FOOTPRINTS FROM THE PAST Brisbane Mary MacKillop and the Sisters of St Joseph The Early Days in Brisbane

A Pilgrim can take this story, a map of inner city Brisbane and walk (or drive) the streets the founding sisters trod………

Sister Margaret McKenna rsj compiled the text of this document which was based on the leaflet the Queensland Province JOLA (josephite Outdoor leisure Activities!) group compiled in the 1990s when they first did this pilgrimage…started at St Marys, South Brisbane and ended up at the Mary MacKillop Shrine in St Stephen’s Chapel in Elizabeth St. Sr Annette Arnold took the photo of the sculpture1

Context: Mary MacKillop and five other Sisters of St Joseph arrived in Queensland on 31 December, 1869, at the invitation of James Quinn, first Catholic bishop of Brisbane and founder of the Catholic Education system in Queensland. The Sisters offered Catholic education to the children of the working class in cities and isolated settlements according to the WoodsMacKillop system of parish-based schools. By mid-January 1870 the Josephites were teaching at St Mary’s School, South Brisbane, and by July they had opened three more schools, two in Brisbane and the other one in the country town of Maryborough. During the next ten years the Sisters established fifteen schools and an orphanage and were teaching about half of the total number of children attending Catholic schools in the diocese. Seventy-nine Sisters had worked in the colony and of these over sixty had joined the Sisterhood in Queensland. These ten years, however, were marred by a controversy with Bishop Quinn over the Sisters style of government which placed the responsibility for the internal administration of the Sisterhood with the Sisters themselves rather than with the bishop of the diocese. This controversy culminated with Bishop Quinn asking them to leave his diocese. Although many of the laity petitioned the bishop to allow the Sisters to remain, the bishop refused, and in mid-July 1880 the last community of Josephites left the diocese of Brisbane. Twenty years later the Sisters of St Joseph returned to Queensland, not to Brisbane, but to a country town, Clermont, in the newly formed diocese of Rockhampton. In a letter to all the Sisters, Mary MacKillop shared her happiness: ‘I am glad to think the Sisters will be back in dear old Queensland once more’. Between 1902 and 1915 five more schools were opened in the diocese. FIRST CONVENT - Tribune Street - the first convent of the Sisters of St Joseph in Queensland. Today, there are few domestic dwellings in Tribune Street, South Brisbane, but in midJanuary 1870, the Sisters of St Joseph rented a four roomed house in this street. Sr Teresa Maginnis, a member of the first community of Josephites to arrive in Queensland, wrote: ‘We rented a small building in Tribune Street, containing four small rooms, two on the ground floor and two upstairs, with a back verandah which served for a kitchen and a refectory. Near this was a washhouse with a small window painted with the blue bag, which was the delight of Sr Mary.’ This was the first convent of the Sisters of St Joseph in Queensland. Three weeks earlier, the party of six, five Josephites and one ‘extern,’ a young girl, Ada Braham, aged sixteen, had arrived from Adelaide on the ‘City of Brisbane’ on the last day of 1869. They had financed their own passage from Adelaide by collecting money along the way, because Bishop James Quinn had written to say that he was unable to pay their fares. Dr John Cani, the Vicar General of the diocese of Brisbane met them at the wharf, and took them to All Hallows convent where they were the guests of the Sisters of Mercy. The Bishop of Brisbane, James Quinn, was in Rome attending the Vatican Council. 2

By March Mary MacKillop and her companions realised that the house in Tribune Street was too small and too far from St Mary’s School, where they were teaching so the community moved to another building, at one time an hotel, in Montague Street. The first Josephite Community in Queensland Who were these first Sisters of St Joseph to come to Queensland? They were young women, all in their early twenties who were dedicated to the offering of elementary Catholic education to the children of the working class. Four of the party had been born in Australia and the other two had migrated from Ireland when they were children. Because they had experienced colonial life as children, the sisters believed that they had an insight into the method to be used to achieve their goal of offering Catholic education to the poor. All, with the exception of two, were experienced teachers. Before joining the Institute of the Sisters of St Joseph, two of this first community, Mary MacKillop and Clare Wright, had the added experience of holding the position of head teacher in a school, and both had also gained certificates of registration as a teachers. Mary had taught in the government subsidised denominational school at Portland in Victoria, and Clare was the teacher in the nearby Bridgewater Common School. From the point of view of the personnel involved all seemed full of promise.

Mary MacKillop. Sr Mary

15 January 1842

Fitzroy, Victoria

N.I, p.1.

