Willing women and the rise of convents in nineteenth-century England

Women's History Review ISSN: 0961-2025 (Print) 1747-583X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rwhr20 Willing women and the rise...
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Women's History Review

ISSN: 0961-2025 (Print) 1747-583X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rwhr20

Willing women and the rise of convents in nineteenth-century England Gloria McAdam To cite this article: Gloria McAdam (1999) Willing women and the rise of convents in nineteenth-century England, Women's History Review, 8:3, 411-441 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09612029900200215

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Date: 28 January 2017, At: 07:54

Women’s History Review, Volume 8, Number 3, 1999

Willing Women and the Rise of Convents in Nineteenth-century England GLORIA MCADAM Dewsbury, United Kingdom

ABSTRACT The second half of the nineteenth century saw a phenomenal increase in the numbers of women entering convent life in England. Initially, an overview, to delineate the extent of the growth of women’s religious congregations, is presented. The factors influencing this growth were the restoration of the Roman Catholic Church in England, its need for workers, the position of women in Victorian society and, not least, the willingness of women to adopt the religious life. Using material from convent archives, aspects of the nuns’ lives are explored with reference to their work, their relations with clergy and their understanding of their personal identity. Examples of individuals and communities representative of these issues are cited for the purpose of highlighting the obstacles to and the possibilities of the religious life for women. The facts demonstrating the spread of women’s congregations are presented in table form. These include their country of origin, the date of arrival in England, the main work undertaken by them and the number of houses owned by them.

Whenever convent life has been an option for women they have opted for it.[1] Yet, little sustained scholarship has been applied to nuns [2], even though they constitute the most obvious example of female separatism in Western culture. The neglect is perhaps not surprising since convent life is of interest to few men and seems not very auspicious from women’s viewpoint, conveying the image of the nun as immured in the cloister, rendered invisible by the veil, and muzzled by silence. This lack of attention might also be explained in terms of the nun’s marginalisation within the Church [3] and the fact that the transmission of Church tradition has been presented in terms of male achievement. Still, behind this facade of male accomplishment, nuns have been and remain a silent majority.[4] Because of the silence which surrounds nuns there is no comprehensive history of Catholic convents in England during the nineteenth century. Work in 411

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convent archives is a relatively recent pursuit, access having only been made available to secular scholarship in the wake of Vatican II. Since this time pockets of research have become evident and, with reference to women’s religious communities in England, Susan O’Brien has provided work on several active groups, particularly the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary.[5] The difficulty of research work is further compounded by a reluctance amongst many congregations to open their archives to scholarship. This is often perceived as secular intervention, the preference being to have their history addressed, in community, by a member of the community. Such an approach is perhaps understandable but it does not facilitate the production of a broad picture that would allow comparisons and contrasts to be drawn between the circumstances of these women’s lives. My work here, then, presents itself against a long and ongoing silence, and constitutes an attempt to enhance the significance of the nun on the platform of women’s history. England in the nineteenth century can be seen as a period of boom during which women flocked to enter an increasing number of convents. In fact 77 of the 114 congregations identified as being in England in 1900 were founded in the last quarter of the eighteenth century and during the nineteenth century. These were, in the main, active groups in which the women earned their living by their own efforts. Such groups demonstrate a change in the concept of convent life, away from the enclosed, contemplative existence towards the acceptance of the working nun. Whilst the former had been the prerogative of women of wealth and status, who funded their religious life by means of a dowry, the latter allowed women of lesser means to follow the religious life, financing their convents by way of their work efforts.[6] So, women’s eagerness for the life, combined with the renewed possibility of following it, gave rise to a flowering of women’s religious congregations; and it is the nature and growth of these communities which is to be addressed here. The article will first outline the spread of convents, then point to the prevailing conditions in society and in the Church which favoured this. Against this background archival material will be cited to give some insight into the difficulties and advantages of convent life as experienced by the women who chose to follow it. This material has been selected to serve as exemplars of the nun’s work, her relationship to the clergy, and her sense of her own identity as nun. Using archival material and secondary sources, an attempt will be made to establish which convents were in existence during the last century. This information is shown in Table I. The Spread of Convents Sources of factual information on convents are disparate. Secondary sources used to accumulate facts include the nuns themselves, many of whom have

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written the story of their foundations [7], while other data has been found in summary form in the propaganda materials produced by the congregations.[8] Also, information has been gleaned from religious directories, which, as guides and listings of congregations, précis their history and work.[9] The information gathered was fed into a database and analysed to give a picture of the development and expansion of nineteenthcentury congregations. The factors focused on were the origins of the congregations, their founders, the extent of priestly involvement and the major types of work undertaken by the nuns. Date in England 1633 1794

1796 1800

1804 1830 1834 1836 1839 1841 1842 1843 1845 1846 1847

Name of community Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary Dominican Nuns Benedictines Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre Franciscans 3rd Order Regular Poor Clares Augustinians (Austin Dames) Carmelites Cistercians Visitation Nuns Faithful Companions of Jesus Ursulines of Jesus Presentation Nuns Sisters of Mercy Good Shepherd Sisters Sacred Heart Nuns Providence (Rosminians) Notre Dame de Namur Infant Jesus Holy Child Jesus Charity of St Paul (Selly Park) Franciscans of Immaculate Conception (Glasgow)

Country of origin

Principal work

England

Education

6

France Belgium

1

Belgium

Contemplative Contemplative / Education Contemplative /Education Education

1 2

Belgium Belgium

Contemplative Contemplative

6 1

Belgium France France France

Contemplative Contemplative Contemplative Education

6 2 2 14

France Ireland Ireland France France Italy France Belgium England France

Education Education Mixed Fallen Women Education Education Education Education Orphans Education

5 2 77 8 5 6 16 0 6 52

France

Houses in 1900

8

1 France

Education

413

Gloria McAdam 1848 1850 1851

1851 1853

1857

1858 1859 1860

1861

1863

1864 1868

1869 1870 1871

414

Our Lady of Fidelity Little Sisters of the Poor Assumption Servites 3rd Order Mantellate Poor Sisters of Nazareth Cross and Passion Loreto (Irish Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary) Dominican Sisters 3rd Order Charity of the Incarnate Word Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception (Braintree) Marist Sisters Sainte Union de Sacres Coeurs Congregation of Jesus and Mary Misericorde (de Seez) Sisters of the Temple (French Blue Nuns) Charity of Our Lady Mother of Mercy Brigettines Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament Our Lady of Charity and Refuge Daughters of the Cross Marie Reparatrice Notre Dame School Sisters Poor Servants of the Mother of God Franciscan Sisters of Mill Hill Daughters of Mary and Joseph (Ladies of Mary) Augustinians Augustinians of Bruges Religious of Cross

France France France Italy

Education Elderly Education Education

2 22 4 5

France England

Homeless Education

14 27

Ireland England

Education Education

1 20

France

Education

0

England

Orphans

2

France France

Education Education

5 7

France

Education

2

France

Nursing

2

France Holland

Nursing Education

1 4

Portugal France

Contemplative Contemplative

1 1

France

Fallen Women

4

Belgium France France England

Mixed Retreats Education Mixed

7 1 2 8

England

Education

3

Belgium

Prisons

1

Belgium Belgium France

Nursing Education Education

0 1 1

CONVENTS IN NINETEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND

1872 1873 1877 1880 1881 1883 1884

1886 1886

1887 1887 1888

1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895

1896

1897

1898

Sacred Heart of Mary Helpers of the Holy Souls Little Company of Mary Retreat of the Sacred Heart Sisters of Saint Joseph Mere de Dieu Franciscan Missionaries of Saint Joseph Benedictines of Blessed Sacrament Sisters of Joseph of Peace Trinitarians Franciscans of St Mary of the Angels Canonesses Regular, Augustine Franciscan Missionaries of Mary Canonesses Regular of the Lateran Visitation Sisters Charity, Jesus and Mary Franciscan Minoresses Servites 2nd Order Christian Education Sisters of Charity (Irish) Christian Instruction (Ghent) Dames de St Maur Our Lady of the Missions

France France England France France France England

1 1 3 3 4 1 4

France

Education Retreats Nursing Education Education Education Foreign Missions Education

England France France

Education Mixed Orphans

4 1 1

Belgium

(not known)

1

India

Foreign Missions Contemplative /Education Education Education Poor Contemplative Education Mixed Education

2

Belgium Belgium Belgium England Italy France Ireland Belgium France France

Religious of St Andrew Nativity of Our Lord Immaculate Heart of Mary Franciscans (Littlehampton) Holy Family of Nazareth Sisters of St Catherine Sisters of St Mary (Namur) Redemptoristines Bernardine Cistercians

