Patrick Feehan was Archbishop of Chicago.

PART III. MOTHER MARIE MAGDALENE ALPAUGH 1. The Matricula states that she was baptized on June 1, 1866, but other information suggests that the date is incorrect. The Matricula also states—correctly—that she was born in Pointe Coupée, Louisiana. It appears that she moved with her family to New Orleans at some point between 1849 and 1859. 2. The tradition of women religious identifying especially promising students and encouraging them to become more closely af¤liated with the community was practiced by the Ursulines. For instance, the rules and regulations of the Ursulines state that “When some boarder gives notice that she desires to be a religious at the convent, if she is of an age to execute this plan, [the boarding schoolmistress] will consult with the Mother Superior and if she ¤nds it good that she asks for a place, she will conduct the girl to her room and instruct her in how she should comport herself, observing what is said in the Third Book, regarding the reception of girls. She will take advice of the Mother Superior and of the Mistresses . . . ,” p. 22. The rules and regulations also state: “And as there will usually be a large number of students, one will divide each class into several groups, putting ten in each: and for each one will ascertain one or two who are most intelligent and most fervent who shall be called Dixainieres, of which more is said below.” Premiere Partie (Paris: Louis Josse, 1705). For a more complete discussion of this tradition in New Orleans, see Clark, “A New World Community: The New Orleans Ursulines and Colonial Society, 1727–1803” (Ph.D. diss., Tulane University, 1998). It is clear from what Deggs says about Marie Magdalene that the Sisters of the Holy Family followed the tradition set by the Ursulines. 3. John W. Blassingame, Black New Orleans: 1860–1880 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973), 211. 4. Gilles Vandal, The New Orleans Riot of 1866: An Anatomy of a Tragedy (Lafayette: The Center for Louisiana Studies, 1983). 5. For the discussion, see Roger A. Fischer, “The Segregation Struggle in Louisiana, 1850–1890” (Ph.D. diss., Tulane University, 1967). David C. Rankin, “The Forgotten People: Free People of Color in New Orleans, 1850–1870” (Ph.D. diss., Johns Hopkins University, 1967). Joe Gray Taylor, Louisiana Reconstructed (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1974). 6. Hirsch and Logsden, Creole New Orleans, 189–190. 7. Etienne Rousselon was the founder and director of the Sisters of the Holy Family between 1842 and his death in 1866. He also worked closely with the Sisters of Mount Carmel, the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, the Daughters of Charity, and the Ursulines, serving as their director and/or spiritual leader through the years. For the speci¤cs of his

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service to the women religious in antebellum Louisiana, see his correspondence, Archives, Louisiana Collection, University of Notre Dame. 8. The Sisters of Mercy had a convent in New Orleans at this time. See Mary Hermenia Muldrey, Abounding in Mercy: Mother Austin Carroll (New Orleans: Habersham, 1988), 91–137. 9. It appears that by the 1880s the women were receiving very little if any support from the Church. 10. Matthew 6:26. 11. In the original text, Deggs wrote, “when Mother Josephine was ¤rst elected.” However, the context suggests that she meant “when Mother Marie Magdalene was ¤rst elected. . . . ” 12. “I give you a new commandment; love one another; just as I have loved you, you also must love one another. By this love you have for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples.” John 13:34–35. 13. Marie Magdalene Alpaugh entered the community on October 24, 1866, not 1862. 14. In the original text, Deggs wrote: “but what gratitude on the part when he has drawed his neighbors into the last degrees of sin and degradation when with respect of place or person in the holy house of God was just the same to them as if they were in a place of disorder was the master of life who made the world and all that is in it and could stop death when they wanted to.” 15. Deggs refers to missions that were too poor to retain a resident priest and were therefore visited only periodically from neighboring parishes. 16. Concerning the archdiocesan debt, see Baudier, The Catholic Church in Louisiana, 462–467. 17. The Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, came from France to the New Orleans area in 1725 in order to evangelize the Indians. In 1763 they were banned from the colony by Louis XV, and only returned in 1831. In 1837 several Jesuits came to Louisiana to open a college at Grand Coteau. By the 1840s Springhill College at Mobile and the College at Grand Coteau were united with the mission headquarters at New Orleans. Soon after the Jesuit father Jean Baptiste Maisounabe arrived in New Orleans to administer the mission, he established a college and then a church. Thereafter the Jesuits were active in the religious affairs of the city. 18. The original text reads “warm” rather than “cooler.” 19. Deggs refers to Suzanne Navarre, who was a native of Boston, not New York. Navarre was one of the ¤rst sisters to join the community; her entrance was in 1852. 20. Luke 23:34. The original text adds at the end of the sentence: “at the foot of the cross.” 21. Matthew 18:6; Mark 9:42; Luke 17:2. 22. The ¤re was discovered at 4:30 a.m. by a watchman and was under control by 5:30 a.m. Since the building was a total loss, Fire Chief Thomas O’Connor directed his men to save the nearby buildings, including the convent, whose roof was on ¤re. Boyd Cruise and Marie Harton, Signor Faranta’s Iron Theatre (New Orleans: The Historic New Orleans Collection, 1982), 107–108. 23. The original text reads “rule” rather than “bell,” one of Deggs’ frequent substitutions. 24. St. Clare of Assisi (d. 1253) is depicted in Christian art as holding up the blessed sacrament in a convent window to successfully protect the city against invading armies. Deggs uses her as an example of a woman who carried the blessed sacrament. In the nineteenth century, that honor was reserved to priests. 25. Father Mangin Palmer was an assistant at St. Louis Cathedral in 1899. Sadlier’s Catholic Directory, Almanac, and Ordo (New York: D. J. Sadlier & Co., 1889). 26. The Ursulines built a convent with a day school at the corner of Rampart and

