Awful Disclosures | Page 9

by them, and the religious observances, which occupy a large portion of
their time. They are regarded with much respect by the people at large; and now and then
when a novice takes the veil, she is supposed to retire from the temptations and troubles
of this world into a state of holy seclusion, where, by prayer, self-mortification, and good
deeds, she prepares herself for heaven. Sometimes the Superior of a Convent obtains the
character of working miracles; and when such a one dies, it is published through the
country, and crowds throng the Convent, who think indulgences are to be derived from
bits of her clothes or other things she has possessed; and many have sent articles to be
touched to her bed or chair, in which a degree of virtue is thought to remain. I used to
participate in such ideas and feelings, and began by degrees to look upon a nun as the
happiest of women, and a Convent as the most peaceful, holy, and delightful place of
abode. It is true, some pains were taken to impress such views upon me. Some of the
priests of the Seminary often visited the Congregation Nunnery, and both catechised and
talked with us on religion. The Superior of the Black Nunnery adjoining, also,
occasionally came into the School, enlarged on the advantages we enjoyed in having such
teachers, and dropped something now and then relating to her own Convent, calculated to
make us entertain the highest ideas of it, and to make us sometimes think of the
possibility of getting into it.
Among the instructions given us by the priests, some of the most pointed were those
directed against the Protestant Bible. They often enlarged upon the evil tendency of that
book, and told us that but for it many a soul now condemned to hell, and suffering eternal
punishment, might have been in happiness. They could not say any thing in its favour: for
that would be speaking against religion and against God. They warned us against it, and
represented it as a thing very dangerous to our souls. In confirmation of this, they would
repeat some of the answers taught us at catechism, a few of which I will here give. We
had little catechisms ("Le Petit Catechism") put into our hands to study; but the priests
soon began to teach us a new set of answers, which were not to be found in our books,
and from some of which I received new ideas, and got, as I thought, important light on
religious subjects, which confirmed me more and more in my belief in the Roman
Catholic doctrines. These questions and answers I can still recall with tolerable accuracy,
and some of them I will add here. I never have read them, as we were taught them only
by word of mouth.
Question. "Pourquoi le bon Dieu n'a pas fait tous les commandemens?"
_Réponse_. "Parce que l'homme n'est pas si fort qu'il peut garder tous ses
commandemens."
Q. "Why did not God make all the commandments?"
A. "Because man is not strong enough to keep them."
And another. Q. "Pourquoi l'homme ne lit pas l'Evangile?"
R. "Parce que l'esprit de l'homme est trop borné et trop faîble pour comprendre qu'est ce

que Dieu a écrit."
Q. "Why are men not to read the New Testament?"
A. "Because the mind of man is too limited and weak to understand what God has
written."
These questions and answers are not to be found in the common catechisms in use in
Montreal and other places where I have been, but all the children in the Congregational
Nunnery were taught them, and many more not found in these books.


CHAPTER II.
CONGREGATIONAL NUNNERY.
Story told by a fellow Pupil against a Priest--Other Stories--Pretty Mary--Confess to
Father Richards--My subsequent Confessions--Left the Congregational Nunnery.
There was a girl thirteen years old whom I knew in the School, who resided in the
neighborhood of my mother, and with whom I had been familiar. She told me one day at
school of the conduct of a priest with her at confession, at which I was astonished. It was
of so criminal and shameful a nature, I could hardly believe it, and yet I had so much
confidence that she spoke the truth, that I could not discredit it.
She was partly persuaded by the priest to believe that he could not sin, because he was a
priest, and that anything he did to her would sanctify her; and yet she seemed doubtful
how she should act. A priest, she had been told by him, is a holy man, and appointed to a
holy office, and therefore what would be wicked in other men, could not be so in him.
She told me that