Mary Wright. Sr Clare

10 January 1844

Portland, Victoria

N.5, p. 2.

Brigid Keogh. Sr Augustine

11 November 1846

Co. Tipperary, Ireland

N.30, p.5.

Bridget Maginnis. Sr Teresa

20 January 1846

Co. Monaghan, Ireland.

N.72, p.12

Julia O’Sullivan. Sr Francis de Sales

18 August 1849

Adelaide, S.A.

N.27, p.5

Agnes Byrne. Sr Gertrude

27 June 1848

Sydney.

N.83, p.13

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Ellen Carolan a young school teacher from Maryborough who entered on 28 January 1870 was the first entrant from Queensland to join the community.Mary MacKillop gave her the name of Sr Mary Josephine. During the next ten years over sixty young women from Queensland joined the Sisters of St Joseph. Convent of St Joseph, Montague Street, South Brisbane This convent which became the Provincial House of the sisterhood in Queensland from 1870-80 was situated near the intersection of Montague and Stanley Streets. It was the second house from the corner. The building had been a hotel, and was rented to the sisters by James Toppin, a local baker. This building was chosen by Mary MacKillop because it was large enough to house a large community of sisters, was within easy walking distance from St Mary’s church and school situated on the corner of Merivale and Peel streets, and was adjacent to the wharf for the river ferry at the end of Grey Street. When the Sisters of St Joseph left Brisbane at the end of 1879, James Toppin and his family lived in this house. In her memoirs Sr Josephine Carolan wrote: ‘We moved to a large house near the church and school. It had been a hotel so was large and more convenient in every way and we had not far to go to Mass. In February my eldest sister came to say good-bye to me and go home, but she too remained. It was then the Rule to keep postulants three months but Dr Quinn had gone to Rome and Dr Cani wanted Father Woods our Founder to come and give us the habit. He would not give the habit to any but those who were able to go into the school as teachers.... We, my sisters and I received the habit in January 1871’. Sr Josephine’s sister, Catherine, became Sr Collette. She had been a teacher in Maryborough, and was one of the first Sisters of St Joseph to go to Mackay in 1871. In 1900 she was one of the community of sisters who returned to Queensland to teach in the Catholic school in Clermont. St Mary’s School, South Brisbane St Mary’s School, situated in Peel Street, South Brisbane was opened by the Sisters of Mercy on 2 April 1866. Prior to the arrival of the Sisters of St Joseph, this school had been taught by a young lay women Mary Teresa O’Meara who later became a Sister of St Joseph in 1874 and was known as Sr Austin. In her memoirs Sr Josephine Carolan, told how: ‘[The sisters] opened a school in South Brisbane given up by the Sisters of Mercy as it was too far away from their Mother House’. There had been a temporary bridge over the river linking the north of Brisbane with the south, but prior to the arrival of the Josephites it had been washed away. The Victoria Bridge, the first permanent bridge over the river, was not opened until June 1874. St Mary’s school was conducted in the church. Every Monday morning the furniture had to be arranged to suit the purposes of a school. On Friday afternoon the process was reversed. This was a task that Sr Mary [Mary MacKillop] and Sr Augustine Keogh who taught in the school had to attend to. Sr Mary remained head teacher at St Mary’s until just prior to 4

her return to Adelaide in April 1871. The school had opened with 70 pupils, but by October 1879, there were 190 children who attended regularly. A glimpse of school life at St Mary’s is given in the Brisbane Courier, 10 October 1869. ‘Yesterday afternoon the distribution of prizes took place to the pupils of St Mary’s School, South Brisbane. There had been an examination previously, and the various examination papers were creditable proofs of the proficiency of the pupils in writing and arithmetic. Each class, however, was called up to read and answer questions in spelling, geography, and other branches of learning, and the general accuracy with which these various exercises were accomplished was excellent testimony to the painstaking tuition of the sisters.’ St Joseph’s School, Kangaroo Point ‘The Swamp School’ St Joseph’s School, One Mile Swamp, was situated in Hubert Street, Wooloongabba. This school was opened on 1 April 1870. Sisters Josephine Carolan and Teresa Maginnis were the teachers. ‘Sister Mary went out the first day, and then we two were to go on and we did. We were teaching in a cottage,’ wrote Sr Josephine in her memoirs. ‘The partitions were taken down and we had as many as 90 children there.’ The school room backed on a Wesleyan Chapel, and when the sisters were taking the children for catechism on a Sunday, the Wesleyan congregation was busy singing their hymns. This school was moved in 1871. A church had been built in Leopold Street [the name was changed to Leopard in 1914] in Kangaroo Point, and the school was housed in this building. This school is still in operation and is now housed in a separate school building. The enrolment of St Joseph’s grew steadily. In March 1870, 77 children were regular attenders. By May this had grown to 90. In 1875 there were 110 students and in 1879, 120 children were enrolled. Initially, the sisters walked daily from the Montague Street Convent to St Joseph’s School, but after the move to Kangaroo Point they rented a cottage situated in River Terrace three doors from Paton Street. On the weekends they returned to the convent in Montague Street. St John the Baptist’s School, Petrie Terrace Caxton street runs off Petrie Terrace and is on the north side of the Brisbane river. St John the Baptist’s school was housed in two cottages. The school was opened 1 April 1870 by Sisters Clare Wright and Francis de Sales Sullivan with an attendance of 60 pupils. By 1875 the enrolment had grown to 160 students. The people in this area were very kind to the sisters and took up a collection for their support every week. They were disappointed when the bishop closed this school in the late 1870s. The three Brisbane Josephite schools used to meet annually for a picnic. A reporter for the Brisbane Courier was present at this celebration and wrote: 5