NOTES TO PAGES 72–91

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Esplanade streets in 1878. Council Minutes, May 8, 1892. Archives, Ursuline Convent, New Orleans. 27. Baptiste Peynaud was a French athlete and high diver. When he was performing at Faranta’s circus, he dived from 150 feet into a 6x15-foot net stretched ten feet about the ground. The accident occurred on Friday, November 29, 1889, the ¤fth day Peynaud had performed there; he died the following Monday morning. Cruise and Horton, Signor Faranta’s Iron Theatre, 111–112. 28. The original text reads “exhaben,” which could be the French word exhaler, to send forth. 29. Mother Marie Magdalene had more than likely been educated during her earliest years at home. Public and Catholic schools for people of African descent were not available in Pointe Coupée, where she grew up. It appears, however, that Marie Magdalene entered St. Mary’s Academy, the school run by the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans, as a boarding student when she was about eleven. 30. Deggs speaks in the ¤rst part of the paragraph of the sisters as children of the Holy Family and in the latter part as guardians of children. 31. Genesis 3. 32. Deggs refers to the 1884 Third Baltimore Council’s decision to limit seeking funds outside one’s diocese. 33. Francis Xavier Leray was the coadjutor bishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans from 1879 to 1883. He administered the archdiocesan money and property during these years. He was Archbishop of New Orleans from 1883 until his death in 1887. 34. Leray to the Most Reverend Archbishops and to the Right Reverend Bishops of the Dioceses of the United States, New Orleans, May 1, 1887. ASHF. This is a general letter of introduction and approval to seek funds. 35. The Holy Face of Jesus was one of many popular Catholic devotions in the late nineteenth century. This particular worship focused upon the seven wounds Jesus suffered on the Cross, drawing attention to the humanity and sufferings of Christ. 36. Luke 17:2. “It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone put around his neck than that he should lead astray a single one of these little ones.” See also Matthew 18:6; Mark 9:42. 37. The sisters used their Chartres Street property and three additional lots as a down payment on the Orleans Street property. 38. The sisters purchased the Orleans Street property from C. E. Girardey. July 27, 1881, agreement to purchase Orleans Street property for $21,000 from C. E. Girardey in ASHF. 39. A priest was generally assigned to each convent to hear weekly confessions. 40. Deggs is referring to St. Louis Cathedral. 41. Mary Livaudais was born in New Orleans on December 8, 1865; she took the religious name Sister Mary of the Angels when she entered the community on November 30, 1885. She made her ¤rst profession on August 2, 1889, and died on October 16, 1890. Matricula, 50. 42. Deggs could be comparing their strength to that of Folger’s coffee. Folger’s was founded in San Francisco in 1850 and was well known throughout the U.S. at the time Deggs was writing. 43. Faranta left New Orleans in 1889 and settled in Chicago, where he worked as everything from a theatre manager to an agent for an insect exterminator. He returned to New Orleans in 1903 where he again became brie®y involved with theatre management. He spent his last years in retirement with his son’s family in New Orleans, where he died on January 10, 1924. Cruise and Harton, Signor Faranta’s Iron Theatre, 112–118. 44. At St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, religious communities were seated according to founding date. As one of the earliest communities, the Sisters of the Holy Family should have been placed near the front. However, by the 1880s and 1890s the

215 NOTES TO PAGES 92–123

communities of white nuns in the city would have disdained taking seats behind these women of color. 45. Homer Plessy’s unsuccessful lawsuit, which led to the separate-but-equal Supreme Court decision. 46. Luke 10:16. “He who despises you, despises me; and he who despises me, despises him who sent me.” 47. “Disposed” here implies wealth, education, and re¤nement. 48. Deggs here refers only to ¤rst founders Father Rousselon and Mother Henriette; Sisters Josephine and Juliette were still alive in 1882. 49. Deggs confuses Aliquot’s early ¤nancial help with the 1881 loan. 50. John 13:34. “One heart and one soul” was the motto of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the 1836 sodality that led to the 1842 formation of the Sisters of the Holy Family. 51. The preceding sentence began “Many thanks to God.” This belongs with the next sentence concerning the beginning of the St. John Berchmans Home. 52. Deggs mentions the names of some of the earlier sisters who withdrew from the community in the ¤rst pages of her journal. 53. Father Chassé returned to France on June 9, 1891, because of illness, “having given very good service to the Diocese.” Diary of the Archdiocese, 1888–[1897], 65. He died in France on September 9, 1891. Henry C. Bezou, compiler, Necrology of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, 1702–1964 (New Orleans: Archdiocese of New Orleans, 1964), unpaginated. 54. In her original text Deggs spelled Bogaerts’ name J. M. Branet. 55. St. Charles Borremeo (1538–1584) was born in his family’s castle on Lake Maggiore in Italy. His mother, Margaret de Medici, was the sister of Pope Pius IV. He was ordained a priest in 1563 and consecrated bishop the same year. He was instrumental in placing many of the reforms of the Council of Trent into effect, especially those of catechesis and aid to the poor. He is thought of as one of the towering ¤gures of the Catholic Reformation and was canonized in 1610. 56. Sister Mary Germaine Fremore was from St. Louis. She entered the community on October 22, 1873, made her ¤rst profession of vows on December 31, 1875, and died October 26, 1902. Matricula. 57. Matthew 19:29; Luke 14:26. 58. The original text reads: “making the month of November every year for the poor souls of purgatory.” The church celebrates the feasts of All Saints on November 1 and All Souls on November 2; Marie Magdalene hoped that after her death someone would pray for her on these feast days. 59. Father Raymond succeeded in having the rule of the community approved in 1876. Until that year, all the religious ceremonies of the community were conducted privately. The sisters also had a habit approved at that time. 60. Deggs refers to the Cane River settlements, located in central Louisiana. See Gary B. Mills, The Forgotten People: Cane River’s Creoles of Color (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1977). 61. Matthew 25:35. “For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in.” 62. Luke 2:13–14. 63. The sisters refused requests by bishops and priests to establish convents in other areas. 64. Matthew 26:21–25; Mark 14:18–21; Luke 22:21–23; John 13:21–30. 65. The “China bush” to which Deggs refers was a chinaberry tree. 66. Sisters Anne Fazende and Mary Ursula Mollot. 67. Refers to the North—New York. 68. Part of a habit. It is white and looks something like a large bib. The lore in the

NOTES TO PAGES 126–165

216

community is that the ghimp, the wimple, and the veil restricted the ability to speak, hear, and see. 69. A group of French priests intrigued unsuccessfully to have Bishop Placide Louis Chapelle of Santa Fe appointed Archbishop of New Orleans in 1888. See Annemarie Kasteel, Francis Janssens, 1843–1897: A Dutch-American Prelate (Lafayette: Center for Louisiana Studies, 1971), 177–185. 70. Deggs incorrectly gives the date as December 9, 1890. 71. Deggs incorrectly gives the date as December 10. 72. When St. Martin of Tours (ca. 316–397) met a half-naked, shivering beggar at the gates of Amiens, he divided his coat to give half to the beggar. The remaining half was venerated in the oratory of the French kings as “St. Martin’s cloak.” The Catholic Encyclopedia and New Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. “Martin of Tours.” 73. Liza Cole had not entered the community as of the end of 1899.