Belgium France France England Italy Poland Belgium Italy France

Ursulines

France

Education Foreign Missions Education Education Education Orphans Mixed Nursing Education Contemplative Contemplative /Education Education

1

2 2 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 6

415

Gloria McAdam

1900

1900

416

Charity of St Louis Adoration Reparatrice Christian Retreat Bon Secours (Paris) Immaculate Conception (Holy Family) Christian Schools Holy Family of Bordeaux

France France France France France

Education Contemplative Education Nursing Education

1 1 4 1 10

France France

1 3

Bon Secours (Troyes) Sisters of Hope (Holy Family) Charity of St Vincent de Paul Blessed Sacrament (Congregation) Servants of the Sacred Heart Salesians (Don Bosco) Franciscans of Immaculate Conception Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Picpus) Apostolines (Immaculate Conception) Presentation of Our Lady Poor Child Jesus Filles de la Croix Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ Cenacle Nuns Perpetual Adoration Notre Dame Nuns Notre Dame de Sion Marie Auxilitrice Little Sisters of the Assumption Company of St Ursula La Sagesse (Daughters of Wisdom) Augustinians du Saint Coeur de Marie Dames de Nazareth

France France

Education Foreign Missions Nursing Nursing

France

Mixed

40

France

Education

3

France

Mixed

20

Italy France

Education Education

2 0

France Belgium

Education Education

1 1

France France France Germany

Education Orphans Education Mixed

1 1 1 3

France Belgium France France France France

Retreats Sewing Education Jews Education Nursing

2 1 2 3 1 2

France France

Education Mixed

1 1

France

Nursing

1

France

Education

1

3 1

CONVENTS IN NINETEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND

Table I. Convents in England in 1900. The content of this table derives from material selected from the database to convey the nature and rate of the expansion of convents. It lists the congregations by name, giving their country of origin, the date of their foundation in England, the main type of work undertaken by the nuns, and the number of houses owned by each congregation in 1900. Those congregations with no houses in 1900 had been in the country prior to that date but had either left or amalgamated with other groups. Although the information in the table cannot be claimed to be entirely exhaustive, it can be argued that it constitutes a significant move towards cataloguing the available data on nineteenth-century Catholic convents.

The database shows that, in the course of the nineteenth century, nuns were increasingly active in the work of the Catholic Church and that the establishment and development of female religious congregations was rapid and extensive. In 1703 there had only been 25 nuns in two convents in England.[10] At the same time there were 22 English foundations abroad, whose work was mainly the education of daughters of recusant Catholic families.[11] By 1800 a number of the latter communities had returned to England as it was no longer considered safe for English children to be in Europe.[12] Wealthy Catholics gave the returning nuns asylum, whilst the nuns, on their part, tried to support themselves by opening schools within their convents.[13] The Laity’s Directory of 1800 contains advertisements by 21 such congregations.[14] Between 1830 and 1850 a further 14 congregations from other countries had opened houses in England and, alongside this incursion of groups from abroad, a number of new English foundations were in embryo. The pattern of growth was such that, once well established within an area, the congregations tended to set up satellite houses in other districts. The nuns residing in and working from satellite convents, whilst requiring the approval of the clergy, were directly responsible to their superior at the Motherhouse and thus, following a continental model [15], a network of convents with a central management system, under a female superior, was established.[16] This format for religious life was brought to England in the mid-century by the established European congregations who, at that time, opened English houses. Such a style of management gave considerable power to those women who were responsible for the organisation of their sisterhoods. It potentially weakened priestly control at parochial level since the nuns were not dependent on the decisions of parish clergy but were directed from the Motherhouse.[17] From the middle to the end of the century the founding and development of groups was phenomenal. O’Brien (1989), investigating active women’s congregations of the nineteenth century, estimates the number of nuns to be in the region of 10,000 and the number of convents to be approximately 600.[18] The findings here align with this estimation, showing that in 1900 there were 114 female religious congregations living in 549

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convents. Several congregations had only one or two houses but others, who took up mixed parochial work, spread throughout England and into Scotland and Wales, and tended to have a house within each parish where they worked. Clearly the willingness to take on a variety of parochial work facilitated the spread of convents. Such work encompassed a whole range of parish duties, including teaching in parish schools and Sunday schools, organising women’s groups, care of the sick and poor, needlework, laundering, and domestic and sacristy duties for priests. However, it is clear that the preferred means of income was from education and several congregations whose origins were in mixed parish work moved away from this and opened their own private boarding and day schools, whilst still retaining some parish teaching.[19] In all, over half of the congregations had education as their principal work. Such was this development that by the late nineteenth century concern was voiced that the number of boys’ schools was not comparable and that Catholic girls were receiving a better education than Catholic boys.[20] The nuns’ educational and parochial efforts – coupled with other employment such as nursing, running orphanages, and opening homes for women and the elderly – show that the development of female religious congregations provided a layer of practical Catholic philanthropy which existed between the sacerdotal ministry of the clergy and the faithful, and strengthened the position of the Church.[21] In fact, it might be argued that this workforce, established by women and exacted by men, constituted the main impetus for the socialisation of the laity into Catholicism and that, without nuns, the Catholic Church in nineteenth-century England would have fared far worse. The Background The factors surrounding the attraction of convent life for women and the reasons for the sudden increase in convents can be located, in terms of historical context, by looking at the position of women [22] and the position of the Catholic Church in nineteenth-century England.[23] The first point to be made regarding the nineteenth-century context is that, central to the image of woman in this period was the idea that she had an innate moral and religious superiority. Whilst this was considered best expressed in the concerns of family and home, it was an ideology through which woman – because of her religious nature – was granted the pursuit of an extended mission [24]; that mission being to uphold the morality of the nation. Sarah Lewis, in Woman’s Mission (1839), translated this mission as moving woman into an exalted position, in which she was morally superior to the male and had duties of social, political and religious importance.[25] In 1843, Sarah Stickney Ellis, considering the dangers of the Industrial Revolution as driving women from the home, called for them to “bring, as

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with one mind, their united powers to bear to stem the popular torrent now threatening to undermine the strong foundation of England’s moral worth”.[26] Perhaps the most pervasive image of woman was that of the Angel in the House, as described by Coventry Patmore (1854-63). This image, presented in poetic form, portrayed woman as wife and mother – loving, self-sacrificing, and responsible for the moral strength of society. As Christ (1980) argues, such a construction of woman was one in which religion and reverence for morality could be retained in the face of an industrial society which seemed to threaten it.[27] Generally, then, the picture that emerges from these nineteenth-century texts is that the traditional Christian responsibilities of religion were put into the hands of women. Further, on the link between women and religion, Rendall (1985), positing the nineteenth-century ‘feminisation’ of religion, suggests that women were gaining ground because religion permitted a frame in which the changing demographic and social situation of women could be expressed.[28] If, as Rendall argues, religion incorporated a potential for female power, this would essentially be accompanied by a male requirement to regulate such power. One means of control was the presentation of the Virgin Mary as a role model. That Mary, an image not entirely specific to Catholicism, played a major part in delineating the Victorian ideal of womanhood is conveyed in the contemporary writings of Faber (1858) and Yonge (1876).[29] Whilst the former portrayed Mary’s strength in her submission to religion, the latter presented her as redemptive and elevated the unmarried state for women as a purposeful existence which allowed them the freedom to devote themselves to religion. Clearly, in her virginity, Mary provided an obvious role model for the nun: her modesty, purity and chastity being the marks of contemporary female decency. So, whilst at first sight paradoxical, it is not untenable to suggest that the social discourse of woman as religious enabled the nun’s rejection of the societal norms for women and, at the same time, presented her with the possibility of respectability and reverence by aligning herself with the female ideal of her time. A second factor, emanating from the nineteenth-century context, which advanced the rise of convents, was the position of the Catholic Church. In a space of just over 20 years the face of Catholicism in England had changed beyond recognition. In 1829 Catholic Emancipation brought religious tolerance and by 1850 the Restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy had been achieved. There were high hopes that England would return to the religion of Rome, and missionary priests from the continent arrived with the expressed purpose of converting the country over to Catholicism.[30] Unexpected converts and an influx of Irish immigrants meant that the Catholic Church, which had limited resources in terms of both money and manpower, was confronted by more work than it could manage.[31] It was therefore predisposed to consider any support which might be available and, being