‘The children under the care of the Sisters of St. Joseph's, to the number of nearly three hundred from their schools at Milton, South Brisbane, and One-Mile Swamp met together on June 23rd in the paddock adjoining St. Mary's Church South Brisbane, where they were regaled with tea, cakes, sandwiches, fruit etc.' A number of games were indulged in, including a novel one called ‘ Providence Bag,’ to which the child approaches blindfolded; those fortunate enough to reach it taking out a prize. A number of friends were present who assisted the Sisters in satisfying the wants of their numerous little visitors.’ [9 July 1870.] A link with the past A picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Succor hangs in the Mary MacKillop Centre, Ferndale St, Annerley. One day in 1916 Sr Teresa Iudeal, a music teacher at St Joseph’s Convent Nundah responded to a knock at the door of the convent, and was presented with this picture by Lucy and Cecilia Carmichael. They told Sister Teresa that this picture had been a gift from Sr Bridget Conlon on behalf the Sisters of Mercy to the Sisters of St Joseph on 15 June 1870. It used to hang in the convent in Montague Street, and when the sisters were leaving Queensland in 1880, they asked the Carmichael family to keep it until the sisters returned to Brisbane. Thirty-six years were to pass before the Josephites returned to Brisbane, and took up residence in the suburb of Nundah. Mr Paul Carmichael remembered the story of the picture told to him by his grandfather, and insisted that the picture be returned to its owners, the Sisters of St Joseph. MARY MACKILLOP AND ST STEPHEN’S Mary MacKillop prayed in both old St Stephen’s Chapel, Elizabeth St, City and in the present Cathedral. During the 1870’s, South Brisbane was a part of the Cathedral parish, so that each of these churches served at some time as the parish church for the sisters living in South Brisbane. On some Saturday mornings in 1870, Mary MacKillop used to come to Mass in what is now known as St Stephen’s Chapel which houses the Shrine of Mary MacKillop. Father Woods used to say Mass in this church and preached Missions here. While visiting this shrine to Mary MacKillop, take time to study the statue of Mary MacKillop, and discover for yourself the message that the artist, who made the statue, meant to communicate. You may wish to ponder how an artist might depict you and your life story. The drawing on the four panels enclosing the shrine is also the work of John Elliot. It pays tribute to Mary’s religious life as Mother Mary of the Cross and her work encouraging the sisters in their ministry - especially by her letter writing. The drawing allows us to discover children and Australian animals and other elements of her life and ministry. 6

Taken with permission from the leaflet titled ‘Blessed Mary MacKillop, pray for us.

The figure of Mary MacKillop evokes the rough pioneering spirit of this holy woman. Her faith and trust in God’s providence is shown in her determination as she strides forward. Yet her face tells of her warmth and compassion for those in need. Sculptor, John Eliot began with the trunk of a hundred-year-old camphor laurel tree. He sliced it and hollowed it out and then began painstakingly to recombine its elements, allowing the figure of Mary MacKillop to emerge. The ancient tree and its rough bark recall the slab hut in which she opened her first school, and the old fence posts she passed as she travelled through the Australian bush on horseback. The shrine, in the sanctuary of this little church so steeped in history, puts us in touch with the person of Mary MacKillop. Her spirit is here. Her example gives us new strength to face the challenges of our life. With compassion for our needs, she brings us to God and shows us how to trust in God’s providence. o0o The relic set into the stone near the shrine is a piece of the original coffin in which Mary MacKillop was buried in 1909.