PART IV. MOTHER MARIE CECILIA CAPLA 1. Dolores Egger Labbé, Jim Crow Comes to Church (rpt. New York: Arno Press, 1978). Canon Peter L. Benoit Diary, entry of April 9, 1875. Mill Hill Fathers’ Archives, copy in the Josephite Archives in Baltimore. 2. Deggs writes of the examination that the children had prior to reception of their ¤rst communion. 3. The archbishop had to be present for the election; since it was scheduled to take place while he was away, he moved the election date forward. On August 17, 1891, Archbishop Janssens presided at the election of Mother Mary Austin Jones. He left the next day for Cabanage in Barataria below New Orleans; he was back in New Orleans on August 30. He was out of the city twelve days, not three months. Diary of the Archdiocese, 1888–[1897], 68. AANO. 4. Deggs’ text here is an interesting variation on the Our Father—“Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.” Matthew 6:12; Luke 11:3. 5. Luke 10:16. “He who hears you, hears me; he who despises you, despises me; and he who despises me, despises him who sent me.” Matthew, Mark, and John refer to welcoming rather than listening: Matthew 10:40; Mark 9:37; John 13:20. 6. Matthew 20:16, 22:14. 7. Genesis 4. 8. Matthew 10:38, 16:24; Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23, 14:27. 9. See Part II, n. 20. 10. The hard times Deggs describes were a consequence of the heav y debt accumulated by Archbishop Perché. See Baudier, The Catholic Church in Louisiana, 461–464. 11. Father Gilbert Raymond urged Bishop Francis Xavier Leray, then in charge of archdiocesan ¤nances, to force the sisters to dispose of the Orleans Street convent, which he considered too large and expensive. Raymond to Leray, Opelousas, March 8, 1882. New Orleans Collection. Archives, University of Notre Dame. 12. The original text reads: annud [read: annual (principal)]. 13. Luke 2:13–14. 14. A type of inexpensive cloth; English word uncertain. 15. The sister sacristan was assigned to take care of the chapel altar and prepare the priest’s robes for liturgical celebrations and devotions. 16. The original text reads: The state of New Orleans, Louisiana. The text refers to families of African descent. 17. See Part II, n. 36. 18. Sister Margaret Mary (Sophie Leontine) Benoit was born in Abbeville, Louisiana, on September 18, 1874. She was admitted to the community on September 27,

217

PART V. MOTHER MARY AUSTIN JONES 1. New Orleans continued to be a major metropolis during the last years of the nineteenth century. In 1880, it had a population of 216,000; by 1910, there were 339,000 inhabitants. It was also one of the country’s busiest ports. 2. The 1896 election, the same year as the Plessy v. Ferguson decision. 3. There was talk about war in Louisiana in 1896 between the Democrats and the Populist-Republicans. 4. The list is in ASHF. 5. 1842–1892, Convent of the Holy Family, No. 17 Orleans Street, Golden Jubilee of the Sisters of the Holy Family, Sermon by Very Rev. J. Bogaerts, V.G. (New Orleans: 1892). Copies in ASHF and AANO. 6. Father Rene Vallée was the pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Carrollton; he died September 19, 1892. 7. Sister Mary Anastasia Raymond was stationed at St. Maurice’s School from 1892 to 1899. 8. Deggs adds the names of the some of the ¤rst teachers at these schools. 9. The original text reads: August 24, 1892. Archbishop Janssens blessed the home on August 20, 1893. Diary of the Archdiocese, 1888–[1897], 113. AANO. 10. Deggs re®ects the community’s dominant Creole culture by referring to Mother Mary Austin as an American. 11. In Catholic theology, limbo is a place where earthly sins are expiated and a person is puri¤ed before entering heaven. Good works and the prayers of others can shorten this puri¤cation period. 12. The fact that Jones was the ¤rst American superior of the community seems to suggest that she was also the ¤rst whose primary language was English rather than French. Even at the end of the nineteenth century, most of the sisters were still French speakers. A few records in the archives dating from the 1880s were written in English. And in fact, by the 1890s it appears that the sisters had recognized that their French Creole culture was becoming extinct. The women were increasingly teaching Englishspeaking students. By the turn of the century, and under Mother Superior Mary Austin, English became the order of the day. 13. In this passage, Deggs does not include Henriette Delille among the superiors. 14. The of¤ce represented the special prayers of each community. The work of each person is and was thought to be the acting out of a prayer to God. Thus the entire life of the religious was thought to be a type of prayer. 15. Angela Colani is not listed in the community’s records. 16. “The disciple is not above his master.” Matthew 10:24; Luke 10:40.

NOTES TO PAGES 166–194

1890, then entered the novitiate on August 2, 1891. She made her ¤rst profession of vows on August 20, 1893, and died on December 18, 1894. Matricula, 60. 19. Matthew 19:29; Mark 10:29–30; Luke 18:28–30. 20. The Third Plenary Council of Baltimore of 1884 met from November 9 to December 7. Much of the legislation repeated previous law. The council had a lasting in®uence, especially when it addressed diocesan organization. P. Guilday, ed., A History of the Councils of Baltimore, 1791–1884 (New York: 1932). 21. The Congregation of the School Sisters of Notre Dame was founded in Bavaria in 1833. They arrived in New Orleans on December 6, 1856 and opened two schools on December 8. The women are still actively working in Louisiana, teaching and administrating. 22. Deggs is more than likely referring to reading, writing, and arithmetic. 23. This page deteriorated; part of top line missing in text.