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essentially missionary, considered the use of Christian charity as a means of converting the masses. Women, by virtue of their perceived religious ‘nature’ were thought to be prone to charitable works and the Church, although inherently misogynist, could not, in its moment of need, afford to dismiss this image of woman. So, whilst deemed inferior by the Church, at this juncture women were seen to be useful in that female communities, established for the practice of charitable work, could constitute evangelical machines for the spread of Catholicism. Such communities were to bear the brunt of the Church’s charitable efforts and were to undertake what was considered as acceptable women’s work – care of the poor and sick, education of children and girls, domestic duties for the priesthood – usually performed within the parameters of a particular parish, under the direction of its priests. Whilst much of this work was taken on by already established congregations from Ireland and Europe, several English foundations began, with women coming together in neighbourhood lay communities. These groups, on proving their worth as parish workers, were eventually granted Church approval as religious. Such ventures were mainly in industrial towns, often started by two or three women living together, following a private religious life, practising charity within their local parish, and hoping for recognition as bona fide nuns. This was certainly the case with the Sisters of the Cross and Passion where, initially, the founder, Elizabeth Prout, and two mill girls began the religious community in a cottage, in a Manchester parish.[32] Similarly, Alice Ingham, founder of the Franciscan Missionaries of Saint Joseph, joined by her stepmother and two others, began life as a religious community in the family house in Rochdale.[33] Also, Mary Potter, who founded the Little Company of Mary, began with a small group of lay women, in Nottingham.[34] Similar groups, with secular beginnings in specific parishes, are recorded for London, the Midlands, the North and Glasgow. In some cases their history has not been recorded or is not available.[35] Others who never gained Church approbation either disbanded or joined with groups who had already gained approval. Priestly involvement was indispensable if the women were to be recognised officially as nuns and, whilst it is clear that the clergy was taking credit for the women’s work [36], such recognition gave convents stability and other women were encouraged to join. Despite the fact that nuns were not anathema to the Catholic Church, the rise of their communities in England, far from being one of straightforward acceptance, was fraught with difficulties, due to opposition from both secular and clerical factions. What accounted for these negative attitudes may be evident in the one developed facet of nineteenth-century convent history – the Protestant anti-convent lobby.[37] This was a matter of anti-Catholic feeling in which Protestant officials, appalled by the very existence of nuns, pressed for legislation which would instate a system of

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convent inspection. The traditional Protestant suspicion, as expressed by Kingsley (1870) [38] in a call for ‘muscular Christianity’ and by Cobbin (1875) [39]in his critique of ‘Popery’, held that convents were ‘no better than brothels of the worst kind’.[40] The press had further fuelled popular opinion by its coverage of the apostate Achilli trial [41] and the publication of The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk [42] to the point where nuns and clergy were imagined to be anything but celibate and convents were seen as veritable dens of iniquity. Both of these incidents, reported as tales of sexual high jinks in convent and sacristy, titillated the public imagination and acted as ammunition for ‘anti-convent’ campaigners such as Mr Newdegate. Thus it was that in 1870, when Newdegate, then member for North Warwickshire, suggested to the House of Commons that an inquiry be conducted into Roman Catholic convents, the Dublin Review observed that newspapers, for weeks on end, were filled with reports concerning would-be, escapee nuns.[43] Such journalism coloured public sentiment and fired interest to a point where nuns have been said to be the most unpopular group in Victorian England.[44] This unpopularity made the work of founding and developing religious congregations for women a risky business in which convents remained in constant danger of closure. In order to protect their own priestly interests, the secular clergy, on whom the nuns relied for their continuance, either avoided or were made increasingly cautious regarding their involvement with convents. The women’s very existence as nuns thus constituted a threat to the Church [45] and implicit within this was the constant possibility of being rejected by the Church. So, the slightest whiff of scandal might cause the clergy to deny the women and rescind their associations with them. In this way the women walked a knife-edge, their precarious position being that of struggling to survive as nuns whilst having no guarantee of tenure as such.[46] From this, it might be argued that the fate of convents extended beyond the dictates of the clergy and was, in a wider sense, an issue of social ostracism as well as clerical caution or denunciation. Nevertheless, women continued to form and join religious communities. The following discussion of archival material conveys something of their immediate circumstances. Clues in Convent Archives From the first the Catholic clergy were reluctant to be involved with convents and believed that real nuns lived an enclosed rather than an active life. An early example of this reluctance is to be found in the Archive of the Presentation nuns, who were one of the first groups to open a convent in England. The Annals of the Presentation convent in Manchester record the arrival of three nuns from Ireland and the treatment meted out to them by the clergy and laity of Manchester. In 1820, a silk industrialist, Patrick

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Lavery, had made a bequest of £2000, to fulfil his wish that the Presentation nuns, from his native Ireland, open a convent in Manchester for the service of the poor there. Although Lavery died in 1821, it was not until 1832 that a certain Fr Hearne was appointed to prepare and act as superior for a convent and not until 1836 that the nuns actually arrived in Manchester. The Annals record that the priests of Manchester showed little interest or kindness towards the nuns and that ‘Fr Hearne became very nasty; forbade them to have any visitors in the convent, said any money they received as donations had to be given to him, and even read their letters’.[47] In short, the nuns were dominated by this priest, who held all their accounts and receipts, leaving them with no control over their external affairs. Eventually, their plight was relayed to the Bishop, who replaced Fr Hearne, in 1846. This could have been the outcome of a retreat given, in August 1845, by Dominic Barberi, leader of the Passionist Mission in England [48], who commented that the nuns were living not in ‘holy poverty’ but in ‘holy misery’. However, Fr Hearne’s leaving caused an outcry amongst his parishioners, who favoured his stance on the convent and blamed the nuns for his removal. So strong were the feelings that Hearne’s replacement only escaped the wrath of the people by fleeing through the vestry window.[49] Such a story would seem to suggest that, in this instance, neither the priests nor the faithful were sympathetic towards convents and that the abuse of nuns was taken as acceptable behaviour. This placed the nuns in a position whereby they had to simultaneously evoke and evade priestly power: a position which rendered them largely responsible for generating the demand and acceptance of their own labours. As to the precise nature of these labours, documentation regarding the arrival of the Sisters of the Infant Jesus from Nivelles in Belgium may go some way towards defining this. In 1845, Monsignor Wareing of Northampton, due to one of his converts entering this Congregation, agreed that the nuns might open a house in England ‘to devote themselves to the instruction of the poorer classes; whose ignorance generally causes the misconduct and misery so unhappily prevalent amongst them’.[50] Wareing itemised the type of work he wanted the sisters to do in Northampton. As the list shows, this was essentially evangelical and involved using education as a force for instilling Catholic principals and morality: 1. A day school for children in which they are taught reading, writing, the catechism and plain needlework. 2. An evening school for those young persons whose daily occupations prevent them from attending the day school. These young persons, while they learn to love and serve God, are kept from various temptations so fatal to youth. 3. A workroom where poor girls may learn to obtain a decent livelihood by their needle, without being exposed to the contaminating influence of

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shops and factories; where they too often meet with bad companions who corrupt their morals and injure their reputation. 4. A Sunday School for others who cannot attend on other days. 5. A Preparatory school for girls of fifteen or sixteen, to fit them for nursery governesses or village schoolmistresses, etc. 6. A school for children of a higher class, in which they may receive a good education, with the benefit of a sound religious instruction. 7. Various pious associations, conducted under the superintendence of the Sisters; composed of persons of all ages, who wish more particularly to honour the Blessed Virgin, and to promote the spiritual good of their neighbour.[51]

Wareing’s plan is interesting in that it describes a full range of educational work. In this sense, it might be said that he had his finger on the pulse of the Church’s requirements well before convents were fully equipped to meet these needs. It is also pertinent to note that, even if – as was the general case – Wareing was cautious of nuns, the advantages they brought outstripped the reservations he may have had. The information concerning the Sisters of the Infant Jesus, in the archive of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur [52], shows that the actuality of their work extended beyond Wareing’s list of educational employment, to include parish functions, in which the nuns served as priestly substitutes in areas of work which were not sacerdotal. They are recorded as giving instructions to female converts, leading the Stations of the Cross, Devotions to the Sacred Heart and the Blessed Virgin, as well as making parish visits and being involved in preparations for death. Ideally, the Church would have had men perform these tasks but the shortage of priests and the willingness of women to take on the work meant that the latter were involved in types of occupations that were seen as eminently respectable. This work, because it was desired by the Church, must have allowed the women status within the context of the parishes in which they functioned. Such work was sought after by nuns and many congregations, from Europe and Ireland, came to England to establish houses. At the same time English foundations were struggling into being. These English groups, not having the backing of an already established community, had a more onerous task on hand since they not only had to convince the clergy of their worth but also had to make the transition from secular to religious status in order to become bona fide nuns. As already mentioned, two such groups were the Sisters of the Cross and Passion and the Franciscan Missionaries of Saint Joseph.[53] Both of these Congregations had their beginnings in industrial Lancashire and both started as secular groups involved in parish work. They also share the characteristic of having had spiritual directors at a distance, which meant that much communication was by letter. In the archive of each of these Congregations, then, is a

