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CHAPTER XVIII....concluded
To two holy women--one a native of America, the other a native of Ireland--is America indebted for a gift beyond measure priceless, and of which no human estimate indeed can be formed--the foundation and introduction of two Religious Orders, which, commencing under circumstances of the greatest difficulty and discouragement, have since spread over the face of the continent, having their branches in every State of the Union, and being in all places where they are established the noblest exemplars of the Catholic religion, because the truest representatives of the Christian virtues. What Mrs. Seton did for the Order of Charity in America, Mrs. M'Auley accomplished for the Order of Mercy in Ireland; and not only was the Order of Mercy introduced from Ireland into the fruitful soil of America, but Ireland--that exhaustless fountain of the faith, whose well-spring is ever full of living waters--contributed to both Orders very many of their most zealous and devoted members.*
In founding the Order of the Daughters of Charity in the United States, Mrs. Seton not only rendered a lasting service to religion and humanity, but afforded the honest doubter, as well as the scoffer and the hater of Catholicity, the most convincing proof of what it teaches, what it practises, and what it really is. Born in New York, in the year 1774, of Protestant parents, her father, Dr. Bayley, being an eminent physician of that city, Mrs. Seton was ever remarkable for singular sweetness of disposition, tenderness and compassion for every form of human distress, and a fervent piety, which found the most eloquent expression in her conversation and in her writings. To those who desire to witness, as it were, the struggles of a Christian soul, distracted by doubts springing from the purest conscientiousness, and yet impelled to the light by an invisible influence, we cordially commend the admirable 'Life of Mrs. Seton,' † by the Rev. Dr. White; a work that will well repay perusal, whether by the Catholic or the fair-minded Protestant.
It may be remarked, that this holy woman, this model wife and daughter, was deeply impressed with the religious demeanour of the poor Irish emigrants of that day--the opening of the present century--who were detained in quarantine at Staten Island, and attended by her father, as Health Physician to the Port of New York. 'The first thing,' she says, 'these poor people did, when they got their tents, was to assemble on the grass, and all, kneeling, adored our Maker for His mercy; and every morning sun finds them repeating their praises.' The scenes then witnessed at Staten Island remind one of those which were so fatally frequent in subsequent years. Even at that time--1800, and the years following--large numbers of emigrants arrived at the port of New York, suffering from the dreadful scourge of fever, so calamitous to the Irish race. A striking picture of the sufferings of its victims is given in a letter, addressed by Mrs. Seton to her sister-in-law:--
Rebecca, I cannot sleep; the dying and the dead possess my mind --babies expiring at the empty breast of the expiring mother. And this not fancy, but the scene that surrounds me. Father says that such was never known before; that there are actually twelve children that must die from mere want of sustenance, unable to take more than the breast, and, from the wretchedness of their parents, deprived of it, as they have lain ill for many days in the ship, without food, air, or changing. Merciful Father! Oh, how readily would I give them each a turn of my child's treasure, if in my choice! But, Rebecca, they have a provider in Heaven, who will soothe the pangs of the suffering innocent.
She would willingly have become a mother to those helpless little ones, but her father would not permit her to obey the womanly impulse, as her first duty regarded her own child. In 1801 her father fell a victim to his attendance on the Irish emigrants. He had directed the passengers and crew of an Irish emigrant ship, with fever on board, to go on shore to the rooms and tents provided for them, leaving their baggage behind; but on going into the hospital the following morning, he found that his orders, given the evening before, had been disobeyed, and that crew and passengers, men, women, and children, well, sick, and dying, with all their baggage, were huddled together in the same room in which they had passed the night. Into this apartment, before it had been ventilated, he imprudently entered, and remained but a moment, being compelled to retire by deadly sickness of the stomach and intense pain in the head, which seized him immediately on entering within its precincts.‡ From the bed to which he at once retired he never rose again. This was Mrs. Seton's first great grief; but many times, in her after life, was her tender heart wrung by the loss of those whom she loved with all the passionate strength of her nature.
