ROS; ati'OA ;'K»N OSr I'AHiS GIFT OF Class of 1900 si-? ■^, i SISTER MARY PAUL OF THE CROSS. Life of f SISTER MARY PAUL OF THE CROSS MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF ST. URSULA CONGREGATION OF PARIS With an Introduction by the REV. FATHER XAVIER SUTTON, C. P. OF PASSIONIST MONASTERY, DUNKIRK, N. Y. 3 D '1 •> URSUUNE MOTTO: 'Sic Luceat Lux Veslra. 1917 The James H. Barry Co. San Francisco NIHIL OBSTAT: REV. C. R. BASCHAB, Ph. D., Censor Deputatus. IMPRIMATUR: MOST REVEREND EDWARD J. HANNA, D. D., Archbishop of San Francisco, Cal. c* \\ Mar. 25M9n£' TO THE BELOVED FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF SISTER MARY PAUL OF THE CROSS THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. 861262 PREFACE. In the life of individuals — no matter how lowly their position in society may be — there are incidents that would interest and edify, if they were only known; for there often arise events that call forth the heroic and sublime in each one's life. In the life of a religious, therefore, we find in richer and greater abundance, things to interest and instruct; especially will this be realized in the life of one whose duty it was in the capacity of teacher not only to train the mind but also to mold the heart in the love of the highest and the best. Sister Mary Paul left the impress of her noble life upon all who came under her influence. Those who knew her, do not need a written life to keep alive the memory of her beautiful deeds — she lives in their hearts by the love they all bear to her. Those who did not have a personal acquaintance with her, will find in these pages lessons of encour- agement to do and to dare noble and good deeds in their own sphere of life. She has left: Footprints, that perhaps another Sailing o'er life's solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again. REV. XAVIER SUTTON, C.P, Dunkirk, New York. Feast of St. Paul of the Cross, April 28, 1917. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Page Causes of Emigration of Irish People. — Patrick Mor- rissey and Family Are Among the Exiles. — Sketch of Patrick Morrissey's Early Life. — Death of Little James Morrissey. — Holy Innocents of Ireland, Fam- ine, Emigration, and Pestilence 13 CHAPTER II. Mr. Morrissey and Family Arrive in America. — He Settles in New York. — He Finds Employment in the Erie Railroad Company. — Margaret's Birth, Baptism, and Childhood. — Family Move to Sheridan Center. — The Household of Mrs. Morrissey. — Margaret's Early School Life. — Her Love for the Land of Her Fathers. — Her Attention to Religious Duties. — An Incident Showing Margaret's Obedience. — Isabella of France. — First Communion Day. — Conversation Between Pat- rick and Sarah Morrissey. — Further Characteristics of Margaret's Conduct Towards Companions and Teachers. . • .17 CHAPTER III. Death of Mr. Morrissey and Grief of Family. — Mar- garet's Determination to Help Her Mother. — Letter Written Some Years Later, Bearing on Her Father's Death. — Patrick Morrissey, Brother of Margaret, Is Given Position by the Erie Company and His Suc- cess. — Her Devotion on Free Days. — Her Vocation Develops and She Is Directed to the Ursulines of St. Martins, Brown County, Ohio. — Parting With Her Family, and Description of Her Trip to St Martins. 28 CONTENTS OF PART II. CHAPTER IV. Page Margaret Arrives at Convent. — Her Meeting With Su- periors and Novice-Mistress. — First Weeks of Postu- lation. — Letter to Sisters in London, Ohio. — First Letter to Her Home. — Mother Chatfield's Tomb. — Sketch of the Life of Mother Julia Chatfield. . . 39 CHAPTER V. A Short Sketch of St. Angela Merici, Foundress of the Ursuline Order. — Margaret's Spirit of Penance. — Second Letter to Sisters in London. — Impressions of Daily Life of Novices. — Margaret's Joy at Her Com- ing Reception. — Preparation. — Her Clothing. . . 51 CHAPTER VI. Margaret's New Name. — Her Visits to the Blessed Sac- rament. — Manifestation of Conscience. — Studies. — Her Views on Vows. — Exactness. — Retreats. — Profession. — Sent in the Second Band of Sisters to the California Foundation. — Description of Trip Westward to Santa Rosa 58 CONTENTS OF PART III. CHAPTER VII. Page Rev. J. M. Conway Obtains Permission from Most Reverend Archbishop Alemany for Sisters to Come to Santa Rosa, California. — The St. Martin's Com- munity Are Asked to Furnish a Band of Sisters for the Enterprise. — Purchase of Christian College (Camp- bellite). — Ursulines Leave for the Scene of Their Fu- ture Labors. — They Are Met in Reno by the Very Reverend Vicar General, J. J. Prendergast, D. D., and by General William Stark Rosecrans and Mrs. Ro- sencrans. — Letter, — Notice of the Death of Sister Liguori, One of Santa Rosa Pioneer Ursulines, Which Occurred in 1916. — Privations, Incident on Founda- tions Generally, and on Santa Rosa's Particularly. — Some of the Sisters Return to Ohio, While Seven Remain. — Sister M. Paul's Work and Success. — Her Desire to Dedicate to God Whatever Was Most Excellent. — Her Manner of Correlating Secular and Religious Studies. — Foundation Stones. — Literary Work for Novices and Graduates. — Midnight Incident. 75 CHAPTER VIIL Failing Health of Rev. J. M. Conway. — Rev. J. M. Cas- sin Supersedes as Pastor. — Mother Alphonsus' Death. — Friendships. — Elections. — Particular Virtues of Sis- ter M. Paul at This Phase of Her Life.— Her Desire That Amusing Changes Be Planned for the Young. — Her Appreciation of Napa Valley. — Lines on Its Beauty. — Coming Elections and Sunday School at Sebastopol. — Miss R's. Character Sketch of Sister M. Paul. — Elections. — Picnics. — Letters. — Mrs. Morrissey's Demise, and Clippings Concerning Same. — Earthquake of 1906.— More Letters 96 CHAPTER IX. Page Silver Jubilee of Sister M. Paul. — Request of Her Fam- ily Granted. — Trip to Dunkirk, New York, and Other Places En Route. — Stay at the Monastery of Quebec; Mother St. Croix Holmes.— Letters 127 CHAPTER X. Journey Homeward Over Canadian Pacific Road. — Poem on the Rockies. — Stroke of Apoplexy Warns Sister M. Paul of Death. — Mother Angela Elected Superioress. — Final Retreat of Sister M. Paul in June, 1912. — The Manner in Which She Made It. — Sister M. Paul Is Again Sent to Elmhurst Ursuline Acad- emy, St. Helena, on the Opening of New Term. — Her Work Among the Children There. . . . 140 CHAPTER XI. Her Death; It Comes at the End of a "Perfect Day." Her Interment in Santa Rosa. — Poem, Testimonials, and Newspaper Obituaries. — Letters 149 Life of Sister M, Paul Morriss?y , CHAPTER i: Before touching on the life of this holy Religious, our readers may be interested in learning why the United States, not Ireland, is her debtor. Prior to the immigration of the Morrissey family to New York, Ireland was in the throes of conflict- ing religious, political, and commercial agonies, which even the genius of O'Connell could not heal ; nor could he dispel the deepening gloom which had hung over her for so long. Finally, the entire failure of the potato crop filled Ireland's measure of woe. It was then that gaunt Famine stalked through the land, striking down first the frail and sickly, then the stalwart and brave. In his wake strode Pesti- lence, attacking in his turn those who had survived Famine; and so devastating and deadly was their work, that the sufferers could say that "God Himself scarce seemed there to be." But, it will be asked, was there need that these tre- mendous sacrifices be offered daily on the altars of Famine and Pestilence? Was not the ubiquitous soup-house open, with its savory invitation to enter, recant, eat? Verily, and this would defeat the gaunt invader; but where would be heaven's martyrs? Where would be old Erin, in her role of Apostolic 14 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross Nation, kindling to the uttermost ends of the earth the fire of Patrjick's Faith? And, as the sun of Eng- land never !set:s on her temporal conquests, so the sun of her victim sets not on her spiritual ones. What a heritage this, for Sister M. Paul, a legatee of Irish martyrs ! How well she used her inheri- tance, and at what rate of interest she invested it, let thousands who used her holy income, answer. In those days men went down to the sea in ships : in those days an Abrahamic call was loudly heard in the land; in those days tiny hands were stretched forth for bread, but received it not; in those days, America, like a new Canaan, was beckoning suffer- ing Erin to her bosom, saying: "Behold my good, great land, flowing with milk and honey; behold these forests and prairies, these teeming rivers and lakes, these mines and industries, a land in which religious intolerance will not rack the bodies and souls of men." Answering the call, went forth Erin's hapless sons and daughters, counting among their number many, who, like Eleazar, preferred death, if needs must be, to the eating of illegal meats; who preferred to brave the pestilential ship to the alternative of leaving to the young an example of apostacy. Were not an- gels' pens kept busy then? — recording the deeds of heroes in heaven's chancery to be kept until the doom. Reaching the great West, the patience of the exiles in long-suffering was so rewarded that sickness and Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 15 want were soon forgotten in radiant health and abundance. To what extent Patrick Morrissey and his young family were affected by the prevailing conditions of his sad country, we cannot accurately tell; suffice it to say, that the March of 1849, found him with his wife and children aboard — not a fine modern scorner of winds, equipped with traveling comforts — but one of the slow wind-driven sailing vessels, ancestors to our astonishing progeny of steam and electricity. The history of Patrick Morrissey which has reached us, is scant. In 1846, he married Miss Sarah Nu- gent of his native Clare : and his was one of those marriages, of which it may be truly said that God had joined them, as the subsequent history of their peaceful union endorses ; for come weal or come woe, Patrick and his brave wife were ever the same God- fearing couple. Sarah was, as the good wife should be in the order of nature and grace, a complement rounding out the character of her husband. When this sorely-tried family embarked for the New World, they did not leave all crosses behind, for ship-fever broke out among the passengers, and one of the first of its victims to be consigned to a watery grave, was the darling of his parents, little James. We need not dwell upon the harrowing scene, nor the anguish of the bereaved parents. Judea is not the only place where evil law-givers have triumphed ; neither is it the only country blessed by Holy Innocents; nor is Herod the only executioner of hapless infancy. Little James Morrissey, with many of Ireland's Holy Inno- i6 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross cents, sleeps beneath the waters that divide the Old World from the New : and numbers testify to what extent Ireland has sent to God her children: nor does the Atlantic, in swa^ang rhythm, cease the lullaby to their eternal sleep. When Famine threatened, England might have said: "Be not afraid, O Erin, my sister, though your potato crop is about to fail, you have other crops as rich and nourishing : you have fine herds of cattle and sheep ; you have hogs and poultry. Eat and be strong. You want not alms. Open up your own domestic parliament, open your ports to foreign supphes ; stop floating off on every tide from your thirteen seaports, your native produce." But because no blessed Church of God guided the existing Government, the quickly made grave closed over the horrible sight of three million of Ireland's children, dead by starvation or by typhus induced by it, and when the fearful "bad times" were fully, spent, the recording angel had laid at the foot of God's throne his statistics; namely, four miUion of holy ones lost to Erin by starvation and emigration. Monuments mark spots in Canada and elsewhere, beneath which lie the hapless victims of fever-reeking ships, who died by hundreds, unable to proceed further from hunger and disease. CHAPTER II. Without further mishap, Mr. Morrissey and family reached Quebec, where after visiting relatives and friends, they set out for New York, which seemed more to their liking than did the Queen's Dominion. Great Valley in Cattaraugus county offered some in- ducements to the exile, and it was here that Mr. Mor- rissey and family settled. Brought to the notice of certain of the Erie Railroad Company, Mr. Morrissey became associated with them and he soon gained their confidence and respect. His ability and integrity were of much use to the company, who were then construct- ing the Erie Railroad from New York to Dunkirk, and the Morrisseys, who for so long a time had been dwell- ing on the mountain of self-denial, now began to dig out the gold of happiness and prosperity. Not only to the company that employed him, did Mr. Morrissey give satisfaction but also to those men over whom he was placed. To the latter he was an example of sobriety, industry, and peace; for the good ruler of a family is ever the good ruler of those who elsewhere come under his dominion. No wonder that members of the Morrissey family looked with straining eyes to the evening return of such a father, and he with no less pleasurable antici- pations sought them. Thus was Divine Foresight shaping things for the training and development of a soul over whom the plastic fingers of the Creator soon should wander, that i8 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross it might come forth therefrom blessed and finished to ornament in due season His Church. In February, 1856, Mrs. Morrissey's fifth and most favored child was born. The hardihood and develop- ment of the mother had not been decreased by the icy, cold, and bitter squalls of old Erie. The Morrissey endurance was of that strong, wiry constituency peculiar to the mighty Celts who were almost in the van of Europe's barbaric invaders. Great was the joy of husband and family when the waters of Baptism cleansed their little treasure from original sin. This Sacrament was