NOTES TO PAGES 194–199

218

17. In the biblical account, Mary presents Jesus in the temple: Luke 2:22–39. 18. Harriette Fazende (Sister Anne) formally entered the community on May 16, 1858 [Matricula], ASHF. 19. July 15 is the liturgical feast day of St. Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (973– 1024), and thus the feast day of Henriette Delille. 20. The original text here adds a long list of sisters who made their ¤nal profession of vows in or after 1891; some profession dates are incorrect. 21. Novices wore white veils. 22. Deggs is referring here to ¤scal responsibility. 23. March 22 was the ¤rst Sunday after the March 17 ceremony; Deggs died four days later, on March 26. 24. Sister Mary Joseph West was born in Augusta, Georgia, in 1846; she entered the community in 1876 and made her ¤rst profession on September 10, 1878. She died on January 9, 1896. Sister Mary Agnes Gomes was born in Puerto Rico in 1857. She entered the community at the age of twenty-four in 1881. She made her ¤rst profession on December 8, 1883, and died on August 10, 1894. 25. Deggs ends her journal in mid-sentence. That the golden jubilee of Sister Mary Joachim Preval was celebrated just four days before Deggs’ death and she had just noted it suggests that she became too ill to continue and that she died a short time later.

219

index

abstinence from meat, 31 Adams, Boniface, xvi Advent, 67 Aliquot, Jeanne Marie: death of, 2, 206n28; devotion to blacks, 205n25; mistress of novices, 10–11, 134–135; money loaned to Henriette Delille, 95, 204n17, 206n27; St. Claude Street School, xxx, 205n24, 205n25 Allean, Misses, 13 Alpaugh, Israel, 107 Alpaugh, Marie Magdalene: accepts Mary Joachim Preval, 6; age of applicants to convent, 158–159; assistant to Josephine Charles, 56, 116–117, 157–158; assistant to Marie Cecilia Capla, 132, 138; assisted by Marie Cecilia Capla, 132; birth of, 56; branch house, 25–26, 208n9; character of, 92–93, 102–104, 114–115, 119–120; crosses of, 65–66, 91, 113; crown waiting, 103; crying for offending God, 126–127; daily tasks, 85; death of, 56, 88–89, 101, 108; death of, effect on community, 130; death of, last moments, 64, 78; discontinuing of service to archbishops, 7; dissension against, 64–65, 78; educated at St. Mary’s School, 56, 57, 214n29; English language, 106; as false god, 105; family, 60, 107, 115, 122–123; Father Chassé, 102; formation by Josephine Charles, 49–50, 57, 95; habit, 100; holiness of, 97–98, 118, 129–130; instructed by Fr. Raymond for ¤rst communion, 100; judgment of, 119; Juliette Gaudin’s pardon, 28; lack of English, 61;

last who entered under Rousselon, 59; love for sisters, 117; love of the poor, 103; Marie Cecilia Capla, 125, 138; Mary Austin Jones, 187, 194; Mary Elizabeth Wales, 144–145; mistress of novices, 92–93; mother superior, 53, 56–57, 74–75, 107, 111; neatness, 93–94, 105; Orleans Street house, 208n12; personal characteristics, 75–76; prayers, 85, 94, 96, 120; reliance on God, 62; rescue of blessed sacrament, 70; runaway, 60, 102; and successor to Father Raymond, 87–88; teaching, 93–94; victim of obedience, 79; work in chapel, 123 altar bread, 104–105 altar, dressing of, 118, 149, 163 American Missionary Association, 133 Angela, St., 203n28 Anne, Mother, 186 Anne, St., 89 art department, 162 Association of the Holy Family, 2, 204n15 attachments, 52–53, 196 Baltimore Council, 166, 214n32, 217n20 baptism, xv, xxxi–xxxii, 166 Baton Rouge, 174, 176; branch house, 137, 151, 167–168, 172, 197; school, 20, 132, 180 Bayou Road house: building, xxxv, 8–9; purchase, 2, 204n17; small size, 14, 149 begging, 108, 109 Belden, S. (lawyer), 35 bell, ringing of, 10, 28, 31, 206n26, 209n21

INDEX

220 Bennet, Mary, 42 Benoit, Margaret Mary (Sophie Leontine), 216n18 Benoit, Peter, 134 Berchmans, St. John, 71, 89 Betsey, 5 Big Cain, 115 Bill, Mr., 70–71 bills, nonpayment of by students, 82–83 black people, 57–58, 134 Blanc, Antoine: archbishop, 8, 204n14; foundation of Sisters of Holy Family, 5, 10; seeks sisters to come to New Orleans, xxx–xxxi, 208n8; Sisters of the Presentation, xxxiii Blassingame, John, 58 boarding: cost, 153–154; death of one young lady, 45–46; young ladies, 9, 11, 27, 164–165 Bogaerts, J. B., xiii, 102, 180 Borgia Hart, Mary Francis, xvi, 3, 5, 181, 203n1 Borromeo, St. Charles, 103, 215n55 branch houses, xxvi, xxxv; desire to create, 44–45, 121, 124, 156, 161–162; motherhouse retreat and vacation, 124. See also Baton Rouge; Donaldsonville; Opelousas Brenth, Mrs., 128–129 building improvements, 11 Butler, W., 87 Capla, Adorelia. See Capla, Marie Cecilia Capla, Lucien, 139, 141–142 Capla, Marie Cecilia, 92, 186; arts and literature, 162–163; assistant to Marie Magdalene Alpaugh, 132; branch house in Baton Rouge, 151, 167–168; character, 135, 138–139, 141, 147, 159–160; charity, 150; Civil War’s effect on, 133; cowardice, 154– 155; crosses of, 147, 165; death of, 132, 189; desire to work with slaves and poor, 148–149, 156; doesn’t want to leave debt for next mother superior, 154; early life, 132, 133; enters convent, 136–137; family, 136, 137, 140, 158, 166; Father Chassé, 102; Marie Magdalene Alpaugh, 132, 138; Mary Austin Jones, 138, 184; merit in heaven, 156, 177; mistress of young lady boarders, 138, 142; mother superior, 62, 124–125, 132; Orleans Street house, 208n12; orphan girls’ home, 97; persecution of, 139; pride, 157, 159; provides necessities for community, 150; relief at not being superior, 148; removal of Mary Joseph West as superior, 154–155; secretary to community, 132, 157–158; superior at