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To accompany you on a pilgrimage……stop at different places and read extracts from some of the letters of the sisters from this period…. 1870*, August Sr Francis de Sales to Mary MacKillop – St Joseph (Maryborough) JMJ May Jesus and Mary be praised Dear Sister Mary, We received your letter on Friday morning and you know it was very welcome but it would be better if it had been longer and I must tell you it contained a cross for me when I saw you intend sending Norah to us but I suppose I must submit to it as it is the will of God. Dear Sister Mary if I am getting comforts from creatures our Bl. Lord is permitting me to be tried in many other ways but I thank Him for that for perhaps I should forget myself. F Tissott came over after receiving your note and he said I am much pleased with Sister Mary of the Cross’s letter for she is going to send you some assistance which is so necessary as you have too much to do. He understood from your letter she was a Sister I wish in reality it was but I suppose like every other trial I must bear it as well as I can and that is bad enough. He said he would pay her passage and that he would then send a telegram to you that she may come in the next Steamer accompanied by Father Brunn from Ipswich as he is coming to pay a visit to F Tissott next week. He did not delay at all but went at once to the Committee to tell them that another Sister was coming and that a bed & etc should be got. ………We do want another Sister so badly. You are aware that we have a child staying at the Convent and it is not safe to leave her alone but we have had to do it. She is a very stubborn temper and self willed. There are other children here in great want of religious instruction. It would be quite necessary to take them to us but we cannot without another Sister. They do not come to school but are at Service. They are 10 and 12 years of age and do not know a bit about their religion. The parents are too poor to keep them at home and I am instructing 2 more of the family young women over 20 and never been to confession. It is such a sad case but I suppose I must learn to have patience for another Sister. You did not tell me dear Sister if Norah intends being a religious. I never thought she had any thought of such a life but it may be so. I hope that her coming will not prevent our getting a Sister from Adelaide because there is quite enough for 4 to do here.

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Sister Mary will you give me an obedience every morning to get up at the proper hour. We never awake soon enough. I think we are both very tired but we should like to have our meditation the same time as our other Sisters. I suffer that dreadful heaviness sometimes and that weakness that I did in Brisbane and headaches enough but our Bl. Lord helps me so much to keep up. Will you pray for me. The first Wednesday in August a meeting was held of the Altar Society and F T visited us to be present. I suppose he will always want us to attend. There were only 3 ladies F.T. and ourselves. One of the ladies read the report of the last meeting. She said a meeting was held, present were the Misses J & etc. They asked to form a society and to assist the Sisters of St Joseph in their works of charity and to see that they wanted nothing themselves. The report was then given of which money had been received and given to us how much had been laid out – what number of children had attended school during the past weeks & etc. You will understand dear Sister there is a Convent Fund that is the expenses that were contracted to furnish the Convent and they wish to pay that off. That is the reason the collectors take the school now. They allow the Sisters £1=10s a week and whatever is over that goes to pay the Debt of the things that have been bought; but we pay our own debts now. I am so thankful for our dear Father’s image. It just seemed like someone coming from Brisbane and we have such a beautiful statue of our Mother I am sure you would like it so much. When are you coming dear Sister. It would take a load from my heart if you did come but I suppose I must be patient like every other thing. We love our Father so much he comes every Friday now to hear our confessions and also gives an instruction to us after. He is so holy and charitable I wish I could be like him in the latter especially. Ah Sister will you pray for that virtue for I am sure you could obtain it, and humility. Oh I am so far from him. All on the feast of the Assumption of our Sweet Mother 5 boys and 5 girls made their First Communion. They looked so nice and the morning before that Father T spoke a great deal on devotion to our Mother and he asked the congregation to pray for the children that were to make their F. Communion and he himself offered the Holy Sacrifice for them. After Mass he spoke a few words to them and they came to have breakfast at the Convent. He came over just after they were done and brought a beautiful cross for each of them and an Image of St Aloysius which they drew numbers for. A boy won it. He was so pleased and happy to see the children and gave them all a special blessing before leaving them and us too. The children soon went to their homes and we went visiting. We had Benediction again in the evening. I have now a confession class of 30 children preparing every evening after school is dismissed while the Church is been cleaned by the Monitress and Monitor. They are so good the children they never murmur at what they have to do that is a great comfort. We have now staying at the Convent a rural girl. She is to be prepared for her First communion. She came in from the country. Father Tissott wished her to come Wednesday. We expected Norah up in this Steamer as F. Tiss. had telegrammed to