administered on the fourth day after birth, for the pious parents would brook no unnecessary delay in making their child one of God's loveliest and purest. Margaret Catherine was the sweet name the little one received and let us say that its significance lost nothing of its beauty in the life of her, who was so pure a pearl. Soon after Mr. Morrissey's business made it neces- sary to live at Sheridan Center; and the thought of returning to his own land and retaking the fine home of his fathers had to be abandoned; for his afifairs were prospering and the building of a comfortable New York home near his work must needs leave the home in Clare out of the question. In the course of time, other children came, among whom was James, to make good the loss of him who sleeps beneath the Atlantic waves; and Lucy, named after the sweet patroness of the blind, a favorite saint with Margaret and Mrs. Morrissey. In this family was Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 19 fulfilled the consoling description of the Psalmist, who likens the good wife to a fruitful vine, and the children to young olive plants around the table of the God- fearing parents. These days seem to be the happiest in Sarah Morrissey's married life, and well did she thank God, and prayerfully did she watch over the children whom He had sent for her consolation. To the casual observer, there was nothing extra- ordinary about the manner in which the household affairs of the Morrissey family were conducted; yet any one striving after perfection and knowing the difficulties thereof, would find an extraordinary holi- ness in the day's routine. With the regularity and exactness, Mrs. Morrissey performed her own duties and required the same from her children. The morning and evening prayers, the grace at meals, and the daily rosary were duties from which no one, without a grave excuse, was dispensed. The Sunday Mass, Confession and Holy Communion lost none of their unction by the regularity and repetition with which the Mother insisted on their fulfilment. No wonder the little Margaret in after years was an example to her religious Sisters of those virtues which had been so well instilled into her who, in riper years, never suspected that she was doing aught above her plain duty; nor could she think the shirking of exactitude anything short of sin. How often in recreation hour, would Sister M. Paul speak of her mother's fervor at the short and simple grace and rosary; or of the care and industry of her "dear, sweet sister Mary" regarding the younger 20 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross children. To them, Mary was, as they called her, their second mother and how tenderly she filled her self- imposed office was shown by the loving trust they had in her judgment. Evenings in the Morrissey home, were spent either in preparing lessons for the children or in discussions among their circle of friends, calculated to rouse the interest of Margaret in matters political and historical. O'Connell's skill for agitating rather than for fighting made him champion for all time in the mind of our little Margaret. Thus a love for Ireland's history was fostered around the Morrissey hearth; and Margaret, in common with her brothers and sisters, was proud of her country, its traditions, its glorious title of "Insula Doctorum et Sanctorum" ; and above all she gloried in the Faith of her fathers. Margaret's progress at school was remarkable, especially in mathematics, a subject in which she afterwards excelled. Convent schools, in those days, were rare blessings and generally located in large cities; so that our ambitious little Margaret, to- gether with her parents, was obliged to be content with what the public school offers; and to an up- right child like Margaret, home sympathy with the religious instruction she received, somewhat made up for better conditions. "Be noble and the nobil- ity in others will rise to meet your own," was a command in the Morrissey household; and that the nobility in others did meet theirs, was evident, for neighborly intercourse never descended to the ignoble. Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 21 The deprivation of the religious school for his children made Mr. Morrissey doubly careful to instill into his family great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to the Guardian Angels and Saints of God, and in pious practices he was always leader. When deep snow and ice covered the five long miles that stretched between his home and the Church, he excused neither himself nor family from attending Holy Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation. Holding the little hands of his children in his brave ones, he did not halt till he led them up near to the "Holy of Holies." The journey homeward he beguiled with a re- capitulation and explanation of the sermon, and thus they became so well instructed that when little Margaret presented herself for remote prep- aration for First Communion and Confirmation, the presiding priest, Reverend Hugh Barr, C. P., found a soil thoroughly prepared for the growth in holi- ness which was to follow. At this tender age of ten, an incident occurred which shows Margaret's obedience and determination. Some trouble arose between a pupil and the teacher. The parents of the former took the case to court. Witnesses from the school were sum- moned, among them Margaret. Before taking her testimony, the officer, of the law told her to take an oath on the Bible. Margaret refused, whereupon he explained that the oath was necessary. She replied that she would tell the truth, but would not take the oath. 22 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross "May I ask your reason?" said the officer. "Because my father says I am too young to understand what an oath is/' said the resolute little witness. "Are you a Catholic?" said the officer. "Yes, sir," was the simple reply. "Well, then, you may be excused from taking the oath," said he, a little amused at the intrepid youngster. Margaret's devotion for her first reception of the Holy Eucharist, the Sacrament of Love, culminated in a perfect holocaust of self. "To be yours, O dear sweet Lord !" was her heart-song all that day, as her soul floated on an ocean of love; and in the evening, her parents heard her words of enthusiasm and listened to her heart-song. When the tiny Isabella of France, clothed in robes of State, stood before the last of England's Plantagenets, then in the meridian of his splendid manhood, he asked the princess, "Are you willing, my child, to become queen of England and to marry Richard Plantagenet?" "I shall be very happy to become queen of Eng- land and to marry Richard," said the ten-year-old aspirant to the English throne. The court smiled at her precociousness, but Richard took the child and pressed her to his royal heart in which he enshrined her for the remainder of his life, while the court, assembled to witness the betrothal, wondered at the serenity of the queen Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 23 and praised the childish grace and dignity which added luster to infantile royalty. How often does the court of heaven assemble to witness its King take the hand of a small aspirant to His Heart, to His Throne and to His blessed work: and how often does it wonder at the grace and dignity of the aspiring bride, all glowing with virginal love : all wishing to be one of heaven's queens : all eager to be enshrined forever in the heart of Christ ! How He loves to walk among His lilies, culling them when He cannot resist their beauty! Ah me! He delights in prolific gardens, where He finds clusters of rarest qualities, and sweet, small ones to companion the stronger and greater. The Day of First Holy Communion is often the test as to how parents have sown virtue's seed in the wondrous soil given them by the Maker of all things: for the early season shows forth the spring- ing beauty, or the lurking deformity of human plants, and we can discern how the various weeds, trimmed and beautified by the cultivator, resemble the ''gentle race of flowers"; ordinary flowers be- come rare exotics; and rare exotics superb growths, exhibiting all the possibilities of the species. See the cultivator, Monica, at work; she does not re- linquish the pruning shears of admonition, nor the sprinkler of prayer till she sees her obdurate weed attain all floral prerogatives. See also the exotics. Saints Ursula and Agnes: did they not acquire their full growth, their complete development, as exotics? The Morrisseys were among the best sowers of 24 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross virtues' seeds, and their little Margaret's First Communion Day demonstrated how they had worked up the rich and yielding soil of her soul. There was in her nature a characteristic which dominated her all through her life; namely, she kept nothing on her mind, whether of joy or sorrow, that she did not communicate to those in authority, and once communicated she became tranquil. Hence before retiring on that eventful night, when heaven seemed to have bowed down to her little corner of earth and made her exuberant with those delights which only God's chosen ones know, she sat between father and mother and acquainted them with what our Lord had whispered to her in the morning. Both listened in reverent silence, for the God-fearing parents felt highly favored that a child of theirs should be called into the "hollow places of the rocks" where, undisturbed, she would hold converse with the Lover of her soul. Too full for words, her father stroked her brown hair and her mother's tearful eyes bespoke her emotion. See- ing which, Margaret fondly kissed her parents and bade them, "good-night," feeling rather than hearing their words of approbation and the sweet blessings that fell from their loving eyes and kindly voices. We can imagine her entreaties that night when she was alone with her angel guardian, for she was ever in the habit of asking him to protect her, to rule her, and to guide her: but on this blessed occa- sion, she felt the almost sensible assurance that he Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 25 would not quit his post till he had conducted her safe to her heavenly country. But Margaret's parents corresponding to grace, like unto the blessed Mother of God, kept what their child had told them, pondering over it in their hearts. Patrick broke the silence by remarking, "Well, Sarah, St. Paul says: 'Both he that giveth his virgin in marriage doth well : and he that giveth her not, doth better.'" "These are consoling words," said Sarah, "and proud shall I be, if our Lord calls our dear Mar- garet to the state of virginity"; whereupon Patrick took from the shelf an old volume and turning over the pages, he said: "We have not much reason to like the opinion of the cruel Saxon : but Saxon saints are different, and this opinion of St. Aedhelm concerning what Margaret has just said, is as fine as if one of our own Irish saints had written it." "Read it," replied his wife, eagerly, and Patrick read : "Virginity is gold, celibacy is silver, matrimony is brass. Virginity is riches, celibacy is freedom, matrimony is captivity. Virginity is peace, celibacy is competency, matrimony is poverty. Virginity is a sun, celibacy is a lamp, matrimony is a servant." "Had I been well read in these beautiful things," said Sarah, "I think I would have done what Mar- garet thinks of doing." "And should you not think yourself honored overmuch by being the mother of one of those 26 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross consecrated virgins, whom St. Paul extols in the passage which I have just read?" said her husband, 'f o this Sarah assented, and it was with full hearts that both knelt before God to pour out the emotions of love and gratitude which the progress of that sweet day had heaped up in their hearts. About this time the Passionist Fathers of Dun- kirk arranged to have Mass celebrated in Sheridan Center on the fifth Sunday of the months having five Sundays : Mr. Morrissey's home was blessed by having the great Mysteries celebrated therein. We can imagine the tender love of his children in dec- orating the altar and arranging everything connected with the Divine Service. Reverend Hugh Barr, C. P., generally said Mass on these occasions. His atten- tion was centered upon little Margaret and her brother J . . ., for he recognized in them those qualities which give promise of vocations to the religious life. Margaret was directed by him, and through him her attention was turned to the Pas- sionist nuns, whose novitiate is in Italy. St. Teresa strongly recommended prudent, learned, and far-seeing directors to guide souls to the heights, and had Mr. Morrissey's children con- tinued to be directed by such, we do not hesitate to say that there were four vocations among them ; but Margaret's vocation being the strongest, she adhered most tenaciously to the inner call, and her subsequent action realized, her fondest hopes. Both school and home duties received a new impulse, and her attention led her to the first place in her Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 27 class and to the highest respect in the Morrissey household. Perfection is the result of attention to small things, and toward perfection she continu- ally aimed. To her teachers she showed the most respectful deference, which, in later years, she trans- ferred with more loving and reverential intensity to her Superiors. To her school-companions she was ever the kind, considerate friend, who put them forward, keeping herself in the background; yet they found her inexorable regarding faults to which children are unfortunately heirs. To use school- girl phraseology, they found her a fierce teller of truth, a fierce defender of justice; and let us add, that the exercise of those virtues sometimes caused fierce, childish troubles. Her methods in matters of justice were all through life most direct and un- compromising. She soared in a region of truth so high, that quibble, prevarication, or even that neces- sary quality which we call tact, could not follow. Tact was a quality that she labored in vain to weave into the warp and woof of her dealings with humanity, and fortunate was it for her that her life work needed little of the tactician's skill. It was argued that the cultivation of tact would make her more useful to her neighbor, but she had a way of being useful without this kind of human prudence, for true words (being the children of true thought and true thought the offspring of a noble life) gave method and vigor to Margaret's procedure. CHAPTER III. In this work-a-day world of ours, in its apparent greed for riches and honors and in its disregard for the Ten Commandments, we are inclined to think that few of its votaries are living in the fear and love of God. Not so, for if we look but closely, we shall dis- cover many peaceful Nazareths in which live holy families with Josephs and Marys, close imitators of their great prototypes. Under their rule dwell children patterned after the Child Jesus, and so holy and smooth passes their existence that they do not realize the dread proximity of Calvary and that all who ascend its heights are cross-laden. A Naza- reth, in truth, had been the Morrissey home: but swift and sudden were its inmates transported there- from and placed on Calvary's summit. Mr. Morrissey, as we have stated, had been in the employ of the Erie Railroad Company, and to it he had given five years of profitable service. In return he had enjoyed the highest confidence and appreciation of the Company. But grim destiny was abroad. On the twenty-ninth of October, 1870, his train was steaming towards Dunkirk: halt- ing at a small station outside the City, Mr. Mor- rissey saw a friend of his on the platform. He stepped from his coach to greet this friend, and being interested in the conversation that ensued, he did not observe that his train was moving on. Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 29 With his wonted agility, he attempted to board the train; but his foot having slipped, he struck his head against the coach, and losing all consciousness, fell to the ground. In a few moments all was over, and the in- scrutible decree of God prevailed. Mrs. Morrissey, little dreaming of catastrophe, together with her children, was preparing for his glad return, which indeed was prompt, but, alas ! not glad. Perhaps nothing shows forth more the beauty of Christianity than the manner in which its followers bear overwhelming grief. When the first paroxysm of pain was over, Mrs. Morrissey summoned her fortitude, and taking her eight wailing children, she knelt with them before a picture of our Mother of Sorrows and there she offered her own grief with theirs. Long and earnest- ly did she mingle sobs and prayers, whilst sym- pathetic friends cared for the dead. From the kneeling group up rose Margaret, the most grief- stricken of all, and dashing away her tears, she clasped her mother about the neck and exclaimed: "Mother, don't cry. I'll work for you instead of father." How this determination was effected, we learn from her subsequent work both as student and teacher. The death of her beloved father was a sorrow, the poignancy of which remained with her till death as the following letter written a month before her demise will show: 30 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross ''Feast of St. Teresa, October 15, 1912. "My own beloved ones : "It seems a long time since I have heard from home, but I hope you are well. Time passes so quickly that soon another Christmas will be present and then I will get my loving Christmas letters from all. Soon also that eternal Christmas will dawn when we will be reunited with our devoted par- ents. Just two weeks from today will be October twenty-ninth. How well I remember October twenty-ninth, 1870! Our noble father, called so suddenly from his tender, saintly wife and his idol- ized children. Do you remember our brave brother P ? — how at once he took father's place and thus we remained in our home in Sheridan Center, a paradise on earth with our dear saintly mother, its queen. Just think, forty-two years have flown so rapidly, each one of which has been marked with God's special blessings on my loved ones. Courage, my dear people. Continue in your noble life of faith and of hope and of love of God till you hear the Master's call, 'Come and be crowned.' "No doubt, you are anxious to know how I have been since I got that stroke four years ago. I have enjoyed good health. Of course, the attack weakened my system so that I cannot use my head in constant mental work, without great fatigue, hence I do not accomplish as much teaching as formerly and I rest when tired. "The shock left me without any painful effects, as is generally the case, so I am 'up and doing' — Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 31 no organic trouble whatever, thank God ! I owe it to the tenderness of our Heavenly Father and to the prayers of dear Reverend Father C. and the dear members of the community, our esteemed Mother A. leading. "You, my dear people, have perhaps the most share in my full recovery. May God love and bless you all ! Pardon my egotism, but I know you are anxious to learn just how I am. "The mountain air in St. Helena is most salubri- ous. We have a large fig tree which yields so abundantly of delicious figs that I wish I could send you some. We have them morning, noon and night — if we want them. Last evening we sent a box of them to Santa Rosa for dear Sister T.'s feast-day. She is one of the Sisters who was anointed the same week that I was, four years ago. Life is a road, long for some, short for others, but for all, no return. Let us love one another. Be kind and tender in all your dealings with your own. The Morrissey family of Sheridan Center owes its fine history of Faith and Hope and Love to the beautiful Rosary recited every night for so many years. Continue to say it daily and have K.'s darlings say it together. It will work wonders in this age of indifference to our holy Faith." We draw a veil over the family while they were dwellers on Calvary. Mrs. Morrissey had drained her chalice to the dregs and her little ones drank it according to their capacity, but Margaret's great affection and tenderness toward those she loved. 32 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross caused her to receive a double portion of the bitter draught and to feel most keenly of all the sense of loss. When the fearful shock had somewhat subsided, both she and the family with extraordinary courage faced again the same problem which had confronted their father on his arrival in the United States, and here again was God directing their destines for His all-wise ends. With great generosity came the officials of the road, who placed young Patrick Morrissey, Jr., though a mere boy, in a section of the road that gave lucrative employment to the youthful bread- winner. Possessing integrity and honor in his deal- ings, charity and kindness towards all, we do not wonder that young Patrick not only reached his father's position but also went ahead so amazingly that he became to the family a second father. Margaret, true to her word that she would work for her mother, redoubled her energies and began to teach before she had attained the age of sixteen, a phenomenal age for one who must rule the noisy mansion, called the school-house. Nor did the bod- ing tremblers ever learn to trace the day's disaster on Margaret's face; for hers was serene and young even as their own; and if perchance these little students did find her "Severe in aught, well they knew that The love [she] bore to learning was the fault." Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 33 Her success as a teacher was due, not only to ability and daily preparation but also to her diligence in studying pedagogical methods of the progressive kind. Her fervor at daily Mass and her mile's walk thereto and her attention to patrons of her school, all helped to make her work speed along on prosperous lines. Those engaged in the profession of teaching dis- cover sooner or later that no forming or informing will ever make two persons alike in thought or power. Among all men "their differences are eternal and irreconcilable even among those born under the same circumstances." So, too, Margaret's intel- ligence, wandering over her young charges, became convinced that some were "agates and needed polish- ing; some were oaks, and needed seasoning; some were slate and needed rending; others clay and needed molding." She also felt that each type had its proper place in God's fair world, the finding of which place would make their shining beautiful, but with a beauty consistent with their nature. God, delighting in variety and never tiring His creatures with monotony, had given her these, His children, to study, not only that she might help them to satisfy their natural cravings for mere knowledge, which craving is a concomitant of educa- tion, but, also, what is far more important, that she might direct the purposes of life which would be theirs to fulfill in order to be crowned with the blessings which must needs follow. How ardently did she long to have a school in which she could 34 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross freely exercise her love for God towards His little ones, and how she prayed Him to hasten the time when her dear mother could dispense with her assistance ! Saturdays she spent at home, and her little brother James accompanied her to Mass. The boy- nature in him could not account for his sister's pro- longed stay after Mass, nor could her instruction on the holy mysteries, or the utility of prayer reconcile him to penitential aches about the knees and to lengthened inactivity during the early Saturday hours so dear to the school-boy. Reverend Father Barr, C. P., as we have stated above, showed a lively interest in Margaret's voca- tion and still urged her to go to Italy to the novi- tiate of the Passionist nuns. Soon after this, how- ever, the Ursulines of Brown County, Ohio, were brought under Margaret's notice, and after sundry conferences on the exact place and Order to which God seemed to be calling her, she finally decided with the aid of her director to remain in America and to give her life to God among that portion of His children nestled in one of the vast forests of Ohio. Reverend Father Hugh Barr and others of the Passionist monastery wrote eulogistic letters con- cerning the young candidate, so that she was promptly and enthusiastically received by the Ursu- lines of St. Martin's, Brown County, Ohio. Her assistance at home being no longer needed, she, with characteristic speed, commenced preparations to enter on Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 35 the religious life, and having, at the end of the term, resigned her position in the public school, she applied herself to prayer and to the study of the spirit of St. Angela. The time of departure was approaching, and as the days were hastening towards the one upon which she must bid adieu to all that she loved on earth, a great wave of desolation swept over her soul, and so strongly did it threaten to overwhelm her that even prayer did not bring her the strength to break down the barrier between nature and grace. In this extremity she conferred with her experienced Father Barr, who questioned, "Does your mother's heart weigh more than your Lord's?" The reply in her heart made her decide at once to sever all the ties that bound her to her mother and her cherished family. She immediately began her per- sonal preparation to go to Brown County. Her intentions she made known only to her Confessor and to her family. On the morning of her depart- ure, she was so joyful that she seemed to forget that this time she would not return at the end of the week. She started for the train without saying "Good-by" : then she reflected and returned. Her mother and brother James were to accompany her as far as Dunkirk, at which place they were met by the Rev. Joseph Flanagan, C. P., who remained with them until the train moved from the station. Margaret re- mained calm until she bade her mother "good-by": then for the first time nature asserted itself and she wept with the anguish of parting from so loved a parent. 36 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross Margaret wrote home in her first letter, "I looked from the car window, and when I saw mother's face, I could not refrain from crying, and for a long time I could not regain my self-control." She was met in Cincinnati by Rev. Alexis Bier- mier, C. P., who accompanied her to the Convent, where she arrived at seven in the evening. In Mar- garet's eight-mile drive in the Convent bus, she observed the fine road splendidly paved by the efforts of the pioneer Ursulines. On either side of this road, wild roses and other flowers peculiar to Ohio hedge the way while glints in the forest let in the ruddy light of sunset. She thus described her impressions: "A sudden rift in the trees made a fellow pas- senger exclaim, 'Ah, there's Old Brown !' Looking where his eyes indicated, I beheld the domes of the Convent. A shrill whistle from Dan the driver, a little further travel, and the 'bus' halts at the board- ing-house. Dan throws down the mail : another crack of the whip and then on through the Convent grounds. 'Here is Lake Stanislaus!' triumphantly calls out another passenger, well acquainted with the topography of the domain. 