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correspondence between the founder and her spiritual director, which gives a picture of the nascent community and its problems. The 173 letters of the Passionist, Fr Gaudentius Rossi [54], written between July 1848 and August 1863, to Elizabeth Prout (Mother Mary Joseph), the founder of the Sisters of the Cross and Passion, highlight the issues with which the early foundation [55] had to struggle. Rossi, an Italian missionary priest who travelled the country giving missions and retreats, acted as spiritual director to the group. Whilst he directed their religious life, mainly by letter, the women were working for the secular priests of Manchester, thereby positioning them between two masters, both of whom viewed themselves as having control over the group. This caused problems as Rossi’s idea was for a convent factory [56] in which the nuns would be virtually enclosed, whilst the secular priests were anxious for teachers and were prepared to use nuns for this purpose. Elizabeth Prout, skirting Rossi’s ideal, took the practical option and chose to teach, thereby souring her relationship with him whilst precariously retaining her position within the parishes in which she and her sisters worked. It is clear from the letters that the secular clergy had little interest in the women’s religious life and were concerned mainly with their utility as parish workers. It is also clear that, whilst guided in religious matters by Rossi, Prout took the initiative on both the practical and religious front. It was she who was responsible for introducing the first religious dress of the sisters [57] and instigated the religious practices within the group.[58] It was also she who decided in which parishes the sisters would work and what type of schools they would be involved in.[59] Her ambitions for her community, which included the desire to teach in better schools and the acquisition of the trappings of the nun, enraged Rossi. Whilst criticism of Prout is scattered through the letters, in August 1855, he itemised what he thought the problem was: I Your mode of treating the Sisters with too much authority and haughtiness ... II Your indifference about the Rules ... III The dispensations you granted without reason to the Sisters and sometimes of your own authority suspending the observance of important points of the Rules. IV Your habitual disposition for show and finery. V Your habitual neglect to make the institution a self-supporting industrial institution as it was originally intended and is and must be intended. VI Your preference for fine things, high aspirations, grand schools ... VII Your proud, haughty, offensive manner of dealing with anybody that does not agree with you ... VIII And particularly your getting worse, almost continually since your profession. All this and much more of your external conduct ...

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IX ... In every way the schools day and boarding have failed and it must be attributed to your own bad management. My fear is that you have never entered heart and soul into this important undertaking, that you have never seriously studied to understand the real spirit, nature and object of the pious Sisterhood of the Holy Family ... [60]

What seems more likely is that, the more established the Sisterhood became, the more confident Elizabeth Prout became. The more acceptance she gained as a nun, the more extensive her teaching work, the more financially independent the group became, the more she was able to take matters into her own hands and the less she was dependent on priestly support. So, despite Rossi’s unremitting criticism of her efforts, his accusations of pride and hypocrisy, and his attempt to replace her with women he believed would make a more suitable leader, Prout bore his rancour and continued in her resolve to start a convent. Her few extant letters [61] to him give some indication of the strategies she employed to circumvent censure and unwanted intervention. These include providing him with facts she hoped he would approve of, withholding information which she knew he would not approve, and seeking the approval of other clergy for her actions, so that any criticism Rossi might hurl at her would also fall on his fellow priests. How effective these tactics were is hard to assess; certainly there was open disagreement regarding disparate issues of membership, work, dress, the Religious Rule, houses and conduct.[62] Rossi interpreted her lack of compliance with his wishes as disobedience whilst Prout, voicing regret at the division between them, prioritised on the concerns of her community and resorted, for empowerment, to her status as ‘Bride of Christ’, claiming that her rejection of his proposals was ‘only something else to make me cling closer to my Crucified Spouse’.[63] The letters are most interesting in their demonstration of Prout playing the nun, in a co-mingling of gratitude and repentance, whereby she expresses herself to Rossi in confessorial tones and thereby positions him as the spiritual director, without whom she could not have continued as a nun. Rossi’s interest in this position was limited; he desired more – he wanted complete control as the Founder Father of the Congregation. Had Prout acceded to his wishes her position with the secular clergy, on whom she depended for her livelihood, would have been jeopardised. In 1852 the group was given diocesan recognition by Bishop Turner of Salford, with Gaudentius Rossi acting as spiritual director until 1855 when he was replaced by the Passionist, Ignatius Spencer, a man of less rabid ambition. Yet, despite episcopal approbation, her relations with the secular clergy did not run smoothly. Since the group’s inception, in 1849, the women had been subjected to priestly and secular criticism [64] and, in 1858, the Manchester clergy instigated an inquiry, for the purpose of disbanding the community, on 425

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the grounds that the sisters were not self-supporting, that their dress led to problems with the public, that they did not keep the Religious Rule, and that they were not able to teach. Whilst there may have been an element of truth in these accusations – the sisters did resort to begging, the habit did single them out for ostracism, the Rule was not practical for a working group, and several of the members were not teachers – the charges appear to be based on minor infractions of which the clergy themselves were not innocent. More to the point, it seems likely that accusations of improper behaviour had been aimed at the nuns.[65] The letters of Rossi mention misunderstandings of nuns by both seculars and clerics and at a personal level Rossi [66] and later Ignatius Spencer [67] were to suffer accusations implicating themselves and the Sisters, particularly Elizabeth Prout. Prout, expressing her feelings towards the behaviour of the clergy, referred to the inquiry as ‘a Satanic court’ in which ‘all the wise heads of Manchester had come to the conclusion that the Sisters of the Holy Family had existed long enough, and that they would scatter us to the winds as we were of no use to anyone’.[68] Through the intervention of the Passionist priests, a reprieve was granted and the community continued, finally gaining Papal approbation in 1877, 13 years after Elizabeth Prout’s death. A parallel correspondence is to be found in the archive of the Franciscan Missionaries of St Joseph. In this instance 50 letters dated between March 1870 and November 1878 are those of the Belgian Franciscan, Gomair Peeters, to Alice Ingham, the founder of the Congregation.[69] As with Rossi, Peeters acted as spiritual director to the group, whose religious purpose was described as being ‘to go and visit the poor, sick and dying in their houses, and especially to be with them in their last moments’.[70] It is also known that the group had a ‘treasury for the poor’ [71] and that Alice Ingham was known as the ‘Threepenny Bit Lady’ because of her practice of providing the poor with money for the church collection plate [72] and that monies were frequently sent to Peeters as payment for saying Masses.[73] Also it is known that the women did sacristy work for the parish priests.[74] Whilst being involved in this church work Ingham managed a combined millinery and confectionery business [75] from which she obviously made enough money for the community and her charitable works. Clearly the women were selfsufficient and were looking to the Church for recognition of their commitment to its work. In this struggle for recognition Ingham was aided by her friend and confidante, Mother Mary Paul Taylor of the Sisters of the Cross and Passion. The latter sent young women to join Ingham [76] and encouraged her, from the beginning, to turn the group into a congregation and adopt, from the first, a form of religious habit.[77] In fact, it was Mother Mary Paul who approached both Turner and Vaughan, as bishops of Salford, regarding the acknowledgement of Ingham’s community.[78] Gomair Peeters, himself, was reluctant to be involved in this and his letters to Ingham are replete with