The circumstance of a visit to Italy, whither she went in company with her dying husband, who, as a last resource, sought the mild climate of the South of Europe as his only chance of recovery, not only confirmed her in her previous intention, or desire, to become a Catholic, but acquired for her the enduring friendship of a high-minded and generous family of Leghorn, by name Fellici, to whose munificent assistance in her future work she was under the deepest obligations. At length, and after an exhausting mental conflict, rendered more distressing by the importunities and the anger of her relatives and friends, Mrs. Seton took the final step, and in the church of St. Peter, New York, in March 1805, she joined that Church to which it has been her happiness to render the greatest and most exalted services. By this last act of what her friends regarded as spiritual treason of the most flagrant kind, Mrs. Seton cut herself off for ever from all communion with them; and some time after she established in Baltimore, under the auspices of Bishop Carroll, and with the co-operation of those who knew her story and respected her character, a school for young ladies, in which she soon had the requisite number, including her own daughters, to whom she was the fondest but the wisest of mothers. But she was impelled to a fuller development of her own desire, which was to dedicate herself to the service of the poor; and how this desire was fulfilled is thus told by her biographer:--
About this time another circumstance took place which still more plainly indicated the will of God in reference to the good work. Mr. Cooper, who was then a student in St. Mary's Seminary, at Baltimore, intending, if such were the divine will, to prepare himself for the sacred ministry, possessed some property; and he was desirous of literally following the maxim of the Gospel:--'Go, sell what thou hast, and give it to the poor, and come, follow me.' One morning, immediately after receiving the holy communion, Mrs. Seton felt a strong inclination arise within her to dedicate herself to the care and instruction of poor female children, and to organise some plan for this purpose that might be continued after her death. She communicated this to the Rev. Mr. Dubourg. 'This morning,' she said, 'in my dear communion I thought, Dearest Saviour, if you would give me the care of poor little children, no matter how poor; and Mr. Cooper being directly before me at his thanksgiving, I thought--he has money, if he would but give it for the bringing up of poor little children, to know and love you!' Mr. Dubourg, joining his hands, observed that it was very strange; for Mrs. Seton had not mentioned the subject to anyone else. 'Mr. Cooper,' said he, 'spoke to me this very morning of his thoughts being all for poor children's instruction, and if he had somebody to do it he would give his money for that purpose; and he wondered if Mrs. Seton would be willing to undertake it.' The good priest was struck at the coincidence of their views, and he requested them each to reflect upon the subject for the space of a month, and then to acquaint him with the result. During this time there was no interchange of opinion between Mrs. Seton and Mr. Cooper in relation to their wishes; and at the expiration of it they both returned separately to Mr. Dubourg, renewing the sentiments they had expressed before, one offering a portion of his temporal means,¶ and the other her devoted services for the relief of the poor and suffering members of Christ. The providence of God in behalf of the American Church was so clearly indicated in the circumstances just related that little room was left for deliberation. Bishop Carroll having been informed of the design, gave his warmest approbation to it, in conjunction with the Rev. Francis Nagot, the saintly superior of St. Mary's Seminary; and the only question that now presented itself for consideration was in reference to the locality of the intended establishment.
The two ladies who first joined Mrs. Seton, were Miss Cecilia O'Conway and Miss Maria Murphy; and among those who formed the little community of Emmettsburg--the locality selected for the parent house of the Order in America, we find such names as Maria Burke and Catherine Mullen; proving that, in this infant institution, the Irish element was not wanting. In a miserable little house, of one storey and a garret, sixteen persons, including the female children of Mrs. Seton, were crowded; and here the holy women, who were destined to prove the most eminent benefactors to religion and humanity, suffered hardships and privations which they yet bore with cheerfulness. At times, indeed, they were reduced to a condition of absolute destitution. To supply the place of coffee, they manufactured a beverage from carrots, which they sweetened with molasses; and their rye bread was of the coarsest description. For months they were reduced to such absolute want that they did not know where the next day's meal was to come from. On Christmas-day they considered themselves fortunate in having some smoked herrings for dinner, and a spoonful of molasses for each.þ By her anti-Catholic friends Mrs. Seton was denounced as 'the pest of society,' and 'a hypocrite and a bigot,' they visiting on her the early death of two loved members of her own family who, braving the trials of her exalted mission, died in the early bloom of youthful womanhood. As, with some modifications to suit the constitution of different religious communities, the objects contemplated by the Daughters of Charity are those common to several Orders in America, it may be well to state their objects, as given by Mrs. Seton's biographer:--
The end which the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph proposed to themselves was, to honour our Lord Jesus Christ as the source and model of all charity, by rendering to Him every temporal and spiritual service in their power, in the persons of the poor, the sick, prisoners, and others; also to honour the Sacred infancy of Jesus Christ, in the young persons of their sex whom they may be called upon to form to virtue, while they sow in their minds the seeds of useful knowledge. Thus the poor, of all descriptions and ages, the sick, invalids, foundlings, orphans, and even insane persons, were embraced within the sphere of their solicitude and care. Another object of their zeal, no less important at that time in America, was the instruction of young persons of their sex in virtue, piety, and various branches of useful learning.