'See the girls, lean- ing on their oars : look at the swans ! See them swim ! And those beautiful Australian ducks !' "I admire everything, the arbors, the rolling lawn, the priests' house and the winding driveway. Our conveyance pulls up at the main building and the passengers alight. Another crack of the whip and the bus heads for Fayetteville, where Dan finds surcease from toil till the morrow." PART II CHAPTER IV. A holy ardor marked Margaret's swift ascent up the high flight of steps leading to the hall door of the Convent. The portresses were there as was their wont on the arrival of the 'bus. A few moments more and Margaret was welcomed by the Mother Superior, Mother Theresa, and by the Mistress of Novices, Mother Ursula. At this first meeting, mutual love and trust were born, which grew apace with time. Supper over, Margaret with Mother Ursula escorted Rev. Father Biermier to the priests' house, wherein he received genuine French hospital- ity from Rev. Father Cheymol, the Sisters' Chaplain. Returning to the parlor, Margaret knelt beside her spiritual Mother and in humble but glowing words thanked her for having received one so un- worthy as she deemed herself to be. "To dwell under the same roof with my Lord is my great joy!" she said, "and how I wish to make my life henceforth one grand act of thanksgiving!" Then kissing the hand of her Mistress of Novices, she asked to visit our Lord in His Tabernacle. Once there, how she poured forth her thanks, how she dedicated her future life, and how she spoke of those who mourned her loss! — all this can be imag- ined by those who knew the fervor of her outpour- ings of love before our Lord on the Altar. So fervent was she that she heeded not the wonder of art, the beautiful chapel, wherein rested the golden 40 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross Tabernacle of the Prisoner of Love. Here the pain of separation and the fatigue of traveling totally vanished; for when she reappeared, so refreshed was she that she seem^ed like one who had found her true place in the deep security of conventual dwell- ing: the compass needle of her inclinations had found its polar star and was at rest; hence, no more weary flutterings at the pivot upon which previous resolution had been revolving. Ensuing days unfolded to her how rich was the happiness of a life that was spiritually nourishing so great a number of human beings, the noblest and happiest on earth — human beings, who, bent on perfecting the functions of body and soul to the utmost, were concomitantly obtaining the widest possible influence over others. A strange commonwealth she found, which annihilating self-interest, transfers all energies to the community whose weal is the business of each member. The first weeks of Margaret's postulation were spent in observing the labyrinthic ways of the build- ing, in becoming acquainted with the daily routine, and in the performance of such duties as candidates are given, the while their gold is being tested in the alembic of spirituality and common sense. The following letter to her sister Ursulines in London, Ohio, will illustrate both her work and small first trials: "Dear Sisters : "Mother says that we novices must take turns in sending to you each day's news, and since my turn Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 41 comes to-day, I feel myself honored overmuch in being scribe : every twenty-fifth day I presume I shall write, for we are twenty-five novices. "My Angel,* Sister Antonia, is acquitting herself in my behalf with zeal and discretion; besides she is ingenious in circumventing my mistakes. She has given me 'Tact' as a little virtue to practise; but with all her help, I find myself in trouble enough. As an instance, a few days ago, I went to the Chapel and there before the Blessed Sacrament, I found Sister Bernardine in tears. I went to her and said, 'Crying, Sister? Crying, and the Spouse so near?' Sister gave me an amused though grate- ful look, but said nothing. I told Sister Antonia what I had done and how Sister Bernardine had said never a word in answer to my sympathy, to which Sister Antonia replied, 'Sister Bernardine has lost a dear friend; and you, without permission, should not speak to the older nuns, nor should you without necessity speak in Chapel.' "Another cross came later. I have charge of the aquarium. The other night, I filled it with water but I did not notice that I had poured in water above the safety mark for the gold-fish. Next morning, I found the dear little things on the floor quite dead. Hope against hope compelled me to throw the fishes back into the aquarium — but, alas! they sank to the bottom. Forgetting my finely * Angel is a name given to the sister who installs the incoming postulant. f 42 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross laundered dress, I put my arm up to the shoulder into the water. "Finally securing the fish ; and with sleeves and cape dripping, I took them to their owner. Mother Berchmans. I met her in the children's corridor, and promptly falling on my knees, and still dripping from shoulders and elbows, I accused myself of my carelessness. Then I awaited results. Mother Berch- mans said, 'My child, tell your Mistress of Novices what has occurred and she will attend to it.' "I arose and hastened to Mother's 'cabinet,' where I learned that giving an account of one's faults should not be done in public places. For penance, I was told to take the Life of St. Francis of Assisi to chapel and read his little sermon to the fishes : indeed, the pathetic sight of the little creatures that my carelessness had killed was quite a penance in itself. I resolved to be very careful as to accusing myself in public places and to be more attentive to my charges. Love to all." Margaret's first letters to her family are most flattering to "Brown County," as the Convent of St. Martin's is sometimes called; especially was she impressed by the culture of the sisters, whom she likened to a congregation of scholars, secluded with- in their goodly acres with never a thing to bring them into contact with the commonplace. Their dwelling was a seat of learning for young ladies not only of Ohio but also of surrounding States. Even Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 43 Europeans and South Americans were among the students. "Indian summer is making the upper air brilliant with its wealth of crimson, gold, and russet; while gorgeously repeating these tints in the leafy carpets underneath. The soft, dreamy atmosphere and the deep, religious quiet quicken the pulse of body and of soul" — such is some of the description in Margaret's first letters to her expectant mother and sisters. In another letter, we find her impression of God's Acre wherein lie some of her Ursuline predecessors. She describes this resting place of the dead, the sunniest, sweetest place — quite in keeping with the beautiful lines of Davis: "Nor sods too deep; but so that the dew, The matted grass-roots, may trickle through. Be (their) epitaph writ on (their) country's mind They served (their) country and loved (their) kind." "The little head-stones," Margaret wrote, "are as uniform as the dress the sisters wore in life, and like heaven's great cosmopolitan assembly, so seemed these sleepers — French and German, Spanish and Italian, English and Irish, Austrian and American — for these nations had recruited "Old Brown," from their lofty womanhood, and these women in turn, recruited heaven by a still loftier type, sainted womanhood. Larger head-stones mark the resting place of beloved friends: Mrs. Johanna Purcell, mother of the great Metropolitan and (Thurch pioneer of the West, Most Reverend John Baptist Purcell, D. D. ; Miss Kate, his sister; beside whom are two 44 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross vacant places to be occupied later, the one by Father Edward Purcell, brother of the Archbishop, and the other by the great Prelate himself, who whilst yet in life has signified the intention that his mortal remains should lie amidst those of his beloved Ursulines." Hearing from time to time bits of sweetest his- tory concerning sleepers beneath these humble little head-stones, Margaret was wont to exclaim, "How the mighty ones have fallen !" Indeed, had the royal bard known Christian types of womanhood, his panegyric over them would be scarcely less touch- ing than that uttered over Saul and Jonathan. At the tomb of Mother Julia Chatfield, Margaret often lingered. The spirit of this noble woman still dominated all. Her example while living, was an incentive to good, as may be seen from the follow- ing pages. Very Reverend James Callaghan, D. D., says of her: "An English lady by birth, a convert to the faith by the grace of God ; a daughter of St. Ursula by her religious profession; — the foundress of a Convent and Academy famed far and wide for the piety and educational ability of its sisterhood, which this great nun trained for their high and holy voca- tion; a Superioress for thirty years, always fulfilling the command of the Divine Master to His Apostles by being the least among her sisters and the servant of all. Mother Julia Chatfield, whose name is spoken by thousands with a tender veneration which her virtue never failed to inspire, was of the saints of earth. She is numbered with the saints in heaven. Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 45 In this broad land the virgins of the sanctuary, now counted by thousands, are the pride and joy of the Catholic Church. By their angelic purity, by their ceaseless charity, by their prayers that burn with the deepest love of God, these cloistered hidden souls make our faith divinely beautiful to men who turn a deaf ear to the word of God. Among these chosen souls, whom God can make by the gift of His graces, so beautiful and strong, having all the traits of the Valiant woman,' there could be none more dear to God than the venerable and venerated Superioress of the Ursulines of St. Martins, whom God called to her great reward on the Feast of All Souls. It would be no excessive praise to apply to her who wore with honor the religious habit for forty-two years, the words of the Office of a spouse of Christ: 'Many daughters have gathered riches, but thou hast surpassed them all.' The holiness of her life, and the great work which her rare virtues performed cannot be told in words. It is written in more enduring characters in the inexhaustible labors, the patient toil of thirty years; it is inscribed within the walls of the Convent that will perpetuate her praise from year to year in the warm attachment of the family of God, who knew her only by the title of Notre Mere; in the perfect discipline, and the interior spirit which her example breathed into her now sorrow-stricken community; in that strange power which she exercised, so marked, so clearly defined in the Convent of St. Martin's of assimilating to herself every fresh accession and of winning 46 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross through the virgin family she trained the hearts of the thousands of pupils who bless to-day her sacred memory. The Spirit of God was largely given to her, and the successful work of her life was to impart to her spiritual children the same spirit. Thirty years ago this good and great nun left the Convent of the Ursulines at Boulogne-sur-mer in France at the invitation of the Archbishop of Cincinnati to build a fair, rich tabernacle to God in a Western wilderness. She was called to a hard and difficult undertaking. But little of wordly assistance could be offered to her, for the then young Bishop of Cincinnati had no wealth to keep pace with his zeal. He was the poorest of the poor. But this faithful nun was filled with the spirit of her vocation; she knew that it was well to be poor for Christ's sake. Like St. Theresa, she and he who had invited her to this new field where the harvest has been so golden, so precious, while they confessed themselves nothing, knew that God and a little human help working with them were everything. The past tells us how abundantly her trust in God has been rewarded. The log-cabin where she built her first cells for the community has long since disappeared. In its place has risen the large, beautiful, spacious Convent and Academy of St. Martins; the wilderness has literally blossomed and bloomed into a garden of roses, which has filled hundreds of homes with the sweet, fragrant odor of Christian piety and knowledge. She and nearly all who shared in her struggles with poverty and in her joy of being made like Him Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 47 who was poor for the sake of His brethren, have fallen asleep. But before that eternal rest came, God built for Himself through her more grandly and successfully than this humble religious had ever dreamed of. It was God's work: she was the hum- ble, well-chosen instrument, and the work was ac- complished. Thirty years of the precious, holy life of Mother Julia was given to the training of her admirable sisterhood and to the education of thou- sands who bless the day they crossed the threshold of St. Martins; thirty years in the full maturity of her wisdom and of her spiritual strength was the offering that was laid at the feet of Jesus Christ in the silence of that wilderness. What tongue shall even stammeringly tell the good that others have reaped from that offering? Who will measure the knowledge of God imparted by her, the love of virtue kindled, the sorrows soothed, and the blessings that have streamed from that fountain of piety over a young and tender generation, entrusted by parents to this wise and prudent virgin? God's day alone will reveal all this. We hope to see it in the fulness of His light. It is a sufficient indication of the merits of Mother Julia to say that she was perfect in the observance of her Rule and in the practice of the spirit of the Institute. The greatest self-denial of religious life is rigid and persevering adherence to the rule of conventual life in all its details. From this, springs the wonderful unity of religious life. It is thus that the actions, habits, and wishes, and 48 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross the words and works of all are cast in one divine mold. It is the source of that beautiful charity, stronger than any natural love which binds a holy sisterhood together, and which was so deeply im- pressed by the guidance and example of Mother Julia upon her community. In Mother Julia, from out the routine and severe simplicity of the common, exact, religious life, there shone forth a rare intelligence, an intensity of char- ity, and a heavenly form of wisdom, which marks those called to be rulers of as well as examples to their sisterhood. What shall we say of the external proof of the holiness of her life ; namely, her zeal for the welfare of others? In the beautiful institute which she en- tered in the days of her young womanhood, she found the means of saving souls and of promoting God's glory. Even in the stress of physical suffer- ing, she never flagged or gave herself the slightest release from the work of doing good to others. The vow which she registered to instruct others in the ways of wisdom, was most faithfully fulfilled. On the white, unwritten page of the souls of the pupils of St. Martins, she traced deeply the lessons of the eternal truth by the veneration which her virtue elicited. The career of her pupils through life, while it shows that the seed of knowledge did not dry up and wither in their hearts, at the same time tells how perfectly Mother Julia fulfilled her blessed voca- tion. To have had such an instructress was a special benediction. How many of them have felt this ! Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 49 Many a time in the hour of seductive or fierce temptation has the former pupil of St. Martins seen rising before her in fancy's vision, the holy nun w^ho w^as her mistress in the convent, and the meek re- proach or solemn warning which that vision brought, was a saving grace. It was she whose memory threw over all the pupils a network of affection, which seemed to cover and keep them together, no matter how much they might be separated by dis- tance. No one charged with the government of others possessed a greater power of discerning dispositions and molding characters. She was a wise virgin and of the number of the prudent. She found out natural inclinations, and by her fostering care, they were developed into virtue. She could gently lay hold of every principle of goodness in the soul of a young pupil or novice and give to it by her words and example the strength of endurance. But the full value of the life of Mother Julia, its sustained consistency, the beauty of holiness that was within, God alone knew, and she wished that God alone should know it. God gave to her four years of suffering before merciful death came, so that the patience of the martyr might complete the work of His grace in her soul. During that slow, often agonizing approach to the grave, no murmur ever escaped her lips, no shadow of complaint crossed the face of this wise virgin. "Blessed is that servant whom when the Lord shall come he shall find so doing." Over forty 50 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross years ago the minister of God said to her on the threshold of the sanctuary in the beautiful ritual of the profession of an Ursuline, "Come, Spouse of Christ. Receive the crown which the Lord hath prepared for thee from Eternity." The crown to which she was called, which she seized with more eagerness and love than any queen ever sought earthly diadem, was the crown of self-denial, the crown of sacrifice. Into that pure white crown God wove the red of His Passion. Unstained she wore it for more than forty years. She was thus pre- pared for the coming of the Heavenly Bridegroom on the day of the week sacred to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Patronal Feast of the religious community to which she belonged. Under the patronage of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, she placed the convent she built, and the pious community gathered within its walls. On All Souls' Day, the day on which the whole Church is breathing forth its prayers for the souls of the faithful departed, God lovingly called to Himself this faithful servant. Again she heard the words of consolation spoken by the Master Himself: "Come, Spouse of Christ. Come, thou shalt be crowned; receive the crown of eternal joy, the reward of a life of continuous sacrifice." On November 4th, 1876, Feast of St. Charles Bor- romeo, one of the special saintly patrons of the Ur- suline Order, the mourning sisters of Mother Julia Chatfield laid to rest the body which had enshrined as pure, as noble a soul as was ever consecrated to God's service by the hand of religion. Her portion is surely life everlasting. CHAPTER V. Notre Mere, as Mother Julia was fondly called, together with her nine associates, had followed closely in the footprints of St. Angela, the beautiful prototype of Ursulines; and since Margaret was studying the spirit and labors of such saintly women, a word also of the blessed Maid of Desenzano, may not be out of place. St. Angela of Merici was not only the Morning Star of feminine education but also was she the exemplar of its practical activities. At Desenzano, Italy, where the holy maiden Hved, she gathered around her young girls, her former friends and playmates, whom she trained in the ways of God. They in turn became her coadjutors and con- tinued her glorious work. Their native Italy rang with approval of and astonishment at Angela's grasp of the needs of the time and her efforts in supplying it with an educated womanhood. Out upon the war-racked world, out upon the devastated trail of Louis XII. in his campaign of French dom- ination in Italy, went Angela's counteracting forces to alleviate the horrors along the bloody trail of the ruthless Gaston de Foix — Bayard tells us twenty- two thousand persons, regardless of age or sex, were butchered by the soldiery in Brescia alone. The holy Maid of Dezenzano, as St. Angela was called, followed up the spoiler and brought consola- tion to the stricken inhabitants of her native Brescia. 52 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross. To imitate St. Angela and the many holy predeces- sors in the Ursuline Order was Margaret's ambition. She longed for the day to come when she would be allowed to go among the children to continue St. Angela's noble work. Postulants of the Ursuline Order are not ad- mitted to penitential practices; but Margaret, in the secrecy of her cell, was using a sharp discipline, the same she was wont to use in her little dormitory in Sheridan Center. Some misgiving as to whether she should perform this bodily mortification without the sanction of obedience, caused her to seek counsel from the Mistress of Novices. The latter, knowing that in Margaret she was in possession of a golden treasure that must needs be purified from every dross, reproved her severely for her liberty of spirit in this respect and told her to replace the scourge until told to use it under direction. Margaret obeyed with docility and set about her other duties, thinking that perhaps their difficulties would offer some com- pensation for this deprivation. Another letter which she sent to the nuns alluded to in a previous letter shows how she tried to secure this compensation : "Dear Sisters: "Again my turn veers round to send you a few lines and, I must say, it is a real pleasure. The novices here are queer beings. Do you know that they are as avaricious of hard, uninviting work as people generally are of congenial tasks? To-day we were sent to wash the dishes and what do you Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 53 think? There was a scramble as to who should secure for her portion of the work the ugly, greasy pots and pans. I entered the lists and won. *'At an early hour this morning, Sister A in some mysterious way became cognizant of the fact that there was an unusually big wash. I also hap- pened into the laundry at an early hour and found her in check apron and sabots, her fine white arms careering up and down on the washboard in rhythmic melody while copious perspiration kept up a run- ning accompaniment. I approached her and prof- fered my services, but I was told I had no permis- sion; so I returned and found a group of other novices laughing, while one was relating some inci- dent evidently amusing. I joined the group and be- tween their fits of mirth I heard the following: "Very early this morning Sister G heard a violent ringing of the front door-bell. Urging her speed to its utmost, she opened the door and there stood John Doolan the foreman. " 'Sister,' he said excitedly. 'Charlie Swan is dead.' "'Did the priest reach him in time?' inquired Sister G A loud laugh from John brought indignant blood to Sister's cheek, while John be- tween fits of uncontrollable laughter said, 'Sure it would be a quare thing entirely to send Father Cheymol to the poor swan, although some say the crathers can go to some heaven of their own.' "On the strength of this incident, we obtained recreation, and Sister G was called upon 54 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross many times during the day to relate her story of Charlie Swan, and (tell it not in Gath), the story lost nothing by reiterations in German, French, and English. "An ocean of love is 'flowing towards you from here, and since every little helps, I add my tribute, so that each Sister may be as greedy as she chooses in appropriating her share." Thus in convents, where wordly affairs are absent, little things provoke mirth, and cheerfulness holds sway. To this fact Margaret was keenly alive. She noticed also how innocent scenes threw the charm of uncorrupted life over her youthful co- workers, making their amusements frequent while smoothing the harshness of life. She observed, too, that the ascetic severity practiced in religious com- munities is so tempered that it never freezes the genial current of God-given mirth and laughter, and who so happy and cheerful as God's saints who pos- sess the sesame of life's full meaning? Try this sesame, ye who would drink deep of the cup of joy and prove how good a thing it is to serve the Lord your God. From this cup Margaret was daily refreshed while its inebriating effects kept her in perpetual gladness and made her long for the day of her religious clothing. Great was her dis- appointment, however, when she became aware that she must wait some months for a postulant who entered later than herself, thus avoiding two cere- monies in close sequence. This postponement she bore with her usual serenity, and by prayer and Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 55 mortification she made herself daily more worthy of the spiritual engagement that she was to contract with her Lord and Spouse. The novices near whom she sat at table marveled to see that even on Feast-days she seemed never to gratify the palate; nor did she take food for any other purpose than as a means to obtain life's best results, suppressing every craving to the contrary, although when server she was careful to procure for others the best within her reach. She looked upon her monastic little world as a miniature Utopia; and in later life, when she came in contact with socialists and their theory of com- munity life, she frequently waxed warm on their stupidity, who if they cared to study could see in every monastery a perfect Utopia. Such study would convince her how admirably adapted to the highest ideals are monastic institutions. Should they find therein a healthy severity, they would also find a healthy joy and happiness. Those, who by nature, are inert and tepid would perforce become useful, filling some void in this well organized common- wealth. Here would be grappled the two wonder- ful problems that stagger human intelligence : "The one, the rhapsody of grace, that makes saints; the other, the dirge of disgrace, that makes sinners." "Keep your rule, my child, and your rule will keep you," was the counsel which Margaret often received from her holy Mistress of Novices; and the study of the rules helped her over the period of waiting to receive the veil. Margaret's joy was in- 56 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross creasing as the period was decreasing. "But," sug- gested Mother Ursula, "what if you are not re- ceived ! Had you not better have your trunk in readiness in the event of your being obliged to return home?" "Mother, I shall never go; for our Lord would not do anything so diametrically opposed to the will of one whom He knows wishes with all her heart to be His alone." Notwithstanding her brave speech, she redoubled her prayers and austerities and calmly awaited re- sults. Great, therefore, was her happiness when the moment came to make her demands for admission into the Ursuline Order and greater still her joy on hearing, "My child, you have been received into the Community. Come this evening to begin your prep- aration for the religious clothing." Money to cover expenses of reception was in Mar- garet's possession, but this she laid before Mother Ursula with the requests that it might be used for any purpose she wished and that a costume worn by one of her predecessors might be remodeled for herself. She discovered also an old cloak which had belonged to a saintly deceased nun. This mantle she earnestly asked to be given her, for as poverty was to St. Francis a delight, a treasure — to Margaret it seemed not less so. These matters settled to her satisfaction, she entered on her retreat and three days thereafter, the splendid ceremonial of the Order of St. Ursula was carried out in the chapel, and Margaret, now bear- Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 57 ing the name of Sister Mary Paul, arose from the solemn Prostration, which is a closing feature of the ceremony, to embrace her sisters into the company of whom she had sought admission. CHAPTER VI. The Novitiate now began in earnest, and each day Sister Mary Paul, as she will henceforth be called, was becoming more convinced that it was good beyond all else to serve the Lord; and she strove more than ever to live her Ursuline life in all its fulness. We have said in the early chapters of this biography that the Passionist Order had interested our saintly novice, and now that she bore the name of its holy Founder, St. Paul of the Cross, she took him for her model, and those who worked beside her knew how closely she followed in his footprints. Like Enoch of old, she "walked with God." It astonished her co-workers to note the number of visits she made daily to our dear Lord in His Tabernacle, especially when they knew that two flights of stairs and long corridors lay between her duties and the chapel and that often only a genuflec- tion and fervent aspiration could be the extent of her visit. Her quickness in these visits was likened to a humming-bird in its darting, carrying back similarly sweet nectar for future life and strength. Wher^ told that she was fatiguing herself by so much effort, she would smilingly say, "He who loves, labors not." As star differs from star in glory, so likewise novitiate differs from novitiate in the brightness of Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 59 virtue. It so happened that Sister Mary Paul's lines fell among the brightest of these dove-cots, and as she says in one of her letters, she was profoundly edified by the manner in which her sister-novices vied with one another in the race not only to win heaven, but also the highest heaven. Over this novitiate, as has been said, presided the saintly Mother Ursula, who for love of her spiritual children and their heaven-directed interests could not be surpassed. Her wise counsel and her vigi- lance had but one aim, the perfection of the lives committed to her care. Manifestation of conscience according to the usage of the Ursuline Directory, was practiced by the novices, and whatever abuses concerning this whole- some mortification occurred elsewhere, among Sister Mary Paul's sister novices, it was productive of the highest good. The evening manifestation, preparing as it did for the morrow's Holy Communion, was always a step heavenward, and steadily and surely did it advance the upward journey. Time was so divided by prayer, study, and man- ual labor that the best moral, mental, and physical results accrued therefrom and Sister Mary Paul's alacrity along these lines was astonishing and often the theme of pleasant raillery, for frequently she was told by a sister-novice that she should have scruples for flying too fast to her work. "Dear sister," said the flyer, "I never have time to indulge in the luxury of scruples; I'll leave them to people who have leisure." 