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directives and queries regarding Mother Mary Paul and her progress with the bishops.[79] Thus, he confirms that the impetus to form the community came from the women, when he says to Ingham: ‘I cannot put myself forward to the Bishop for the work in question ... As Mother Mary Paul conceived the work and took some steps already and acquainted the Bishop with her plans, she must continue in the work till the Bishop himself settles something about it’.[80] Although Vaughan, Bishop of Salford from 1872, is named as being instrumental in the foundation, apart from permitting the continuance of Ingham’s work in Rochdale [81], his real involvement was not until 1878, when he asked the women, as an already formed group of Franciscan Tertiaries, to move to St Joseph’s Society at Mill Hill, in London, and take up domestic duties on behalf of the Missionary Fathers there. Although Mother Mary Paul Taylor expressed reservations about such a move – including the laundry work involved [82] – it is possible that this was, at that time, the only course available to Ingham if she hoped to retain her community. She was, at the beginning of 1878, despondent, unsettled and regretting having started her work in Rochdale.[83] She had worked for 8 years and had received little recognition of her effort. She was concerned that women, perhaps due to lack of recognition, had left the community within a short time of joining it.[84] In addition to this there was some discord between the group and the parish priest, the severity of which caused her to consider giving up her work in his church.[85] This antagonism with the local clergy probably influenced Ingham’s decision to accept Vaughan’s invitation. Certainly, the move to Mill Hill secured the group’s acknowledgement as nuns, by the clergy, as it was accompanied by a noviciate for the women, the wearing of the habit, the adoption of the name the Franciscan Missionaries of Saint Joseph and, eventually, Papal approval in 1883. What emerges from the two correspondences discussed here is the women’s desire to be nuns. As the letters convey, to achieve this was an arduous task and, in essence, the work they did could have been taken up individually by them, as lay members of the Church. Nevertheless, they chose to face the problems of attaining the status of nuns: a status that was dubious in the eyes of both secular society and the clergy. Why, then, did women want this life? Some hints as to the answer to this question might be found – putting priestly relations and work aside – by looking at convent practices as experienced by the women in their communities. Returning again to the defunct Northampton community of the Sisters of the Infant Jesus, a document, written by one of the surviving members, outlines aspects of life within the convent. This text is telling not only in its factual content, giving details of their lifestyle, but also in its portrayal of the women’s attitude to community life. To begin at this point:

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And from what they had not to what they had: We had a little case made of course [sic] stuff like our aprons, in which we had a knife and fork, our number on the outside. Each one had a Following of Christ to read whilst we took breakfast ... We had in our cells a chair, a small deal table with a drawer in which we kept all the things we required, brushes, combs and a small looking glass.[87]

This is Holy Poverty; a poverty which obviously bears no resemblance to the real poverty being experienced in England at that time. The comment on lack of soup plates, ‘table clothes’ and serviettes indicates that the writer was probably used to such things. It might then be assumed that she was from a middle-class background and that, within a teaching community, her companions would be of similar origin. The fact that each sister had her own copy of a Following of Christ suggests that monies were available to purchase multiple copies of this. Further, each sister had her own room and personal effects – brushes, combs, looking glasses. This attention to the self and appearance seems in some way at odds with the fact that they were each given a number, an index of the denial of identity intrinsic to convent life. However, contradiction disappears if the women’s priority is interpreted as being nuns. This involved adopting the appearance, accoutrements and behaviour that would align the women with the already established Church image of the nun and thus legitimate their existence as nuns. Here, then, are women moulding a lifestyle for themselves, which incorporates signifiers that permit them to present themselves as nuns through the adoption of traditional convent practice. Further, on the issue of practice, this same document describes a day in the life of the Sisters of the Infant Jesus. The emphasis here is on devotions and penance. Work is barely mentioned and becomes obvious in the omissions, where activities for certain hours of day – 9–11.45 and 2–4 – are not described. Presumably, during these times those who worked in schools would be out of the convent whilst others might be employed in some way on the premises. Either way, the writer’s priority is on the hour-by-hour ritual of being nuns: The Sisters of the Infant Jesus rose at 5 o’clock. Immediately the bell rang every sister jumped out of bed and kneeling in the middle of the dormitory before a little oratory on which was a large statue of Our Lady above it a crucifix, with arms in a cross, the Sister who had charge of the prayers said aloud a most beautiful prayer beginning ‘O My God, I cast myself into the arms of Thy merciful Providence’. We then retired behind our curtains to dress, the Sister who had charge to say all the

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prayers said several invocations to the Infant Jesus during our dressing at several intervals.[88]

Here are nuns in action. Being obedient to the bell, kneeling before the statue of the Blessed Virgin and crucifix, pleasuring in abandonment to Divine Providence, praying in unison, dressing in unison. The day continues: 5.30 we went to the Chapel for one hour’s meditation. 6.30 we returned to the dormitory to make our beds and sweep and arrange our cells, Rev. Mother saying the Rosary and we answering. Mass was at 7 o’clock or 8 o’clock in the Church. We went to Holy Communion very often not on stated days but each one had to ask Rev. Mother’s permission before 4 the day before. We had a great deal of direction. We could go to our Superiors any hour of the day and after night prayers was a favourite time to go to our Superiors if we had a trouble.[89]

Again the nunnish practices dominate – meditating, saying the Rosary, attending Mass and receiving Holy Communion. Most interesting here is the reference to Superiors and their direction of Sisters: the former making themselves available and the latter feeling free to approach them. This is a world without men, where significant relationships are between women. Obviously, the nuns would attend church and would need a priest as confessor; also, those working in schools would encounter the priests of the parish. However, within the convent, the Superior had control in leading and directing the women, she would devise their schedule, correct their faults and give spiritual guidance and counselling. In short, unless the priest had a penchant for interfering in the nuns’ private arrangements, the Superior had carte blanche within her house. So, regardless of the extent of the Superior’s internal authority, the picture conveyed in this document is far removed from the secular concept of convent life where nuns were seen as incarcerated against their will under a Superior who ruled with a rod of iron, so that they lived in fear of her discipline. On the contrary, there is an element of pleasure in evidence here. This last is particularly so with reference to penance. The writer describes the refectory at dinner: We had Rodriguez Christian Perfection read during dinner except if some Sister had penance to do aloud, Rev. Mother would stop the reading ... It was before Rev. Mother we knelt and asked penances aloud for all exterior faults ... sometimes we had to go round the refectory kneeling before each Sister and say aloud to each, please Sister will you have the charity to pray for me because I am so proud; sometimes a Sister would take her dinner lying prostrate on the floor, or kneeling in the middle of the refectory, sometimes with her eyes shut, or perhaps take her dinner on a platter she had broken, these little penances very often caused a fit of laughter ... [90]

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The picture conveyed here is one in which asking for penances is part of the conventual pattern and performing them is a cause for hilarity. Later in the document penance looms even larger: The Sisters of the Infant Jesus were allowed corporal penance but not without permission. Some would be allowed to take bread and water, make use of hair shirts and other instruments of penance. Every Friday morning after Meditation we all went to our cells for penitential exercises. Rev. Mother recited the first verse of the Miserere Psalm and we all answered, then all took discipline together until Rev. Mother gave the signal to stop. Then she recited the next verse and we answered, then discipline, so through the whole psalm. We were very happy so charitable to each other, never a word of discontent, on the contrary everyone was asking for the worse of everything. [91]

A passage of mortification of the flesh followed by a declaration of happiness is typical of the concept of the joy of suffering, so central to the tradition of Christian asceticism. That this concept was abroad in the nineteenth century is confirmed in Faber’s Sorrows of Mary in which the sufferings of the Blessed Virgin are portrayed as being accompanied by ‘the intensest joy’.[92]. Also, this joy in suffering is elevated in Liguori’s text, The True Spouse of Jesus Christ or The Nun Sanctified by Virtue of Her State, which appeared in the English language in 1848 and became so widely used in convents that it might be considered as the nuns’ handbook.[93] Further to this, the thesis of Bynum (1989), as applied to medieval nuns, suggests that the involvement of the body in mortification was essential to the nun’s understanding and constructing of her own identity.[94] Such exercises, then, might be read in terms of self-definition as an integral part of female holiness and as such penance, in the present context, can be seen as a major act in the convent drama. The penance, the ritual and the prayer described here can be read as performative and all a part of being a nun and thus, by extension, a part of the nun’s understanding of herself as such. If this is the case, then it is likely that such an understanding of self enabled the nuns to countenance any persecution or condemnation from those outside the convent. Whilst it is difficult to argue the nuns’ life as a process of developing a resilience to hardship, there is evidence, in the writings of nuns, to suggest that a certain stamina in the face of difficulty was prized in convent circles and that nuns saw themselves not entirely as the woman of Victorian womanhood. In fact, if Kingsley – who, in 1865, decried the religious life and called for a ‘muscular Christianity’ [95] – had taken a closer look at what he censured, he might have seen what he advocated, in action. These were spirited and pioneering women who thrived on adversity [96], risking health and safety in the slums of industrial England and gambling life and limb in the remote corners of Empire.[97] Frequently, a superior’s directive to her Sisters was to be as men; 430