Opelousas, 132, 137; teaching, 137–138, 151; temper, 138, 147–148, 150; treatment by Mary Elizabeth Wales, 143–146; vocation, 141–142, 143, 158; work ethic, 146–147 Capuchin missionaries, xxv Carroll, John, xxvii Carrollton German School, 184 Catechist, 209n22 Catholic Church, early history in Louisiana, xxiv–xxvii Celestine, 29–30 Challeton, Fr., xxi Chapelle, Placide Louis, 216n69 charity, 64, 77–78; key of heaven, 110, 117, 147; not appreciated by recipients, 81; return of, 165; of superiors, 128 Charity Hospital, 22 Charles, François, 21 Charles, Joseph (brother), 21 Charles, Joseph (father), 21 Charles, Josephine: acceptance of all who want to serve God, 29; accepts Mary Joachim Preval, 6, 197; altar bread, 104–105; blindness, 30, 31, 49, 50, 99, 157–158, 188; daily tasks, 31–32, 49; death of, 20, 113; death of, effect on community, 122; education, 23, 42; exempted from duties, 53; family, 21; foundation of community, 3, 8, 23–24; as godmother, xxxi–xxxii; holy disposition of, 27, 43–44, 50; illness, 28; Juliette Gaudin’s pardon, 28; lack of respect for conventions, 209n17; love of justice, 43; Marie Cecilia Capla, 132, 136, 141; Marie Magdalene Alpaugh, 49–50, 57, 95, 107, 116–117; Mary Austin Jones, 185–186; opening of branch house, 2, 14, 25–26, 207n39, 208n9; Orleans Street house, 208n12; outings from house, 52; prayers, xviii, 30, 31, 43; steamboat, 92; and successor to Father Raymond, 87–88; vows, xxxiv, 13; wants someone to work for church, 104 Charles, Philomene, 21 Chartres Street house: contrasted with Orleans Street house, 149, 194; established as split house, 2, 24, 32–33, 207n39, 208n9; Father Raymond’s request, 6, 25–26; motherhouse, 14 Chassé, L. A., 56, 100–102, 125, 180, 215n53 children, 12, 29, 193; disobedience of, 34, 47, 81–82; examples for, 76–77; relationship with mother superiors, 18, 105–106, 187–188

221

daily tasks: Josephine Charles, 31–32; regulation by bell, 10, 28, 31, 206n26, 209n21; sisters, 168–169 dancing, 42, 211n38 Daughters of Charity, 22 day students, 153–154

De Garies, John, 137 De Garies, Marie A., 137 deaths, happy and holy, 169–170 debt, 90; despondency over, 96, 116; dif¤culty in paying, 152–153; new orphan girls’ home, 126. See also mortgage DeCarriere, Ph. Father, 56, 87, 89, 125, 188 dedication to “their people”: evangelization as ¤rst mission, xv, xix, xxxi–xxxiii, 3, 204n21; Marie Cecilia Capla, 148– 149, 156 Deggs, Mary Bernard, 20, 73–74, 87–88, 180; begins journal, x, xiii, 180; death of, xv, 218n25; family, xiv, xv Delille, Henriette, xxiv; Anne Fazende as postulant, 40; Association of the Holy Family, 204n15; Bayou Street house, 204n17; Cause for Canonization, xxi; death of, 2; death of, effect on community, xxxv, 4, 12–13, 14, 99; decides to move house, 11; education, 10, 205n23; family heritage, xxvi–xxvii; foundation of community, 3, 8; as godmother, xxxi–xxxii; holiness, 95; prayers, xxxiii; slave ownership, 5; vocation, xxxii; vows, xxxiv, 13 Deteige, Audrey, xvi disenfranchisement, 182–183 disobedience, 47, 93 dissension in the house, 64–65, 110–111 divine of¤ce, 188, 198, 199, 217n14 divine providence, xviii dolls, selling, 118 domestic arts, 133, 151, 198; needlework, 100, 108; teaching, 5 Donaldsonville, 56, 97; Marie Cecilia Capla, 137, 162 donations to house, 9–10, 45; chapel, 96, 152; collected in city, 74; for mortgage, 63; sought in other cities, 53, 83–84, 152, 212n46; Thomy Lafon, 45, 112, 166–167, 185, 211n42; wills, 26, 96, 101, 150, 191 doorbell, 199 Doulard, D., 13 dowry to community, 46–47, 159, 160, 209n14 Dubourg, Louis William, xxix–xxxi, 22, 169– 170, 205n24 Dubreuil, Claude Joseph, xxvi–xxvii Dubreuil, Marie Payan, xxvi–xxvii Dufour, A., 16, 20, 56, 86, 87, 125 dying, kindness to, 17–18 Easter, 170 Easter duty, 48, 51 economic circumstances, 182–183

INDEX

Children of Mary, xxvi–xxvii, xxxii choir, 87, 88, 91 Christmas, 170 Church of the Holy Name, 113 circular journey, xxiii circus, 66–67. See also Faranta’s Iron Theater cistern, lack of, 74 Civil Rights Act of 1875, 181 Civil War: break out, 11; cost of goods, 99; necessities cut off, 133; political effects in Louisiana, 24–25; poverty caused by, 84; prejudice, 91–92; visits to the poor, 98–99 Claiborne, C. C., xxviii Clare, St., 70, 213n24 class more important than race, 4 classes, mixed at school, 12 clothing, 9, 64 Code Noir, xxv Colani, Angela, 192–193, 217n15 Cole, Liza, 128–129 Collard, J. J., 204n15 communion: consolation, 121, 122; disinclination of men and boys to take, 48–49; offered for repose of souls, 156. See also ¤rst communion community: entrance requirements for, 5, 6, 80, 99, 158, 160–161; foundation, xxxii, 2, 3, 8; growth of, 24, 51–52, 183; jealousy, 86–87, 91; jubilee, xiii, 180, 184; slave ownership, 10 confession, 31, 47, 121–122 Congregation of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, xxxii, 3 Convent of Mercy, 60 conversions, 42, 51. See also evangelization Cortu, Mrs., 161 cost of goods, 160 Creole New Orleans (Hirsch and Logsden), 59 Creoles, 3, 4, 24–25, 182 crosses: acceptance of, xvii, 151–152, 165; of community, 8, 11, 26, 46, 74; of holy person, 146–147; of Marie Cecilia Capla, 147, 165; of Marie Magdalene Alpaugh, 65–66, 91, 113; of Mary Austin Jones, 192–193; preparing children for, 114 crown, xvii, 63, 103, 108 Cuba, xxvii, 156