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you but the Steamer has arrived and we find she has not come. F. Brunn has arrived but we have not seen him this evening. I suppose we shall have two Masses in the morning. F. Tissott expected you would send her in charge of F. Brunn that is the reason he telegrammed to you. He said that he would pay her passage. The Ladies has got a new stretcher and all necessarys. They were sent to the Convent this evening as we made sure she was coming. I have not received any letters by this Steamer from you so I do not know the reason of her not coming…….. Our School keeps increasing every week. We have on roll 151 and even today although it was wet there were 114. The wet does not keep them away. Mr Pole is very tiresome not to send the Historys and small books. Just the ones we needed the most – will you be sure to send in the next Steamer. That young girl I have written to you about still comes to see us but she cannot tell her things and she has not money and I do not know what can be done for her. She is anxious to go away from her or to do whatever the Sisters tell her. I would have spoken to F Tissott before this about her but I could not make him understand properly. If we had a little money to spare might we try and pay her fare even to Brisbane for you dear Sister could manage her better than us. We have not a moment to spare and besides I do not know what to do for her and she is still exposed to the occasion of sin. Write about her to me. The young ladies that assist us in turn each week their names are Miss O’Malley, Miss Denney, Miss Newman. The latter is not so nice a teacher as the others, very impatient and prone to dictate better methods of teaching to us. We cannot allow her to have a might of her own way the first Miss O’M is such an amiable creature you would love her so much. I think she will be a religious and the second one mentioned is the young lady who taught in the Church before we came. I think I have now told you all and I must conclude with fond love to all my dear Sisters I remain yours Francis de Sales

Note: *Researcher has dated letter as 1870, although original is only marked “AS:\CAC\MM Research\Queensland Sisters' Letters\1871\Sr Francis De Sales To MM August, Possibly 1870.Docugust”.

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1871 September 2nd Sr Clare to Mary MacKillop – Convent of St Joseph, South Brisbane Jesus and Mary be praised. My dearest Sister, It is such a long time since you wrote to us. I suppose you are as usual kept very busy. Sister told us that you were in Kadina. I hope dear Sister that Sr U* is trying to do well. It must be a great cross to you. May our dear Mother give her grace to persevere. I saw Dr C** this morning as we were in at Confession. He asked me if I remembered him speaking of the foundation at McKay. You had told me so I said yes. So he wants three Sisters as soon as ever they can be sent. The people will pay their passage money over. He wants Sisters who are experienced. He thinks the school will only number about sixty, but it is the religious instruction for the adults that he thinks most of. I think there is no Minister of any other denomination but our priest, Fr Buchas*** who is a Marist Father and being French he cannot give as much instructions as are required. There are some converts too who require instructions. He says it will be a good field for labour there and the Sisters will be very comfortable. They will have no rent to pay. Everything is ready for them. He wanted to know if they could come now but I did not know. I told him that Father D was in Bathurst, so he said he must come over here. He promised to come. He is going to write for him this mail. If the Sisters come, they will be nearly as far away from us as Adelaide. It is such a long way off but they may come here first as I think no steamer goes direct from Sydney there. I know, dear Sister, you will try send a good Little Sister, because at such a distance they want someone to make them happy and bear with their faults. Dr C said not to send the Sisters too young. Do you think Sr Gertrude would be a good Sister for there? I think they will have a great many Protestants. It seems Dr C said that if they had anyone to instruct them many would come to the Church. He says the gentleman who interests himself so much about the Sisters coming there has had his daughter educated at All Hallows. His name, I think, is Fitzgerald. I think he is paying all of the passage money himself. He is very rich but a very good man. He did not say that he was paying it, but it seemed like it. Dr C is always very kind to us now. I have had such miserable wicked thoughts when I was sitting waiting for the priest this morning. I thought so much of you and longed to be near you to tell you all I felt, but our Blessed Lord does not wish me to have that comfort. Our Sisters are all very well and trying to be very good with the little assistance they get. At Maryborough, too, they are better than usual. They have been filled with the hopes of seeing our poor Father but I fear they will be disappointed. He wrote to them last week and again from Bathurst. We had letters from him. Sr F de Sales is so irregular in writing. She gives very little information unless they are in great trial. Usually misses the mail every week, though I so often tell her about it. She seems so indifferent in many things but that is 11