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for example Cornelia Connelly wanted her Sisters ‘to have a masculine force of character and will’ [98], whilst Janet Erskine Stuart called for her novices to be as ‘warrior maidens’ [99]; and much of the literature produced by nuns reiterates just such an image. So, if Patmore’s Angel was abroad in the nun’s scheme of things, it was an Angel out of the House and girded for battle.[100] This, then, is a representation of the nun which the Church does not openly encourage: a representation of a strong woman of commitment, undeterred by the trials and tribulations of life, and supported and authorised by her religious belief. It can also be seen as an instance of women understanding themselves in terms of desirable travail; a travail which granted power – the pastoral power of Christianity.[101] It gives a picture somewhat removed from the hardship arising from submission to the male; it is rather a hardship which is easily read as pleasurable and which brought status and renown to nuns in a system outside that defined by church or culture – the convent system. As a collection of women’s writings, the literature produced by nuns might be said to constitute an attempt by the nun to discursively produce herself. Certainly, it suggests that the nun’s understanding of herself differed from that of the clerics who sanctioned her existence and was in opposition to the submissiveness which the Church demanded of nuns. Indeed, such writings might even be classified as having, to use Kingsley’s imagery, a ‘muscular’ tenor. This literature, when set against the ecclesiastical and secular interpretation of the nun, illuminates something of the conflict inherent in convent life, revealing a decided difference in the convent concept of the nun and the nun as conceptualised by a patriarchal church and society. In this article I have tried to look at the women and the state of play in convents in nineteenth-century England. Because of the vastness of the subject area and the sparsity of related work, the discussion is best read as a basis for the formulation of questions rather than the provision of answers. What has been established is that convents, despite their separatism, had to survive in a gendered setting, that their establishment was menaced by potential conflict generated by differences in male and female desire, and that neither of these factors prevented their growth. Returning to my opening gambit, that whenever convent life was an option women opted for it, leads to speculation on the lure of the convent which clearly extended beyond the nineteenth-century context. Here, literature [102] suggests that a basal thread which might form the starting point for investigation is the traditional separatism of the Church and the conditions of its extension to women. How did this work? Did it free women from undesired secular subjectivity? Can nuns be seen as a subversion of male-defined womanhood? Were they employing and discarding images of woman according to their own personal needs? Did the convent allow them independence and strength in community and work? Were they instituting for themselves a position, in part immune to phallocratic law? In the light of the women’s willingness to follow the religious

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life, it is difficult to accept – regardless of priestly intentions – that the nun is merely a sacralisation of a specific form of female slavery. Whatever the case may be, the nineteenth-century material considered here can only hint at the reality of the nun’s life and at common threads in the structure and relations in convents. To ascertain a full picture requires much more work. Such a task depends not only on the efforts of those who believe nuns to be worthy of consideration but also on an increased availability of relevant documentation. This last depends on today’s nuns and whether or not they allow their predecessors to emerge from the margins of the Church in order to realise their rightful place in women’s history. In the final analysis nuns, as women, are to be found not in the Church but in the convent, where the records of their achievement, their sisterhood and their real life struggles wait to be disclosed. Notes [1] Convent history confirms this and suggests that there were insufficient convents to meet demand. See Lina Eckenstein (1896) Women under Monasticism (London: Cambridge University Press); and Marcia Guttentag & Paul Secord (1982) Too Many Women (London: Sage). See also, Ruth P. Liebowitz (1979) Virgins in the service of Christ: the dispute over the active apostolate for women during the Counter Reformation, in Rosemary R. Ruether & Eleanor McLaughlin (Eds) Women of Spirit: female leadership in the Jewish and Christian traditions, ch. 4 (New York: Simon & Schuster); and Janice Raymond (1986) A Passion for Friends: towards a philosophy of female affection, ch. 2 (London: The Women’s Press). In addition, the history of the Beguines, non-canonical groups following the religious life whilst living on the fruits of their labours also attests to the desire of women for such a life. See Vern L. Bullough (1973) The Subordinate Sex (Chicago: University of Illinois Press) and the introduction to Fiona Bowie (Ed.) (1989) Beguine Spirituality: an anthology, pp. 3-51 (London: SPCK). [2] To avoid the complexities of the Church’s distinctions between nuns and sisters, here, as in everyday parlance, the words are used synonymously. [3] Canon Law decrees that women may not hold sacerdotal office and that women’s communities are, in all instances, inferior to male communities. For those decrees constituting the marginalisation of nuns see J. Creusen (Society of Jesus) (1931) Religious Men and Women in Church Law (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company). [4] Nuns were even invisible within the Church. Geoffrey Moorhouse (1969), in Against All Reason: the religious life in the modern world (Harmondsworth: Penguin), states that it is impossible to give details of women’s communities because statistics, such as Annuario Pontifico, which tabulate men’s congregations, do not keep the same account of women’s congregations (pp. 225-227). See also Margaret Brennan (1985) Enclosure:

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institutionalising the invisibility of women in ecclesiastical communities, Concilium, vol. 182, pp. 38-48. [5] Susan O’Brien (1989) ten thousand nuns: working in convent archives, Catholic Archives, 9, pp. 26-33, and Susan O’Brien (1989) Terra incognita: the nun in 19th century England, Past and Present, 121, pp.110-140 (Oxford: Past and Present Society). [6] The struggle from enclosure into the active life was pioneered in postReformation Europe, where many initiatives were unsuccessful and female congregations in embryo were often either disbanded or forced into the tradition of convent enclosure. For the development of female religious congregations within the post-Reformation context see Pierre Janelle (1971) The Catholic Reformation (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company). See also Liebowitz, ‘Virgins in the service of Christ’. [7] Nuns have not lagged in the production of their own history and, whilst much of their writing might be considered panegyric and edifying, this extensive literature provides a rich source of information on convents and nuns which is not available from mainstream church history. Cited in this article are: Sister of Notre Dame de Namur (1898) Life of the Venerable Servant of God, Julie Billiart: foundress and First Superior General of the Institute of Sisters of Notre Dame (London: Art & Book Company); A Religious of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus (1924) The Life of Cornelia Connelly, 1809–1879: foundress of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus (London: Longmans, Green & Co.); F. C. Devas (SJ) (1927) Mother Mary Magdalen of the Sacred Heart (Fanny Margaret Taylor), Foundress of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God, 1832–1900 (London: Burns Oates & Washbourne); Eve Healy (1938) The Life of Mother Mary Potter: foundress of the Congregation of the Little Company of Mary (London: Sheed & Ward); Olivia Curran (CP) (1960) Sisters of the Cross and Passion: origin and progress of the congregation (Dublin: Order of the Cross and Passion); Mother Theophane Sharrat (FMSJ) (1963) Light after Darkness: Mother Mary Frances, Foundress of the Franciscan Missionaries of St. Joseph (Glasgow: John S. Burns & Sons); E. Orchard (IBVM) (1985) Mary Ward: once and future foundress (London: Incorporated Catholic Truth Society). [8] Such material is available from the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of Good Counsel and St Paul of the Cross (known as the Vocation Sisters). The Congregation was founded in 1945 to provide vocational guidance for those considering the religious life. [9] Francesca M. Steele (1902), The Convents of Great Britain and Ireland (London: Sands & Company) gives a factual information on the women’s congregations that were well established by 1900. Extending on this, Peter F. Anson (1949) The Religious Orders and Congregations of Great Britain and Ireland (Worcester: Stanbrook Abbey Press), identifies others existing at the turn of the century, which are omitted in Steele (1902). Also used were The Directory of Religious Orders, Congregations and Societies of Great Britain and Ireland 1960 & 1972-74 (Glasgow: John S. Burns & Sons). 433