INDEX

222 Ekpu, Patrick Ebisele, xxiii–xxiv Elder, William, 83 elderly, 36–38, 42, 43 election, 189–190, 217n2 English language, 106 entertainment, to raise money, 169 entry into community, refusal of, 43 Esplanade house, 71 ethnicity, stereotyping of, 7, 194–195 evangelization: of “their people,” xix, xxxii– xxxiii, 3, 148–149, 156; of women, xv, xix, xxv, 21–22, 204n21 expelled sister returns, 192–193 Faget, Dr., 51–52 falling away, 47 families, 44–45, 58, 163–164, 172–173, 211n37 Faranta, Mr., 66–72, 89–91, 214n43 Faranta’s Iron Theater, 70, 132, 152–153, 213n22. See also circus Faure, Madame, 191 Fazende, Anne Marie (Harriette), 15, 122, 137–138, 207n39; assistant to Josephine Charles, 34; entry to convent, 218n18; family, 195; holiness of, 40; last postulant of Father Rousselon and Henriette Delille, 40; Louisiana Asylum for Colored Girls, 39–40; personality of, xiv, 194–196; presents for, 41; respect for superiors, 40 Feehan, Patrick, 212n46 ¤re next door, 70, 132, 152–153, 165, 213n22 ¤rst communion, 47, 107, 166; examination for, 136, 216n2; preparation for, 9, 41, 47, 53, 101–102, 121–122. See also communion Folger’s coffee, 90, 214n42 Fontière, Sister Ste. Marthe, xxx–xxxii, 10, 22, 47–48, 134, 205n24, 212n43 food, 26, 61, 110; leftover, 9, 10; prices during Civil War, 99 forgiveness, 192 foundation of community, xxxiv, 2, 3, 8 founders, 41–42 François, Orphise, 13 Fredrichs, George, 208n12 free women of color, xxv, 211n38; fdcl, xxxiii; morals, xxviii, xxxii Fremore, Mary Germaine, 104, 215n56 French Club, 72 G., Mrs., 79 Garbely, Fabian, 113, 180 Gaudin, Juliette: Association of the Holy

Family, 204n15; death of, 16–17, 112–113, 132; differences with split house, 14, 28, 207n39, 208n9; economic circumstances, 4; education, 205n23; foundation of community, 3, 8; as godmother, xxxi–xxxii; habit, 16, 207n45; instruction, xxx, 10; jubilee year, 16; keeper of books, 14; Marie Magdalene Alpaugh, 75, 100, 107; mother superior, 2; moves to Orleans Street, 20; persecution of, 15; relationship with children, 18; sisters’ opinions of, 99; talents of, 163; trouble with Mary Elizabeth Wales, 14; vows, xxxiv, 13 Gayarre, Charles, 24 Geddeas, Julia, 43–44 Gerlach, Joseph, 89–90, 113, 132, 180 Gomez, Mary Agnes (Rosario), 48, 198, 212n44, 218n24 graces, and suffering, 114–115 Grand Coteau, 13 Guatemala, xxvii habit, 13–14, 20; approved, 215n59; attempts to make sisters take off, 25; ghimp, card, and collar, 123–124, 215n68; history of, 3, 59–60, 112, 206n37; Juliette Gaudin receives, 16, 207n45; Marie Magdalene Alpaugh receives, 100 Harison, Mary Francis, 44, 88, 94, 208n12, 211n39 health trouble, and entry to convent, 160–161 Heneff, Cecilia, 161 Hickey, Mr., 63 Hirsch, Arnold, Creole New Orleans, 59 Holy Face of Jesus, 83, 214n35 holy of¤ce, 188, 198, 199, 217n14 Holy Rosary Society, xxxiii home for elderly, xxv, 8–9, 20, 34–37, 185 Hospitalière Sisters, xxx, 205n24 housekeepers for archbishop, 6–7, 104 houses, history of, 204n15, 204n18 humility, 108, 109, 119 Ignatius, St., holy water of, 70, 89 illness, among boarding ladies, 11 importance of light skin, 6, 7, 134 indulgences, xxxiii interracial marriages, xxvi, 21 James, Mary Angel, 156 Jansses, Francis, 91, 94–95, 138, 216n3 Jefferson, Thomas, xxviii

223

Kenny, Rev. Father, 16 Key West, sisters wanted in, 161–162 kindergarten, 193 Koüne, Jean, xxvii–xxviii La Rua, J., 13 Labbé, Doris Egger, 134 LaCroix, Cecilia Denouy, 204n15, 210n30 LaCroix, François, 35, 204n15, 210n30 Ladies Congregation of the Children of Mary, xxvi–xxvii, xxxii Ladies of the Sacred Heart, 10 Lafon Asylum for Orphan Boys, 36, 41, 166– 167, 180, 184 Lafon, Thomy, 45, 112, 166–167, 185, 211n42 LaFourche Parish, 23, 97 landlord, death of, 86 L’Ange, A., 40 language, vulgar, 68 laundry, to earn money, 41 laws, restricting positions of free people of color, 4 lawsuits about children, 29 LeCozic, M. H.: leaves, 56, 61, 100; replaces Father Raymond, 20, 100, 136; withdrawal from Baton Rouge, 168

Leo XIII, 207n49 Leray, Francis Xavier, 83, 89, 125, 208n12, 214n33; Father Raymond advises against Orleans Street House, 153, 216n11 Les Apostoliques, 6–7 lessons, 174–175 limbo, 217n11 linen department, 9 Lining Rosary, 98 literacy, xxvii, 6 Little Sisters of Poor, 37, 210n34 Livaudais, Marie des Anges, 88–89, 214n41 loafers, 65, 72–73 Logsden, Joseph, Creole New Orleans, 59 loss of merit in heaven, 156, 196 lost souls: mortal sins, 90; saved by kindness, 110; who don’t enter community, 46–47; who leave community, 65, 80; working for, 96 Louisiana Asylum for Colored Girls, 38–39, 97; initial dif¤culties, 105; teachers, 137– 138, 181 Louisiana, establishment of Catholic Church, xxiv–xxvii Louisiana Orphans’ Home, 185, 186 Louisiana Purchase, xxvi, 3, 21 Lourta, F., 13 Madison, James, xxviii Magdalene, St., 89 March devotions, 51 Marianite Sisters of the Holy Cross, 7 Marie Ann (Nanette), xxvi–xxvii, xxxvi, 202n9 marriage, xxvi, 21, 40, 211n37 Marriane, M., 13 Marsies, M., 29–30 Martin of Tours, St., 127, 216n72 Mary John Berchmans, Sister, 199 mass, not said at house, 12, 112, 170–171 maternal in®uences, 21 May devotions, 51 McCloskey, John Cardinal, 212n46 Meinerie, E., 195 Mollott, Mary Ursula, 122 money: doing great deal with little, 95; for paving streets, 193; pretext for not entering, 160; raising funds, 173–174; saving for hard times, 176; taxes, 12, 73, 190 moral character of neighborhood, 72–73. See also Faranta, Mr. morals of free women of color, xxviii, xxxii mortgage, 65–66, 85–86, 116, 208n12; beg-