her natural disposition. Sister Gertrude wrote to her father and told him that she wished she had stayed at Villa Maria and gone to the Islands with the Marist nuns. She seems better now but has no confidence in Sr F de S. Sr Teresa has been unable to go to school last week. She had face-ache and put a mustard plaster to it and it broke out in sores so she could not put guimps on. Annie Downie was here the other day. She said she would write to you. Maggie is still at school. She is a very good child but Bob is at the Normal***** and trying to get our boys with him. James McCoy has gone and no one wanted religious instruction more than him. St John’s school across the water is closed for the girls. It will only be a boys’ school. A gentleman followed the Sisters down to the boat on Thursday and told her and said that they had recommended the girls to go to the nuns’ school. She told him she could not speak to him. He should go to the Convent. He did not come but it was very nice of him to wish them to go to the nuns when there are so many National schools. He no doubt thought that we taught at St Stephen’s as it is in that street St John’s****** is. With fond love. Ever, my dearest Sister, Your fond Sister in the S Heart Clare of the Blessed Sacrament

Note: Sr Gertrude, Agnes Byrne, the postulant who ‘saw’ MM and companion before they arrived at the Sydney convent where she was waiting to decide her vocation. * Sr Ursula ** Dr Cani *** Fr Bucas **** The Normal School, Edward Street, Brisbane near Anzac Square, often referred to as the Old Normal. ***** St John’s School in Elizabeth Street, same as St Stephen’s Cathedral Brisbane.

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AP/91 Sister Mary to Father Woods J.M.J. Convent of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart South Brisbane 9 January 1871 May the grace of the Holy Spirit be with you. My dear Father, I am so sorry that I have not the long letter I wished to have for you today. Sister Clare is writing a description of the Receptions and our last night's adventures. I am sure Horney* was at work there, the noises, screams and pattering of bare feet was something dreadful to those who heard them. As for me, I did not hear either the pattering or screams, but I did the rest. The Sisters say it all seemed to come from our door that is the door of the room in which Sister Josephine and I sleep, and that is in the one off the oratory, connected with it by folding doors. Last night is one of the worst nights I have had, but yet I was sleeping most of the time, though some of my poor Sisters were not. The Receptions are over and our Sisters are so good and enjoying some peace. Indeed they were received in the midst of crosses and hurry. I firmly believe that a supernatural motive induces Dr Cani to act as he does. He said a number of strange things to me that night and I gave him a directly opposite answer to them, never thinking of what he said until all was over. There was a calm and peace in my soul all the time that I cannot describe, and when he was going away and spoke kindly as a priest and a gentleman, I had a little quiet cry in the oratory. I had not courage to speak about going to Maryborough. Now I see why it was. Your letter came next day and, as the Sisters will be here so soon, I see why I had to wait. My Father, God speaks truly to your heart when he tells you not to be uneasy as to the effect of trials and disappointments upon me. I do think that our good God has deigned to take my will, for, as you say, He makes every trial sweet. I do not wish to take it from Him, but feel how imperfectly I give it to Him in many little things, yet I am not discouraged at this, for I believe that in His mercy God will yet make me faithful in spite of myself. I thought I would have had all this day and could write you a long letter, but instead, the mail closes at ten, so I must hasten this. Oh Father, what trials you have. I long to be home to share in them. Not hearing from you did me good. God gave me grace in the end to see it as you said and I felt a tranquil joy come in being disappointed. Truly our great God is good to us all. I cannot write to our dear Sisters. I managed badly on Saturday for I might have provided against this. It was our sweetest Mother who made you think of bringing Donald down at Xmas. I had had a temptation to anxiety about him and wished to ask you to let him down for a while to them, but I left it in the hands of our best of Mothers, knowing that 13

she would direct you to what was the will of her Son. Will you thank her for me. Dear Father, won't she take care of your brother James as she has done of Brother Camillus. Bless me, dear Father. I really rejoice in all you tell me of our Sisters' crosses. Is not God thus sweetly served even by the poorest and weakest of His children. I thought it was Sister Paula who was ill - this was a mistake made. I think Sister Rose will get better. May God's will be done. Some time ago, I spoke of sending a person from here to the Solitude. Her name is Emma Willard. I think she will arrive as soon as this. She has led a dangerous life, but I think was wonderfully protected by God. I cannot say more as the messenger is waiting for this. Your affectionate child in J.M.J. Mary of the Cross *The ghost in the house In understanding the text in some of the letters: · · ·

Father refers to Father Woods Bl = blessed Guimps – white bodice garment worn over habit

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