Gloria McAdam [10] These communities, in Hammersmith and York, were the foundations of the renegade Mary Ward and, existing in a staunch Protestant climate, were subjected to constant persecution. Mary Ward’s Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary was founded in 1609 as an active congregation and was thus a precursor of the active nineteenth-century foundations. Its members, referred to as ‘Mary Ward’s galloping girls’, were ostracised and by 1630 the Institute was declared heretical because of its lack of enclosure and organisation. It was not until 1909 that Mary Ward was officially recognised by the Church as the founder of her own Institute. For a résumé of Mary Ward’s life and activities see Antonia Fraser (1984) The Weaker Vessel: woman’s lot in 17th century England (London: Fontana); also Orchard, Mary Ward. [11] Steele, Convents of Great Britain, mentions this number but does not identify them by name. She does, however, give an indication of those groups who returned to England, both in the main body of the text and in the introduction. [12] W. J. Battersby, The educational work of the religious orders of women, in George A. Beck (Ed.) (1950) The English Catholics 1850-1950, pp. 337-364 (London, Burns Oates). [13] Examples of this practice are to be found in the Ladies of Liege and the Bernadine Dames. These communities were traditionally enclosed but offered education within their convent precincts to the daughters of wealthy families (Steele, The Convents of Great Britain). [14] Listed by Herbert Thurston (SJ) in his introduction to Steele, The Convents of Great Britain. [15] C. Langlois (1974) Les effectifs des congregations feminines aux XIXe siecle. De l’enquete statistique a l’histoire quantitative, Revue de l’histoire de l’englise en France, 60. [16] The Motherhouse of many congregations in England was located on the continent. For example, Notre Dame de Namur, a French teaching congregation with schools across England, had its Motherhouse in Namur, in Belgium, and a Provincial House as headquarters in this country. [17] Sarah Maitland (1975) A Map of the New Country: women and Christianity, ch. 3 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul); Liebowitz, ‘Virgins in the service of Christ’; and O’Brien, Catholic Archives see this structure as significant to the nuns’ independence, especially in instances where the Motherhouse was abroad. [18] O’Brien, Catholic Archives, p. 26. [19] Many of the groups of continental origin were already established as teaching congregations. For example, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur came to England with the expressed intention of opening their own schools and teacher training colleges (Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, Life of the Venerable Servant of God, Julie Billiart). Others, such as the Sisters of the Cross and Passion, began their work in education in parish schools and

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later branched out into private education (Curran, Sisters of the Cross and Passion). [20] Beck, The English Catholics, pp. 337-334. See also Francesca M. Steele (1903) Monasteries and Religious Houses of Great Britain and Ireland (London: R. & T. Washbourne). This lists and describes communities of male religious: it forms a companion volume to Steele’s Convents of Great Britain. It records the existence of only 45 male congregations variously described as contemplative, mendicant, missionary or educational – this last refers mainly to the education of boys in private establishments, rather than the parish work extensively undertaken by the nuns. [21] In addition to the Catholic development, it is worth noting that the Anglican Church was also establishing women’s communities. Whilst this development was not so vast as the Catholic initiative, it is of importance in demonstrating the demand for convent life by women. It is significant that one of the reasons for the Anglican foundations was to give direction to zeal which might otherwise ‘go over to Rome’. Susan P. Casteras (1981), Virgin vows: the early Victorian artists’ portrayal of nuns and novices, Victorian Studies, Winter (Bloomington: Indiana University), records the number of Anglican congregations as six between 1845 and 1851, nine more between 1851 and 1859, and a further 15 between 1870 and 1900. In addition to Casteras’s ‘Virgin vows’, work on Anglican communities includes Sr Edna Mary (1968) The Religious Life (Harmondsworth: Penguin); Michael Hill (1973) The Religious Order: a study of virtuoso religion and its legitimation in the nineteenth century Church of England (London: Heinemann); Martha Vicinus (1985) Independent Women: work and community for single women, 1850–1920 (London: Virago); Jacqueline Field-Bibb (1991) Women towards Priesthood: ministerial politics and feminist praxis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). [22] Amongst the texts referred to for this purpose were Ray Strachey (1979) The Cause: a short history of the women’s movement in Great Britain (London: Virago); Martha Vicinus (1980) A Widening Sphere: changing roles of Victorian women (London: Methuen); Elizabeth K. Helsinger, Robin Lauterbach Sheets & William Veeder (1983) The Woman Question: society and literature in Britain and America 1837–1883, vols I, II & III (Manchester: Manchester University Press); Jane Rendall (1985) The Origins of Modern Feminism: women in Britain, France and the United States, 1780–1860 (London: Macmillan); Gail Malmgreen (Ed.) (1986) Religion in the lives of English women 1760-1930 (London: Croom Helm); Leonora Davidoff & Catherine Hall (1987) Family Fortunes: men and women of the English middle class 1780–1850 (London: Hutchinson); Mary Poovey (1989) Uneven Developments: the ideological work of gender in midVictorian England (London: Virago). These texts were used in verifying the linkage of women with religion and, by extension, religion with the unmarried state for women. [23] Providing a general history of the Catholic Church and the events key to the rise of nineteenth-century convents are Owen Chadwick (1971 & 1972) The

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Gloria McAdam Victorian Church, Parts I & II (London: SCM Press); Gerald Parsons (Ed.) (1988) Religion in Victorian Britain, vols I, II, III & IV (Manchester: Manchester University Press); J. MacCaffrey (1910) History of the Catholic Church in the Nineteenth Century, vols I & II (St Louis: B. Herder); George A. Beck (Ed.) (1950) The English Catholics 1850–1950 (London: Burns Oates); and E. R. Norman (1968) Anti-Catholicism in Victorian England (London: George Allen & Unwin). Also, for a vivid picture of the antiCatholic stance, see W. Walsh (1900) The History of the Romeward Movement in the Church of England, 1833-1864 (London: James Nisbet & Co.) [24] F. K. Prochaska (1980) Women and Philanthropy in 19th Century England, pp. 1-17 (Oxford: Clarendon Press). (25] Helsinger et al, The Woman Question, vol. I, pp. 3-20. [26] Sarah Stickney Ellis (1839) The Women of England, quoted in Helsinger et al, The Woman Question, vol. II, p. 109. [27] See Carole Christ, Victorian masculinity and the angel in the house, in Vicinus, A Widening Sphere, pp. 146-162. [28] Rendall, Origins of Modern Feminism, pp. 73-107. [29] The importance of Mary the Virgin and Mother to the image of Victorian womanhood is conveyed in F. W. Faber (1858) On the sorrows of Mary, and Charlotte Yonge (1876) Women and the Church, both in Parsons, Religion in Victorian Britain, vol. III, pp. 88-98. [30] For a discussion of Catholic emancipation and advancement see Chadwick, The Victorian Church, Part I, pp. 7-24 & 271-309; and Parsons, Religion in Victorian Britain, vol. I, pp. 147-183. [31] Chadwick, The Victorian Church, Part I, p. 271. [32] Curran, Sisters of the Cross and Passion, pp. 21-32. [33] Sharrat, Light after Darkness, pp. 28-86. [34] Healy, The Life of Mother Mary Potter, pp. 62-129. [35] More detailed descriptions of the beginnings of some communities lie in convent archives which are often difficult to access. [36] Steele, Convents of Great Britain, mentions priests as taking the lead in the foundation of 51 of the 95 congregations listed in her work. In these instances the priests are generally named as the founders of the congregations and the women, whose names are frequently omitted or, if mentioned, are identified as aides and occasionally as co-founders. In no instance is a woman acknowledged as sole founder of a group. This not only confirms that the men were taking credit for the women’s work but also supports the notion that, in order to run their communities, women needed to be fronted by Church authority and because of this, despite evidence to the contrary, did not contend the male claims to founding their groups.

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[37] See W. L. Arnstein (1982) Protestant versus Catholic in Mid-Victorian England: Mr Newdegate and the nuns (Oxford: Clarendon Press). Also, Norman, Anti-Catholicism in Victorian England. [38] In a sermon entitled ‘Muscular Christianity and Marriage’, Charles Kingsley, a staunch opponent of Catholicism, attacked the religious life for both men and women, seeing its separatism as an objectionable form of weakness. The sermon is reproduced in Parsons, Religion in Victorian Britain, vol. III, pp. 84-87. [39] Ingram Cobbin (1875) Essay on Popery, in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, London, (quoted in Norman, Anti- Catholicism in Victorian England, p. 13). [40] Ibid. [41] See Chadwick, The Victorian Church, Part I, pp. 294-295. [42] Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk (1852), a fraudulent but sensational text, given over to popular readership, told of the frightful goings-on in a Canadian convent. See Norman, Anti-Catholicism in Victorian England, p. 9 and Chadwick, The Victorian Church, Part I, pp. 306-307. [43] Norman, Anti-Catholicism in Victorian England, p. 84. [44] R. Swift & S. Gilley (Eds) (1985) The Irish in the Victorian City, p. 8 (London: Croom Helm). [45] Gloria McAdam (1994), in ‘My Dear Sister ...’: an analysis of 19th century documents concerning the founding of a women’s religious congregation, PhD thesis, Bradford University, delineates how the Church’s perception of this threat, arising from its attitude to women in general, is evidenced in convent history and Church law regarding convents. In the nineteenth century, whilst many priests and bishops refused to be involved with nuns, those who spoke in support of convents often revealed that issues of gender and sexuality were present. For example, Newman, countering the Protestant attack on nuns, argued that convents were a means of saving women from temptation. The preoccupation with the ‘fallen’ nature of women and constant warnings regarding this can also be found in letters from priests to nuns, which are housed in the archives of nineteenth-century foundations. [46] Tenure was hard-won. For example, the Franciscan Missionaries of Saint Joseph Centenary Book (1983) records the date of their foundation as 1883 but they did not gain Papal approval until 1930, by which time they were working as Diocesan Congregations under the auspices of 13 bishops. Similarly, the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood, founded as a splinter group of the above in 1896, was not given Papal approval until 1947. See FMDM Voice – Centenary Edition (1996), p. 26. [47] Annals of Presentation Convent, Livesey Street, Manchester. [48] The Passionists arrived in England in 1841 with the mission to convert the country to Catholicism. For a priestly view of their work, including the founding of the Sisters of the Cross and Passion, see Fr Herbert (CP) (1924)

