Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk/Chapter 7
CHAPTER VII.
DAILY CEREMONIES
ON Thursday morning, the bell rang at half-past six to waken us. The old nun who was acting as night-watch immediately spoke aloud:
"Voici le Seignieur qui vient." (Behold the Lord cometh.) The nuns all responded:
"Allons — y pevant lui." (Let us go and meet him.)
We arose immediately, and dressed quickly, stepping into the passage-way, at the foot of our bed, as soon as we were ready, and taking place each beside her opposite companion. Thus we were drawn up in a double row the length of the room, with our hands folded across our breasts, and concealed in the broad cuffs of our sleeves. Not a word was uttered. When the signal was given, we all proceeded to the community-room, and took our places in rows facing the entrance, near which the Superior was seated in a vergiere. We first repeated "Au nom du Pere, du Fils, et du Saint Esprit — Ainsi soit il." (In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, — Amen.) We then kneeled and kissed the floor; then, still kneeling, on our knees, we said a long prayer, "Divin Jesus, sauveur de mon ame." (Divine Jesus, Saviour of my soul.) Then the Lord's prayer, three Hail Marys, four creeds, and five confessions, (confesse a Dieu.) the ten commandments; the acts of faith, and a prayer to the Virgin, in Latin, which I never understood a word of. Next we said litanies of the Holy Name of Jesus, in Latin, which were afterwards to be repeated several times in the day. Then came the prayer for the beginning of the day; then bending down, we commenced the Orison Mental, (or Mental Orison,) which last about an hour and a half.
This exercise was considered very solemn. We were told in the nunnery that a certain saint was saved by the use of it, as she never omitted it. It consists of several parts: First, the Superior read to us a chapter from a book, which occupied five minutes. Then profound silence prevailed for fifteen minutes, during which we were meditating upon it. Then she read another chapter of equal length on a different subject, and we meditated upon that another quarter of an hour; and after a third reading and meditation, we finished the exercise with a prayer for contrition, in which we asked forgiveness for the sins committed during the Orison. During this hour and a half I became very weary, having before been kneeling for some time, and having then to sit in another position more uncomfortable, with my feet under me, and my hands clasped, and my head bowed down.
When the Orison was over, we all rose to the upright kneeling posture, and repeated several prayers, and the litanies of the providences, "providence de Dieu," &c., then followed a number of Latin prayers, which we repeated on the way to mass, for in the nunnery we had mass daily.
When mass was over, we proceeded in our usual order to breakfast, practising the same forms which I have described at dinner. Having made our meal in silence, we repeated the litanies of the "holy name of Jesus," as we proceeded to the community room; and such as had not finished them on their arrival, threw themselves upon their knees until they had gone through with them and then kissing the floor, rose again. At nine o'clock commenced the lecture which was read by a nun appointed to perform that duty that day: all the rest of us in the room being engaged in work.
The nuns were distributed in different community rooms, at different kinds of work, and each was listening to a lecture. This continued until ten o'clock, when the recreation-bell rang. We still continued our work, but the nuns conversed on subjects permitted by the rules, in the hearing of the old nuns, one of whom was seated in each of the groups. At half-past ten the silence bell rang, and this conversation instantly ceased, and the recitation of some Latin prayers continued half an hour.
At eleven o'clock the dinner-bell rang, and we went through the forms of the preceding day. We proceeded two by two. The old nun clapped her hands as the first couple reached the door, when we stopped. The first two dipped their fingers into the font, touched with the holy water the breast, forehead, and each side, thus forming a cross, said "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Amen" and then walked to the dining-room repeating the litanies. The rest did the same. On reaching the door the couples divided, and the two rows of nuns marching up, stopped, and faced the table against their plates. There we repeated the close of the litany aloud. The old nun pronounced "Benedicte," and we sat down. One of us read a lecture, during the whole meal: she stays to eat after the rest have retired. When we had dined, each of us folded up her napkin, and again folded her hands. The old nun then repeated a short prayer in French, and stepping from the head of the table, let us pass out as we came in. Each of us bowed in passing the little chapel near the door, which is a glass case, containing a waxen figure of the infant Jesus. When we reached the community-room we took our places in rows, and kneeled upon the floor, while a nun read aloud. "Doleurs de notre Sainte Marie," (the sorrows of our holy Mary). At the end of each verse we responded
"Ave Maria." We then repeated the litany of the providences and the "Benissante."