INDEX

Jesuits: directors of community, 14, 66, 67, 87; missionaries, xxv, 213n17 Jim Crow, 182–183 Jim Crow Comes to Church (Labbé), 134 Joachim, Cloary, 197 Johnson, Christine, 184 Jones, H. A., 184 Jones, Mary Austin (Mary Ellen): animals and children love, 187–188; character, 185, 187– 188, 190–191; crosses of, 192–193; death of, 180; early life, 180, 181; family, 184, 187, 189, 190; formation of, 185, 187; home for orphan boys, 167; houses opened, 45; initial vows, 186; lamb of sweetness, 198; Marie Magdalene Alpaugh, 194; Mary Bernard Deggs’ journal, x, 180; most successful superior, 187, 188–189; mother superior, 70, 180, 182, 184, 216n3, 217n12; Opelousas, 182; schools opened, 184–185; teaching, 137–138, 182; vocation, 184; yellow fever, 189 Jorlanna, Mr., 96 Joseph, leaves St. Bernard’s home, 36–37 Joseph, Sister, 157 Joseph, St., 36–37, 44, 51, 73–74 jubilee, xiii, 180, 184

INDEX

224 ging to pay for, 83–84; making payments on, 61–63, 96, 206n27. See also debt; taxes on property mother superior, 201n6, 216n3 motherhouse, 52–53, 124 Native Americans: catechism of, xxv, 22; refusal to admit, 29 Navarre, Suzanne, xxxi–xxxii, 13, 42, 99–100, 203n1; talks to Faranta, 69, 213n19 needlework, 100, 108, 198 Nellie, 184 Nerenckx, Bishop, 23 New Orleans, 2, 4, 181–182 “New York lady” (Suzanne Navarre) talks to Faranta, 69, 213n19 Nigeria, xxiii–xxiv non-Catholics attending school, 175 novice disciplined for leaving, 32 novices, responsibilities, 196 nun, 201n6 Oblate Sisters of Providence, 163–164, 211n36. See also Oblates of St. Francis Oblates of Mary Immaculate, 7 Oblates of St. Francis, 38, 97, 211n36 Odin, Archbishop, 6 Old Quadroon Ballroom. See Orleans Street house “The Old Women’s Home,” 20, 37 Olivier, John, xxvii–xxviii Opelousas: branch house, 32, 100, 137; Mary Austin Jones, 182; school, 20, 32; subjects called to motherhouse, 52–53 order in community, 76 Orleans Street house, xxv; contrasted with Chartres Street house, 20, 26–27, 149, 194; mass of thanksgiving, 157; Old Quadroon Ballroom, xxxvi; property purchased, 153, 208n12 orphan boys’ home, 36, 41, 166–167, 180, 184 orphan girls’ home, 63, 126; lots for, 96; Louisiana Asylum for Colored Girls, 38–39, 97, 105, 137–138, 181; Poydras Female Orphan Asylum, 22; St. Bernard Street School, 180, 184; St. John Berchmans orphan home, 18, 97, 180, 185, 192–193 Palmer, M., 70 pardon, 192 parish priest, vs. house chaplain, 12 pastimes (idle diversions), 69–70 paving streets, 193

penance, 93, 210n25 Perché, Napoleon J., 16, 134, 139–140; opening of branch house, 25–26; opposed to house on Orleans Street, 157; rule, 20 Peruque, Eulalie, 23 Peynaud, J. Baptiste, 67, 72, 91, 214n27 Philomene, Marie, 14–15 piety, 94, 114 Pintado family, 40, 195 Pius VII, xxix planters, 123, 164–165 playing, 193–194 Plessy, Homer, 215n45 Polenne, Aristide, 204n17 police, 35 politics, 189–190 poor: compassion toward, 64, 79–80; giving to, 17, 30–31, 43, 209n20; serving, 77–78, 127–128; teaching domestic arts, 151; visits to, 98–99, 115–116 Portier, Michael, xxxi postulants, 181 poverty, spirit of, 96–97 Poydras Female Orphan Asylum, 22 prayers: answers to, 11–12, 30, 73–74, 83; for branch house at Baton Rouge, 174; by children, 50–51, 116; in French, 49; how to make, 43; life of religious, 217n14; needs for, 98; not answered, 126; for repair of the house, 85; for souls in purgatory, 32, 110, 185, 210n26, 215n58, 217n11; split house, 14 prejudice, 91–92 Preval, Mary Chloé Joachim, xv, 5–7, 197, 203n4, 218n25 Price, M., 161 pride, 119; of Elizabeth Wales, 33, 34; lack in Anne Fazende, 40; of Marie Cecilia Capla, 157 Propagation of the Faith Society, xxxiii property, as sign of freedom, 58 Protestants, xxvii purgatory, 110, 185, 210n26, 215n58, 217n11 puri¤cation after death, 32, 185, 210n26, 217n11 quadroon balls, 42, 211n38; ballroom becomes new community house, xxv racial politics, 181–182 racial rigidity of convent, 5–6 racial segregation, 92, 120, 134, 214n44 racial unity, 59

225

Saint Domingue, xxvii–xxviii, xxix salvation, xviii school, ability to attend, 79 Second District courthouse, 96 Sedella, Pêre Antoine de, xxvii–xxviii, xxix Semmes, L. J., 129 sexes, separated in classrooms, 175