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Gloria McAdam The Preachers of The Passion: or the passionists of the Anglo-Hibernian province (London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne). [49] Annals of Presentation Convent, Livesey Street, Manchester. [50] Letters to the Clergy, Bishop’s House, Northampton. [51] Ibid. [52] The ‘Nivelle File’, in the Notre Dame Archives, records how in 1852 the Sisters of the Infant Jesus, seriously depleted by a fever epidemic, were unable either to return to Nivelles or to continue as an autonomous community. Their convent was given over to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and the surviving nuns were accommodated within that Congregation. [53] For providing copies of the material used here, I would like to thank the archivists of these Congregations, respectively Sister Mary O’Brien (CP) and Sister Moira Geary (FMSJ). [54] Archives of the Sisters of the Cross and Passion (CP), Northampton. [55] The institute was originally named the Catholic Sisters of the Holy Family (Letter from Gaudentius Rossi to Elizabeth Prout, 21 October 1851, in CP Archive). It was not until 1865 that the group became affiliated to the Passionist Order. [56] Letter from Gaudentius Rossi to Sr Winefrede Lynch, 11 April 1866 (CP Archive). [57] Letter from Gaudentius Rossi to Rev. Croskell, priest of Manchester, 19 (month unclear) 1852 (CP Archive). [58] Letter from Gaudentius Rossi to Elizabeth Prout, 4 November 1850 (CP Archive). [59] Letters from Gaudentius Rossi to Elizabeth Prout, 7 February 1853, 4 May 1853 and 19 July 1855 (C P Archive). [60] Letter from Gaudentius Rossi to Elizabeth Prout, 8 August 1855 (CP Archive). [61] There are five surviving letters from Elizabeth Prout to Gaudentius Rossi, written between 12 September 1855 and 7 October 1855 (CP Archive). [62] Letters from Gaudentius Rossi, passim (CP Archive). [63] Letter from Elizabeth Prout to Gaudentius Rossi, 25 September 1855 (CP Archive). [64] Letters from Gaudentius Rossi to Elizabeth Prout 21 July 1852, 12 April 1853, 14 November 1853 and 22 May 1855 (CP Archive). [65] The exact details of this are not available but reference is made to the existence of such a problem in Curran, Sisters of the Cross and Passion, p. 10. Herbert, The Preachers of the Passion, p. 217, also alludes to the trouble as arising from ‘storms of misrepresentation’. [66] Letter from Gaudentius Rossi to Elizabeth Prout, 24 September 1855 (CP Archive).

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[67] Urban Young (1933) The Life of Father Ignatius Spencer, C.P., p. 268 (London: Burns, Oates) and A. Devine (1966) The Life of Father Ignatius, p. 489 (Dublin: Duffy). [68] Letter from Elizabeth Prout to Fr Salvian (CP), 185 (CP Archive). [69] Archive of the Franciscan Missionaries of Saint Joseph (FMSJ), Manchester. [70] Letter from Gomair Peeters to Alice Ingham, 14 July, 1873 (FMSJ Archive). [71] Ibid. [72] Franciscan Missionaries of Saint Joseph, Centenary Book (1983), p. 9. [73] Letters from Gomair Peeters to Alice Ingham, 30 December 1872, 8 January 1873, 2 May 1873, 23 June 1873, 13 February 1874, 5 August 1874, 2 September 1874, December 1874 and 28 March 1876 (FMSJ Archive). [74] Letter from Gomair Peeters to Alice Ingham, 6 December 1876 (FMSJ Archive). [75] Franciscan Missionaries of Saint Joseph, Centenary Book (1983), pp. 6-7. [76] Ibid., pp. 8-9. [77] Letter from Gomair Peeters to Alice Ingham, 28 December 1877 (FMSJ Archive). [78] Letters from Mother Mary Paul Taylor to Bishop Vaughan, 24 June 1873 and 28 June 1873 (FMSJ Archive). [79] Letters of Gomair Peeters, passim (FMSJ Archive). [80] Letter from Gomair Peeters to Alice Ingham, 3 July 1872 (FMSJ Archive). [81] Letter from Gomair Peeters to Alice Ingham, 30 October 1874 (FMSJ Archive). [82] Letter from Gomair Peeters to Alice Ingham, 25 February 1878 (FMSJ Archive). [83] Letter from Gomair Peeters to Alice Ingham, 10 January 1878 (FMSJ Archive). [84] Letter from Gomair Peeters to Alice Ingham, December 1874 and 4 March 1875 (FMSJ Archive). [85] Letter from Gomair Peeters to Alice Ingham, 6 December 1876 (FMSJ Archive). [86] Notes on the community of the Sisters of the Infant Jesus compiled by the Sisters of Notre Dame (Notre Dame Archive). [87] Ibid. [88] Ibid. [89] Ibid. [90] Ibid. [91] Ibid. [92] Faber, The Sorrows of Mary, in Parsons, Religion in Victorian Britain, vol. III, pp. 88-95.

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Gloria McAdam [93] Alphonsus de Liguori (1760) The True Spouse of Jesus Christ or The Nun Sanctified by Virtue of Her State (translated 1848) (Brooklyn: Redemptorist Fathers). [94] Caroline W. Bynum (1989) The female body and religious practice in the later Middle Ages, in Feher, Naddaff & Tazi (Eds) Fragments for a History of the Human Body, Part I (New York: Zone). [95] Kingsley (1870), in Parsons, Religion in Victorian Britain, vol. III, pp. 8487. [96] For a picture of the nun as a pioneering and adventurous individual see Marcelle Bernstein (1976) Nuns (London: Collins); also Liebowitz, ‘Virgins in the service of Christ’. [97] Many of the nineteenth-century congregations branched out to open houses on the foreign missions. The women who went on the missions were seen as daring and dauntless by their Sisters. One such instance is to be found related in the Franciscan Missionaries of St Joseph Centenary Book, p. 22. This acclaims the story of the Congregation’s first Borneo mission in 1885. An arresting photograph of those involved shows a group of five young women – a superior aged 25 and four others aged 21. The text describes them as ‘pioneers’, ‘stalwart missionaries’ and makes clear that ‘there was no place for weaklings’ (p. 23). That the group was facing danger, and even death, seems to have incited enthusiasm as the number of nuns wanting to go on the missions is recorded as far outnumbering those who were able to go. [98] Quoted in O’Brien, Past and Present, p. 138. [99] Quoted in Maud Monahan (1924) The Life and Letters of Janet Erskine Stuart, Superior General of the Society of the Sacred Heart, 1857–1914, p. 73 (London: Longmans, Green & Co.) [100] Interestingly, many hymns written and used by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are infused with images of battle and warfare. See Hymns Used by the Pupils of the Sisters of Notre Dame, revised edn, circa 1920 (London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne). [101] Michel Foucault (1982) The subject and power, in H. L. Dreyfus & P. Rabinow (Eds) Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics, pp. 213-215 (Brighton: Harvester Press). For a fuller discussion of pastoral power see Michel Foucault (1981) Omnes et Singulatim, in S. McMurrin (Ed.) The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, vol. II (London: Cambridge University Press). [102] See Note [1] earlier. Also see Hill, The Religious Order, who argues the rise of Anglican groups as being due to “revolution by tradition”. Hill, although acknowledging “incipient feminism” in convents, identifies this tradition as being the Christian ethic whilst convent history seems to suggest that it was the tradition of religious separatism which was attractive to women.

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GLORIA MCADAM is a retired senior lecturer. Her previous writings include educational texts, journalism, fiction, poetry and drama. Two of her radio plays (RTE, 1987 and 1989) have dealt with the subject of nuns, as did her PhD (1994). She has recently completed a screenplay, which is now being considered for production, and is currently working on a full-length book on the discursive production of the identity of the nun. She may be contacted via the Editor of this Journal.

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