Then we kissed the floor, and rising, took our work, to converse on permitted subjects — called recreation — till one o'clock. We then repeated litanies, one at a time in succession, still sewing, for an hour.
At two o'clock commenced the afternoon lectures, which lasted till near three. At that hour one of the nuns stood up in the middle of the room, and asked each of us a question out of the catechism; and such as did not answer correctly had to kneel, until that exercise was concluded, upon as many dry peas as there were verses in the chapter out of which they were questioned. I have sometimes kneeled on peas until I suffered great inconvenience and pain. It soon makes one feel as if needles were running through the skin. At four o'clock recreation commenced, when we were allowed to speak to each other while at work. At half-past four we began to repeat prayers in Latin, while we worked till five o'clock, when we repeated the "prayers for the examination of conscience," the "prayer after confession," the "prayer before sacrament," and the "prayer after sacrament." At dark, we laid our work aside, and went over the same prayers which we had repeated in the morning excepting the orison mental: instead of that long exercise, we examined our consciences, to determine whether we had performed the resolution we had made in the morning, and such as had repeated an "acte de joie," or expression of gratitude; such as had not, said an "acte de contrition."
When the prayers were concluded, any nun who had been disobedient in the day knelt and asked pardon of the Superior and her companions "for the scandal she had caused them." and then requested a penance to perform. When all the penances had been imposed, we all proceeded to the eating-room to supper, repeating litanies on the way. The ceremonies were the same as at dinner, except that no lecture was read. We ate in silence, and went out bowing to the chapelle, and repeating litanies. Returning to the community-room, we had more prayers to repeat, which are called La couronne (crown), which consists of the following parts: — 1st. Four Paters. 2nd. Four Ave Marias. 3rd. Four Gloria patris. 4th. Benissea Santeys. At the close we kissed the floor; then had recreation till half-past eight o'clock, conversing on permitted subjects, but closely watched, and not allowed to sit in the corners.
At half-past eight a bell was rung, and a chapter was read to us, in a book of meditations, to employ our minds upon during our waking hours at night. Standing near the door, we dipped our fingers in the holy water, crossed and blessed ourselves and proceded to the sleeping room two by two. When we had got into bed, we repeated a prayer beginning with. —
"Mon Dieu, je vous donne mon cœur,"
"My God I give you my heart;"
and then an old nun, bringing some holy water, sprinkled it on our beds to drive away the devil, while we crossed ourselves with it again. At nine o'clock the bell rang, and all awake repeated a prayer, called the offrande; those who were asleep were considered as excused.
After my admission among the nuns, I had more opportunity to observe the conduct of mad Jane Ray. She behaved quite differently from the rest, and with a degree of levity irreconcileable with the rules. She was a large woman, with nothing beautiful or attractive in her face, form, or manners, careless in her dress, and of a restless disposition, which prevented her from applying herself to anything for any length of time, and kept her roving about, and always talking to somebody or other. She was dressed in the plain garments of the nuns, bound by the same vows, and accustomed to the same life, resembling them in nothing else, and frequently interrupting all their employments. She was apparently always studying, or pursuing some odd fancy; now rising from sewing to walk up and down, or straying in another apartment looking about, addressing some of us, passing out again, or saying something to make us laugh. But what showed she was no novelty, was the little attention paid to her, and the levity with which she was treated by the whole nuns; even the Superior every day passed over irregularities which she would have punished with penances, in any other. I soon perceived that she betrayed two distinct traits of character; a kind disposition towards such as she chose to prefer, and a pleasure in teasing those she disliked, or such as had offended her.