Shannaue, M., 13 sign of the cross, 47, 51 single-crop economic system, 181 sins against faith, 84–85 sisters disavowed, 129 Sisters of Charity, 22 Sisters of Loretta, 23 Sisters of Mount Carmel, xxx, 22–23, 47–48, 133, 205n24 Sisters of St. Francis, 45 Sisters of St. Joseph, 25, 41, 208n8 Sisters of the Order of Notre Dame, 166 Sisters of the Presentation, xxxiii Sisters of the Sacred Heart, xxiv, 23, 205n23 skin tone: importance of, 6, 7, 134; Josephine Charles’, 29 slave ownership, xxiv–xxv, 22 slave system, stigma of impiety, xxxii slaveowners, former, 12, 36 slaves eating with former mistresses, 7, 36 social system: slavery, xxiv–xxv; three-tiered, 134–135, 182 Society of the Holy Family incorporated, xxxv, 206n32 Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary, xxxiii soldiers of Christ, 159 split house, 2, 14, 28, 207n39, 208n9; attempt to open second in Vicksburg, 32; desire to crush Juliette Gaudin, 15. See also Chartres Street house sports forbidden during Advent, 67 St. Anne’s School for Boys, 184–185 St. Augustine’s Church, xxxiv, 9 St. Augustine’s Convent, 56, 97 St. Augustine’s School, 20 St. Bernard Street house, xxxiv, 8, 34–37, 180 St. Bernard Street School, 180, 184 St. Bernard’s Home, xxv, 34–37, 185 St. Claude Street School, xxx, xxxiv, 23, 205n24, 205n25 St. James Parish, 10, 205n23 St. John Berchmans orphan home, 97, 180, 184, 185, 192–193 St. John the Baptist Church, 207n45 St. Joseph School, 20, 180 St. Joseph’s Convent, 32, 137, 186 St. Landry Parish, 13, 32, 137, 138, 169–170 St. Leven, 11–12 St. Louis Cathedral, xxvi, xxviii–xxix, xxxi, 91, 112, 214n44 St. Louis School, 180, 184 St. Mary’s Church, 9, 26, 91, 149

INDEX

racism, 24–25, 91–92, 134 rain gutters, 67–68 Raymond, François, 13 Raymond, Gilbert: accepts Mary Joachim Preval, 197; banishment of, 66; branch houses, 14, 25–26, 44–45; disapproval of grandness, 157, 216n11; father superior and spiritual director, 2, 6, 13; foot swollen, 136; forbids sisters to think on possibility of bad communion, 122; Juliette Gaudin’s initial impression, 18; leaves New Orleans, 88; Marie Magdalene Alpaugh receives habit, 100; and Mary Austin Jones, 186; opposes Orleans Street house, 153, 216n11; rule, 215n59; selection of successor, 20, 87; slurs against, 25, 46 Raymond, Mary Anastasia, 184, 217n7 Reass, Madame, 191 Reass, P., 191 recognition of house, 66 respect for the world, 89 resurrection, xviii retreat, 67 Roberts, Madame, 89–90 Roudanez, Dr. and Mrs., 38, 210n35 Rousselon, Etienne, xxxiv–xxxv; Anne Fazende as postulant, 40, 196; association with different religious orders, 212n7; care for sisters, 66; chooses Delille as superior, 3; cloistering, 10; death of, 2, 13, 59, 206n36; foundation of Sisters of Holy Family, 5, 8; foundation of Sisters of Mount Carmel, 48; on Marie Cecilia Capla, 160; Marie Magdalene Alpaugh enters community, 59; no consent for house move, 11; selection of Fr. Raymond, 88 rule, 31; age limits of, 158, 186; approved, 215n59; blessed, 113; completion of, 56, 89; does not compel work out of convent, 104; effect on community, 98; horarium, 210n24; Marie Magdalene Alpaugh pushes for, 121; mother superior, 111, 186; provisional, 209n16; writing of, 125. See also bell, ringing of Ryan, Stephen, 83

INDEX

226 St. Mary’s School, 20, 24, 46, 182, 209n14 St. Maurice’s School, 180, 184, 217n7 St. Michael’s Convent, 205n23 St. Plattenville, 23 status and housekeeping, 7, 104 steamboat, 92 students associated with order while too young to enter, 57, 212n2 students, who disavow sisters, 129 suffering, xix, 32, 114–115, 164 suffrage for blacks, 58 superiors: charitability of, 128; respect for, 40 taxes on property, 12, 73, 190 teaching, 9, 15; burnout of students, 193; catechism, 93–94; domestic arts, 5, 199; necessary for welfare of children, 175; not criticized, 197; number of sisters required for, 45; paying for lessons, 46, 82–83, 172; progress in lessons, 173; requests for, 66; types of lessons, 5, 168–169, 199; of young children, 105–106 thanklessness, 38 Thibodeaux, Sylvia, xxiii–xxiv, xxxvi Thoma, Claude, xxvii–xxviii three-tiered social structure, 134–135, 182 trader’s yard, converted to school, 46 Treagle, Joseph, 24 Tribune, 182 Trinity, 47, 51 tuberculosis, xvi unity, 16 Ursulines: beginning, 203n28; catechism of slaves and Native Americans, xxv–xxvi;

changes in church, xxvii–xxix; day school, xxviii, 213n26; Jeanne Marie Aliquot’s involvement with, 205n25; moved to motherhouse, 101; Sister Ste. Marthe Fontière, xxx, 205n24; slave ownership, 22 Vaenuneas, D., 13 Valks, J., 13 Valleé, R., 184 vanity, discouragement of, 75, 76, 81–82 Vannedes, Judge, 88 Vezin, Mother Ste. Marie Olivier de vocations, loss of, 196 vows, xxxiv, 3, 13, 124, 195 Wales, Mary Elizabeth: accepts Mary Joachim Preval, 6; attempts to split from motherhouse, 32–33, 144; defection of, 34; deposed by people of parish, 138; dislike of Marie Cecilia Capla and Marie Magdalene Alpaugh, 143–146; Juliette Gaudin, 14, 28; leaves community, 176; opening of branch house, 25–26, 32, 207n39, 208n9; scholarliness, 33–34 weather, 66, 67–68, 69, 157 West Indies, desire for branch house, 161 West, Mary Joseph, 94, 154–155, 198, 218n24 White, E. D., 88 White House, 92 Whiting, John, 197 widows, admission to community, 161, 197 Williams, John, 212n46 work, 77, 95, 127, 128 yellow fever, 146, 189, 205n25

Virginia Meacham Gould is a lecturer in history at Our Lady of the Holy Cross College in New Orleans. She is the author of Chained to the Rock of Adversity: To Be Free, Black, and Female in the Old South.

Charles E. Nolan is a historian and the Archivist of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. He has published Southern Catholic Heritage and St. Mary’s of Natchez: The History of a Southern Catholic Congregation, 1716– 1988.