And these, and such as these, were then, and have been even to this day, described as Mrs. Seton was described by her anti-Catholic friends--'pests of society,' 'hypocrites and bigots!'
Philadelphia was the first place to which a branch of the Order was extended; and the care of the orphans whose parents had perished of yellow fever offered a fitting opportunity for the exercise of their charity. Their's, however, was a hard trial for a considerable time, notwithstanding the sympathy shown to them, and the assistance they received. The Sisters had nothing beyond the coarsest fare, and not always sufficient of that. For three months they had no bread whatever, subsisting wholly on potatoes, which formed their principal article of diet for their first year. Their 'coffee' was made of corn, and their fuel was gathered from the tanyards. 'One day, the Sisters being too much occupied at home, an orphan was despatched to the market with twelve and a half cents, all the money in the house, to buy a shin of beef. A few hours after, the child returned to the asylum with a large piece of meat, telling the Sisters that an old market-woman, finding that she was one of the orphans, had given her the money and meat, and authorised her to call upon her for assistance whenever they were in want. This old woman became a generous friend of the institution. By the benevolence of herself and others it gradually acquired ample resources, and was enabled to maintain under its charitable roof an increasing number of orphans.'
The holy foundress of the Order went to her eternal reward on the 4th January, 1821, in the 47th year of her age, her death being as edifying as her life.
From the very first formation of the Order of Charity in the United States, there were to be found in the infant institution ladies of Irish birth and Irish parentage; and as it gathered strength, and its branches spread from State to State, the Irish element was ever strong in its communities. How attractive the great work of this Order has proved to Irish piety may be learned from a passage in a letter from a Sister of St. Joseph's Academy, Emmettsburg, dated June 3, 1867, and addressed to a reverend friend of mine: 'The number of Irish Sisters now living, and in our community, amounts to four hundred and ten. This speaks well of the piety of the Emerald Isle.'
The prosperous branch of the Order in the State of New York, though founded from the mother house at Emmetts-burg, and based on the same principles and constitution, and doing the same work, is altogether independent. It numbers several hundred Sisters, the majority of whom are Irish. The Order, wherever it is established, embraces within its ranks a considerable number of Sisters of Irish descent as well as of Irish birth.
END OF CHAPTER XVIII.
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NOTES:-
* Though somewhat anticipating, it may be here mentioned that, of the Order of Mercy in the United States, now numbering about 1,300 sisters, the large majority of these are Irish-born, while the greater number of the remainder, though born in America, are of Irish parentage. The minority consist of American, French, Spanish. German, and other nationalities. To the convent in Carlow is America indebted for the first colony of these holy women, who were introduced in 1843 by Bishop O'Connor of Pittsburg; and to the zeal and energy of Mother M. F. Xavier Warde, the first superioress of the Order in the United States, and now superioress of the house in Manchester, New Hampshire, are mainly due the wonderful and rapid spread of this noble institution in the New World. In fact. this gifted lady established the principal houses throughout the Union.
† 'Life of Mrs. Eliza A. Seton, Foundress and First Superior of the Sisters or Daughters of Charity in the United States of America.' By Charles T. White, D.D. Published by John Murphy & Co., Baltimore. This work reached a sixth edition in 1867.
A companion to the 'Life of Mrs. Seton' is the `Life of Catharine M'Auley, Foundress and First Superior of the Institute of Religious Sisters of Mercy;' by a Member of the Order of Mercy. Published by D. & I. Sadlier, New York. This is a charming book, written with a grace, and at times a vivacity and freshness of style, most delightful. One is led to believe that a woman alone--and that woman a good and holy one, whose heart was in the great work of the foundress of her Order--could have done justice to the beautiful character of that illustrious convert, whose daughters, numbering about 4,000, are now widely scattered over the world, diffusing everywhere the blessings of a religious, industrial, and moral training to the young, and performing those works of mercy by which they exemplify the holiness of their mission. It will be read with pleasure and with profit.
‡ Thacker's American Medical Biography.
¶ Eight thousand dollars.
þ Life of Mrs. Seton.