6o Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross Her progress in secular studies kept pace with those of her religious ones. Mathematics and kin- dred subjects were more to her taste than others, and she often said to literary students, "I am too matter-of-fact for the poetical"; however, she ap- plied herself to the Latin language with great facil- ity; and the poetical works of Horace and Virgil had few keener students. In later life, these subjects were taught by Sister Mary Paul, and priests and pro- fessors who attended her examinations complimented her on her excellent methods of presenting the classics to the uninitiated. Even studies for which she had less aptitude received her full attention, when- ever obedience charged her with them. The two retreats made during her noviceship show from her resolution book how much in earnest she was. Regarding the Vow of Poverty she writes, "I must not only be poor in spirit, but also in very deed. If, when supplies are given us, I have choice of two things, I shall always select the inferior, leaving the better article for others who are far more deserving of good things than I," and, in truth, to this resolution she adhered to her death. "I shall not waste time, and for my Patron in this resolution, I now take St. Alphonsus Liguori, from whom I shall try to deserve help." Be it known that St. Alphonsus had taken a vow never to lose time. Those, who for forty years had lived and worked with our saintly sister, testify to her extraordinary attention regarding this resolution, and St. Liguori Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 6i himself must have seen from heaven what a close competitor he had. Another of her resolutions was on exactness, in the practice of which she, at the sound of the bell, literally left the "letter unfinished" and hastened to obey. Almost the second stroke of the rising bell throughout her life found her on her knees in fervent communication with her Maker. "Exactness is a kingly virtue," she would say, "and I, who aspire to heaven's queenship, must not be wanting in the King's service," therefore was she an enemy to any- loitering of the children after the bell had called them; and many of them in after life felt the benefit of her exact training. The steps she took in these virtues, she called stitches in the black veil, which she was most eager to see finished and placed on her head. Well afid carefully had her black veil been stitched, and by the time the period of novitiate had expired, the veil was indeed prepared, and Sister Mary Paul of the Cross, radiant with hope fulfilled, presented herself with her sisters to enter the remote preparation for Holy Profession. This semi-retreat lasts eight weeks, after which the solemn retreat begins, continuing about ten days, and during this period a novice must study deeply the life she proposes to herself, her duties to the Community, and its duties to her. She must study her calling in its severest requirements to ascertain if she be strong enough in health, will, and affection for the step she is about to take. She is advised not to undertake the life unless the neces- 62 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross sary requisites are full and well-grounded; but in the case of our holy novice, nothing could be more in harmnoy with her deep religious nature than the obligations that she was craving to contract; and, in fact, a misgiving regarding her holy vocation did not cross her mind from the moment of her entrance till the moment of her death. Therefore, deep and full was her joy, when she heard the Divine whisper: "Come into a desert place and rest awhile." Eagerly she went and sweetly she rested in the holy exercise of prayer. Her extraordinary correspondence to grace and its inspirations deserved for her those blessed allurements which take the soul into the "Hollow places of the rocks," where, in profound silence, it hears unspeakable things from its Beloved. In the first week of May, 1881, began the re- treat for the solemn profession. During retreat days, mortification and prayer go hand in hand. Little sleep, and much prayer and work, was the routine for the four and twenty hours of each day; but. Sister M. Paul was ever describing herself as living on Thabor from which she would fain not descend. May 4th having arrived, our fervent novice beheld with joy its dawn. "Lo, in the sanctuaried East, Day, a dedicated priest In all his robes pontifical exprest, Lifteth slowly, lifteth sweetly, From out its Orient tabernacle drawn, Yon orbed sacrament confest, Which sprinkles benediction through the dawn." Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 63 Such dawning stimulated the fervor and joyful anticipations of the coming nuptials with the Lord of heaven and earth. The world saw Day coming, but only the mystic Bride of Christ could under- stand his sacerdotal pomp on this occasion. She, who knew her ''potential cousinship with mire," knew also that the soul within her was exulting with closer kinship to Christ her Lord. She felt herself, as indeed she was, recreated and placed in a Terrestial Paradise, without even a misgiving of for- bidden fruit, serpent, or aught that could cause ex- pulsion therefrom, for she possessed an over-master- ing confidence — this child of intense love. "Thou hast constituted me singularly in hope." Dressing herself with more devotion than or- dinary, she was fastening on her girdle when she remarked to the Mistress of Ceremonies, "Earthly bridegrooms encircle their bride's finger with a circlet of gold, but mine places His circlet about the heart, the region of love !" Then she descended to the chapel with holy eagerness, saymg, "Soon my hand will clasp His, the hand of my heavenly Spouse in wedlock to unclasp nevermore." O how majestically beautiful is this word "Nevermore" when it excludes all that is opposed to the posses- sion of the Supreme Good! Eight o'clock May 4th (1881) witnessed the sombre procession of UrsuUnes, bearing tapers and leading the eager victims to the morning sacrifice. Slowly and solemnly, the priests filed into the chapel and amidst reverential decorum, holy Mass began and 64 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross continued to the "Domine, non sum dignus," when Sister Mary Paul, the senior of her band, approached the altar, and in the presence of the Blessed Sacra- ment pronounced the holy Vows of Poverty, Chastity, Obedience and of Employment in the Instruction of Young Girls, commonly called Institute. These, in the secrecy of her heart, she had been pronouncing the greater part of her life. The Most Reverend Archbishop WilUam Henry Elder, D. D., having received her Vows, invested her with the black veil and presented the Crucifix. Then through the vaulted arches of the chapel rang the glad Te Deum — signal for the newly professed to fall pros- trate before the altar and to give themselves up to the solemn thanksgiving of creature to the Creator. If beauty be the Divine thought of excellence, the last touch on God's handiwork, surely a scene of this kind bears the genuine stamp; for beautiful were the sanctities of flowers strewn by innocent hands over the prone figures before the sanctuary; beautiful the sacer- dotal group now completing the functions of their morning office; beautiful the high Priest in glittering vestments; beautiful the sound of instruments and voices of heavenly sweetness attuned to the occasion; beautiful the souls of those who had by their act dem- onstrated that one moment in the courts of the Lord is better "than thousands in the tabernacles of sinners." For the nonce. Heaven seemed very near the earth, so holy were the feelings which were keeping the souls of the newly professed oblivious to a sinful world, but Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 65 alive to the blessed soul-state in which they lay pros- trate. The Te Deum ends, and the "Ecce quam bonum" recalls them to the world of sense. Reluctantly they rise, and like the men of Galilee gazing into the blue ether where Christ had just become invisible, the sis- ters also seemed to hear the Angel of the Ascension assuring them that the Christ whom they had seen, would come again; and if now they must forego His blessed intimacies, yet will He come during prayer and work, during joys and sorrows, during health and sick- ness. But the "Ecce quam bonum" of the nuns' choir continues to invite them to the strangely-loving exer- cise of the Ceremonies. Obeying, they are embraced first by the Superioress, then by the members of the Community, after w^hich they retire from the holy place in the manner of their entering, and soon they find themselves in the midst of friends; who some laughing, others weeping, greet them as beings "too pure for the touch of a word." Doing some violence to herself, Sister M. Paul goes forth for congratulation to the festive board with her friends; but on her way thither, she must pass through gardens, now a scenic splendor of pink and green — the students in their regulation summer costume forming the pink contingent, approach en masse, and circling round her inquire if she were not "Awfully glad that the long retreat was over," and the like. In that arch way of hers. Sister Mary Paul said, "Dear children, if you were sophisticated in retreats or could define their meaning, you would not ask these questions. I advise 66 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross that you give retreats one good trial; then if you will not secure them at any cost, it will be strange indeed." In the evening of this auspicious day, the guests among whom was Bishop Toebbe, were entertained by a play and by tableaux representing the martyrdom of vSt. Ursula and her holy companions. Thus closed Sister M. Paul's day of days, the day of her "second Baptism," as Profession in the religious life is wont to be called. The spiritual glory of it was climbing to the zenith, losing as it went its scenic splendor to yield place to the sanctities of deep night. The echo of divine songs rings in the little cell wherein Sister Mary Paul may again be alone with her Beloved. She enters fatigued, it may be, in body; but how ani- mating and refreshing to her soul is ever divine con- verse. Since in conventual life, its to-morrows are like its to-days and yesterdays, the professed nun finds little difference between her time of probation and that which follows. It is true, the anxiety of uncertainty gives place to certainty and the calmness of security in God's House and in being a member thereof is thankfully felt; yet the Hfe has its ups and downs, its joys and sorrows, and did these not abound in every phase of life, might we not die of inanity? But our lately professed was destined to no such death. She must move in stirring times, for there had been shim- mering in the air, more than faint suggestions of a California Ursuline foundation ; but little heed gives Sister Mary Paul to things which she says do not con- cern her. Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 67 ''Perhaps you might be sent to California in the next band," remarks a young companion. "If I am sent," she replies, "I think I should feel greatly honored that God selected me to do something very hard for Him. Why should I wish to be in one place more than in another — for 'The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.' " July of this year ushered in the hottest weather ever experienced by even the oldest settlers around Cincinnati. The annual retreat previously arranged was announced, and Rev. Father Brady, S. J., director of the retreat, had arrived in the midst of the over- whelming heat. Rev. Father Cheymol suggested the advisability of postponing the exercises to a cooler period, but Father Brady, with the proverbial obedi- ence of a son of St. Ignatius, replied, "I am sent to conduct this retreat and must begin it this evening," and he added, gravely, "It is better to burn here than hereafter." Accordingly the retreat began and the "desert place," to which retreat is likened, did not belie its full scorching significance. But the beautiful example of the director, his endurance and his love for God which rejoiced at inconvenience, gave so fine an impulse to the exercitants that, when they had fin- ished the retreat, all pronounced it the greatest of their lives. Sister Mary Paul seemed like one who had been ad- mitted sooner than she had deserved to taste again the ineffable sweetness of close communion with God: she heeded not the great heat even though towels instead of handkerchiefs were used to stem the tide of per- 68 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross spiration. In the free time she prayed on in the chapel, while some sought the woods for coolness, though in vain; for fierce heat invaded even their density precluding the smallest mitigation of discom- fort. Retreat being over, the California foundation cloud shimmered no longer, but burst upon her like a nimbus mass with never a suggestion of silver lining; for Ursulines who scarcely know what parting means, are not only sisters one to another, but also beloved friends whose affections are severely tried by separations. Among those to be sent to the Golden State was Sister Mary Paul, and though nature was wrenched to its depths, no demur escaped her; .on the contrary, a holy joy seemed to take possession of her as she pre- pared to leave St. Martins on the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, 1881. Though she had been professed a little over two months, to detachment and its accom- panying growth in holiness, she aspired. Accordingly, on the morning of July 22nd, she bade farewell to her beautiful convent home and to its holy inmates, and with Mother Gabriel, Sisters Agatha, St. John and Martina, departed for the far West. Since God is not outdone in generosity, He made the journey to the "Land of the Setting Sun" full of pleasure. Most congenial to her nature were her four companions, and as the vast forest of the Middle West gradually gave place to the vaster prairies, Sister Mary Paul's parting griefs were yielding place to joys sacred to the friendship of her fellow travellers. Although the poetical in her nature was not of high order, still Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 69 she was quick to catch the enthusiasm of others. Thus awakened and observing with attention, she could detect the saUent points in the astonishing panorama momentarily produced in the wake of the rushing engine; so that her soul was expanding to the won- ders of the West, the infinite ocean of grass rippling with wild flowers, upon which no eye save God's or His sinless beasts had ever rested; nor had the fra- grance of these regions ever ministered to man's pleas- ure, yet who shall say these things are wasted? Has not the eternal Father set His Tabernacle in the sun, whence emanates all essence for growth with its mani- fold requirements, and therefore why should Mother Earth fail to spread out under this His burning taber- nacle, the richest of her fragrance and beauty? But the train moves on, tiring enthusiastic eyes with scenic profusion, though their reserve force must soon be summoned for Wyoming and Colorado, land of im- penetrable rock-enskied monsters, fantastic, lavish, con- fused, bewildering, baffling the wildest conception of human builders, suggesting titanic architects, scorners of space, who columned to the clouds and stretched their mighty architrave beyond. No desecrating sounds break the awesome silence, no pontifical pomp hallows these vast cathedrals, no garrison protects these im- pregnable citadels of the skies — only awe holds sway and sublimity stirs to the nethermost the depths of man's religious nature. Enthusiasts in sight-seeing were Mp. and Mrs. T — of Montreal en route for Australia. Mr. T — , an Epis- copalian Minister, was all that could be desired in an 70 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross acquaintance of the most refined and manly type. The same prudence and generosity characterized Mrs. T — . Their graciousness so impressed Sister Mary Paul that she kept in her office book pious leaflets which they had given her and which were found there after her death; the fact arguing how prayerfully she remembered friends and acquaintances. A waning of things gigantic bids our travellers prepare for supper, which they are to have in Salt Lake City. Very soon the train pulls in and a good meal awaits them at a fine hotel, for dining from lunch baskets makes a hot supper both needful and refreshing. "Do you realize, Sister M. Paul, that you are sup- ping in Brigham Young's stronghold?" said Mother G. "I do," was the reply, "and I am thinking how the dear Lord must hate polygamy, since on the trail of the Albigensian, He had sent a Dominic; on that of Luther, an Ignatius and an Angela; and in Calvin's wake, a St. Francis de Sales; while so far, no Saint's fiery zeal has followed Brigham Young whose machina- tions so threaten social order and the dethronement of parental sanctity. *I shall abandon them to the fury of their passions, I shall send them dogs that will not bite,' in other words, a useless priesthood: this was God's extreme punishment to the Jews when their sinful excesses went beyond punishment by war and pesti- lence. In like manner, polygamy has even now a dead conscience and a consequent withdrawal of God's grace." Leaving Salt Lake City, the Sisters arrived at Truckee, where in the early morning two clergymen Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 71 entered the car. The pleasant "Welcome, Ursuline Sisters," of Rev. Father McNally was gratefully ac- knowledged by Sister M. Paul and her sisters. Then the ascetic-looking Rev. J. M. Conway with growing warmth, shook the hands of his future co-workers, and gave his "Cead Mila Failthe." Seeing a somewhat meager breakfast spread before the sisters, the priests stepped from the car and soon returned with speci- mens of California fruits. FHght of time was scarcely noticed in so good and enthusiastic a comipany, till "Oakland" was shouted by the brakeman, and with the usual rush the overland train set down the tired pas- sengers safe and sound. At the service of the sisters was a carriage for the day, the kind forethought of Mrs. Peter Donahue ; but the north bound train to Santa Rosa gave no time for driving, so with a hasty glance at the Queen City of the Pacific, the travellers bade adieu to Rev. Father McNally and were presently en route for the City of Roses wherein the first band sent out from St. Martins had already resided one year. Arriving at the Con- vent, the joy of reunion can better be imagined than described. PART III Entrance to Grounds CHAPTER VII. It was in the summer of 1880 that Reverend J. M. Conway, pastor of St. Rose's church, Santa Rosa, CaUfornia, obtained permission from the venerable Archbishop Alemany of San Francisco to invite the UrsuHnes of St. Martins, Brown County, Ohio, to found a parish and boarding-school. His Grace having heartily acceded to the request and the beautiful So- noma Valley offering every advantage for successful school- work, Santa Rosa became the first home for Ursulines on the Pacific Coast. A commodious building, used prior to the event for a Campbellite College, with five acres surrounding it, was offered for sale. Mother Berchmans O'Connor, a woman of superior business attainments, and the young and ardent Sister Alphonsus Costello, were sent to make the purchase, should they find it suitable. Seeing that all promised entire satisfaction, they bought the property, and being invested with plenipotentiary pow- ers, they concurred with Reverend Father Conway to move the parish church from Fifth Street to the Con- vent grounds. The land for this purpose they donated to the parish, thus safeguarding in the proximity of the church the rule of cloister. The new site being more central, was eminently pleasing to the people both for services and Sunday-school purposes. When these negotiations were completed, the Com- munity in Ohio was requested to send at once the Sisters intended for the foundation. The patronal feast 76 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross of St. Ursula was near, the last which the sisters would spend together. It was a day of mingled joy and sorrow, for as we have said, the Ursulines of Brown County were bound by ties of all that was sisterly in the tenderest acceptation of the word. At this date there was no indication that Sister M. Paul would ever see the Golden West, and yet she was destined to bear its heats and colds, and later to enjoy the success there to be achieved. As has been already stated. Sister Mary Paul was one of the second band. St. Ursula's Feast being over, the next day, Octo- ber 22, 1880, there started for the West, Mother Xavier Carolan, as Superioress, with her co-laborers Sisters Liguori Hammer, Sister Kostka Rosecrans, Sister Hel- ena Hines, Sister Michael Kelly, two novices, Sisters Vincent Dooher and Genevieve Lenehan, and Miss Anna Gallagher, a postulant. Through conflicting emotions of zeal for the under- taken work and of memories of the dearly loved home, they arrived safe on October 28th. Very Reverend J. J. Prendergast, D. D., Vicar-General, with General and Mrs. Rosecrans, met the party at Reno and received them with every mark of respect, esteem, and genuine wel- come. Tarrying a few days in the City of St. Francis, they finally, on the vigil of All Saints, reached their new home and in a few days were prepared to begin work in the Parochial School. Over a hundred eager faces were scanning the fu- ture teachers, as Mother Xavier was making, what might be termed, her inaugural address. The Reverend Pastor's zeal urged him also to make some remarks Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 77 on the auspicious occasion. Thus was the good seed put into the ground, whose later sprouting and grow- ing gave promise of a rich harvest; such the school and community that welcomed Sister Mary Paul and her four companions the following year. We are too close to experiences to detail them in their true light, but a future pen, no doubt, will do justice to this Santa Rosa Ursuline Foundation theme. Suffice it now to quote a letter from Sister Liguori to Mother Theresa, which will speak in the sense : " 'Ab uno, disce omnes.' "Santa Rosa, Cal., November 14, 1880. "My very dear Mother: "Your kind sweet letters were duly received, and it is really a shame to keep you waiting so long. But it was an utter impossibiUty for me to write sooner. We had so much house-cleaning, scrubbing, and the Uke to do. Of course, I as senior member of the Community, pitched in with heroic enthusiasm ! My skill in the art of scrubbing was highly admired by the dear kind novices, and they are truly generous and noble ; but it would have been far more advisable for me to have taken a few practical sweeping and scrubbing lessons before my departure to the scene of action, than to have learned gold-work . . . "The house was in a frightful state of disorder, and even now it is not much better, although we are doing our best to introduce order. "Last Monday, November 8th, we opened our schools; namely, Select School for Girls, Parish School 78 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross for Girls, and Parish School for Boys. I shall help the younger sisters in their appointments to the best of my abilities. "The cHmate is mild and beautiful, but the mornings and evenings are cold. The stars are magnificent, owing to the clearness of the atmosphere. I enjoyed the trip very much. The majestic, awe-inspiring scen- ery of the Rocky Mountains was a source of infinite pleasure. Every faculty of mind and soul was deluged with intense delight. If I only had had time to study these rocky tablets of prehistoric ages more at leisure! How wonderful are the works of creation ! "I was perfectly well during the journey, and I did not suffer from cold hands or feet. But all my tribu- lations began at San Francisco. I must postpone this chapter of woes to some future period. I am still suffering from the effects of scrubbing and window- washing. The dust is 'perfectly awful' and the flies are of gigantic size and exceedingly impudent. They have not the slightest regard for 'Her German High- ness.' "Dear Mother, please tell Sister Josephine that it is impossible to write her just now, but I hope I shall soon be able to keep my promise. I delivered her message to Rev. Father Conway. He seemed much pleased when I told him how zealously dear Mother Josephine had worked for the California foun- dation, and he said that he would write her. Viewing matters from my standpoint, I think dear Sister Jose- phine has reasons to thank God that she is still in dear Brown County. Our present mode of life would Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 79 scarcely suit her. Since November 2nd, I have not spoken to Rev. Father Conway except in the Confes- sional, rather behind an old table where we kneel to make our confessions. At some future period, I hope to be able to write a more detailed account of my experiences in California, and I think Robinson Crusoe will be totally eclipsed. My hands are truly in a pitiful condition, and the prospect for their immediate future is darker still. Until the present, dear Mother Berch- mans took charge of the wood-pile, but I think that interesting duty is to devolve upon me. My personal appearance resembles dear Sister Martina when she is cleaning the furnaces. Such transcendental miseries are more than a psychological enigma to my aesthetical nature. Oh, if I could only keep clean! Oceans of dust everywhere! I have so much work; and we are so very poor that I think Mother Xavier will scruple a stamp: therefore, I thank each dear sister not only individually but also from force of circumstances col- lectively, for the manifold acts of kindness and sisterly affection of which on their part I have been recipient. Tell Sister Ambrose that I am still using one of her little tin cups as a goblet and tooth mug, but have hopes that after Mother Berchmans' departure I shall get her jelly-glass, though somewhat defective. "Say to dear Mother Assistant that I shall consider it one of my duties to keep her posted in regard to the statistics of the school. "I think that the California climate will suit my con- stitution, but I can not say the same for my present mode of life. Supernaturally speaking, however, I am 8o Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross full of peace, joy, consolation, and hope, and God is certainly propitious toward me. I recommend myself to public and private prayers. **With love, I remain ''Your devoted sister, "Sister Liguori." This most noble woman afterwards returned to Brown County. She passed to her reward February 27, 1916. The following clipping from the Catholic ''Telegraph" will doubtless be all that those outside convent precincts will know concerning her most useful life, her unusual gifts of mind, and her simple child- like virtues, for earth's greatest have in them a sort of perennial childhood. The clipping reads as follows: "Deep grief afflicted the UrsuUne Community, Mc- Millan Street, Cincinnati, Ohio, when death came to Sister Mary Liguori Hammer on Sunday after a brief illness. Sister Liguori, who is a sister of Rev. Bona- venture Hammer, O. F. M., of Lafayette, Indiana, well known in Cincinnati, had been the teacher of philosophy at the Cincinnati Academy, and her beautiful life en- deared her not only to her sisters in religion but also to the many friends she made during her residence in this city. She was a woman of deep learning, a zeal- ous worker, and a devout nun. The influence of her estimable character and the effect of her scholarly teachings have left their impress upon hundreds of pupils who passed from under her charge. "Sister Liguori was a native of Karlsruhe, Germany, and was in her eightieth year when death overtook her. She came to this country at the age of twelve in 1861, Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 8i imbued with religious fervor, and dedicated her services to the cause of reUgion. The greater part of her rehg- ous life was spent at the Brown County Academy, where she taught until she took up her position of teacher of philosophy in the Ursuline Cincinnati Acad- emy. The loss of so learned and so efficient a teacher will be greatly felt by the local community, and her demise will be sincerely mourned by the alumnae of the academy of whom she had made fast friends. ''The funeral Mass was sung on Tuesday morning by Rev. A. C. Adelman. Rev. Antonine Brockhuis, O. F. M., pastor of St. George's Church, preached the sermon, lauding the beautiful religious character and sterling qualities that shone forth in the life of the deceased. R. I. P." Although Mother Liguori's pen gives a humorous turn to the privations endured by the Ursuline pioneers of Santa Rosa, nevertheless, they were privations which were sternly felt; but in the sweet serene nuns that moved amongst the pupils, no trace of meager living could be detected; for was not one aware that her Heavenly Father knew that she "had need of all these things"? and little by little the fiber of those who endured, became so well seasoned that it firmly with- stood all shock of passing discomfort. Daily they were climbing Sinais, but too humble to know it. Their souls heard only the Voice uttering the saving Ten Commandments and the call to perfection; and they thought only of rehearsing the same tenets to the dwellers on the plains, lest the golden calf of human passion should find worshipers there. 82 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross Another cause of anxiety in those days was the ap- proaching elections. Among trying experiences of com- munity Ufe is the change of the officials. Periods of three or six years find convents under a new regime, and a Superioress whose natural and religious character has won the affection and esteem of all, must, when her term of office expires, give place to the newly elected whose ruling qualities are a terra incognita to those over whom she is to be placed. Nevertheless, each incoming Superioress leaving her impress on her period of government, sameness is prevented. It is noteworthy also that Superiors of convents are prover- bial for their business abilities; while the economy which the vow of poverty enforces, helps their achieve- ments. "It is a mystery to me," said a University Professor to the writer, "how Convent folk are able to erect such fine buildings on incomes so slender." Alas! little is known of the sacrifices that uprear these structures; but the history of various monastic insti- tutions demonstrates that strong faith coupled with splendid idealism and hard work have accompHshed wonders in religious houses. How many valiant servants of God have started work with a capital of five dollars, or even less ; yea God's Providence has been the sole capital of some who are now succoring thousands in comfortable dwellings, while God, their unfailing banker, prevents bankruptcy. Thus these heaven-sent religious Superiors watch over the economics of their miniature republics and prove, if outsiders care to study monastic sociology, that the best government is one which is not felt ; that Entrance to Class Rooms Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 83 4:he best government produces the happiest people and the highest types of the race. Could these conditions be realized in even one commonwealth, gubernatorial skill would reach its height and would possess the secret of human contentment in ideal ruling. In the Santa Rosa foundation, vicissitudes of vary- ing kinds form some of its early history. The number of boarders was two from Tiburon, aged respect- ively nine and seven. The revenue for the house ex- penses must come through the boarding-school, and in default of this the work cannot progress. To leave nothing undone that could make the new foundation a success, the staff of teachers sent to California were women of extraordinary learning and accomplishments, determined moreover to make their western home as famous as their eastern one; but alas! the forty board- ers promised in good faith before the sisters left Brown County were represented by two, as already stated. Bravely, however, the sisters struggled on. Seeing no prospect of increase, the older sisters were recalled, and of the younger, seven were allowed to remain with the parochial school. Among the seven was Sister Mary Paul, who found ample opportunities to practice her many virtues even to the third degree. Her uniform cheerfulness buoyed up the others, who were somewhat discouraged under the slow movements of success; while her redoubled fervor secured many graces and blessings for the devoted seven who had remained, and who notwithstanding their difficulties were doing splendid work among the children of St. Rose's parish ; besides, Rev. Father Conway, perceiving 84 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross in the band, material that bespoke latent power for all that was worth while, encouraged them to stand bravely to the work of his parish, a work which he said was already progressing beyond his most sanguine ex- pectations. His utmost co-operation was with them. The next year brought so many children that every available place was filled; and Mother Alphonse, who was the newly-elected Superioress, announced that pray- ers for boarders should cease till greater accommoda- tions were erected. Success delayed no longer but came with rapid strides. Sister Mary Paul was appointed Mistress of the Young Ladies, an office which she filled with results that came from the love she bore her dear children ; and beautifully trusting were the veneration and affec- tion which she received in return. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self," was her basic principle in working among children; and who show more readily than they that love begets love? At this time Sister Mary Paul's teaching was divided between the boarding and parochial school, so that her influence extended to a great number of children. Besides, she had charge of the First Communion class of each succeeding year in the Sunday-school and her love for such labor knew no bounds. So devoted was she in these "holy classes," as she called them, that she had charge of them till her death. Often after a most fatiguing day, would she devote her little free time in teaching only one child, whose duties would not permit him or her to come at the usual instruction hour. To persons living in the coun- Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 85 try and places remote from religious influence and les- sons, she devoted much of her Sundays. To-day there are scattered over CaUfornia and elsewhere men and women who are exemplary fathers and mothers, be- cause Sister Mary Paul labored amongst them, loved them in Christ, and forgot herself for them. "If I am tempted to stay away from Mass on Sun- day," said one of these young men, ''Sister Mary Paul is almost palpably present to me, urging me to go ; should I resist, I feel as if something of evil were about to happen to me." Letters from her kept the careless from slipping backwards, and lifted the careful to higher planes of sanctity. She was always eager to examine her classes in presence of the Reverend Pastor, and great was her exultation when she saw the many blushes and rejoic- ings consequent on his high commendations, uttered in approving voice and generally accompanied by the pat- ting of such heads as carried the best load of knowl- edge. "Don't you think you have too much complacency in your school work?" inquired the Mother Superior as she listened to Sister Mary Paul's glowing descrip- tion of her examinees' cleverness. Her characteristic answer was: "Dear Mother, is not humility truth, and does not truth make us free to rejoice at our personal success as well as to mourn at our failure? Teaching is so inspiring an occupation that I begin to suspect myself born to, rather than made for it; so, dear Mother, 86 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross you see I have a holy complacency in examination results." *'Be sure that it is 'holy/ " warned the vigilant Mother Superioress. Meanwhile, the ranks broken by the departure of the older nuns, were filled by efficient subjects, so that school work was accompUshed successfully not only in Sister Mary Paul's department, but also in all the others. Music was taught in grades and its excellency was demonstrated at each recurring Commencement. Stringed playing received great attention and nothing escaped the musical vigilance of Sister Kostka Rose- crans, who directed the Academy and particularly the department of music. Consummate musician that she was, and we must not wonder how she was regarded by Sister Mary Paul, who again had complacency in knowing that such glorious talents were returned to God with the required gospel interest. When persons of unusual talent were brought to her notice, she had often to commiserate the fact that they were not using at least some of their power for God, for she was wont to say, "These gifts are too great for worldly affairs." One evening, Karl Formes, the great basso, sang Benediction, and what a Benediction it was ! It was to sound what a rich sunrise is to color. How he blended the salutatory grandeur of the "Salve Regina" into the moans of the "Gementes et flentes in hac lacrymarum valle" ! Then the glorious Laudate at the end of Benediction made the congre- gation think that their feet were standing in the new Jerusalem and that some seraphic being was praising Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 87 God in a befitting manner. On this occasion, Sister Mary Paul expressed her feeUng by saying, "Contentment filled my whole being, when I heard that wonderful voice put to the highest use, and God was given praises so artistically rendered." The idea of dedicating to God and our Blessed Mother whatever was stamped with highest excellence was to her a matter of duty; for instance, one day, at the recreation hour, the picture of a beautiful novice was passed round among the senior students, one of whom remarked, "Miss is too pretty to bury her- self in a convent. She should have remained in the world, where her beauty and talents would show to advantage." "Is she too pretty for God?" asked Sister Mary Paul with unwonted asperity. Then with Samuel-like zeal she administered a rebuke sharp and stern to the of- fending young girl who would dare to defraud our "Sweet Lord" of the fairest from His flock. Sister M. Paul was enemy to all affectation and insincerity among children. It mattered not how dis- agreeable the task of correcting might be, she applied herself to it with unceasing energy. These vices, ap- parently trifles light as air, seemed to her more deadly to the soul than poison is to the body. How kindly arid vigorously did she help the victims of these inborn vices to cultivate the opposite virtues ! How skilfully, too, did she settle differences ! How she would lead children to examine the part that their likes and dis- likes played in quarrels, and to turn their eyes upon the inner man always self-indulgent, so that becoming 88 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross self- judges they might be able to pronounce their own condemnation and do penance ! Often she would direct a pupil's attention as to how men and things combine to become God's aveng- ers upon breakers of the Ten Commandments. To the sinful, inanimate nature refuses its charm; the neighbor refuses the lovely side of his character; and some- times sinners themselves commit suicide, because they loathe the sight of their own hideousness. She be- lieved that salt duly boiled with food made it better than if mixed when cooked, so did she mix spir- itual learning with secular, thereby seeking to produce a finer specimen of Christian; hence, when feasible, she led her pupils to the correlation of secular studies with religious. For instance, to a class pursuing geological periods, she would suggest a study of the Canticle of the Three Children in the Fiery Furnace, so that the class might note in what order inanimate nature was called upon to bless the Lord, how this order corre- sponded to the geological periods and completed the first climax of the sublime song. In like manner, the second climax invited animate nature to bless the Lord, and here was to be compared the chronological order of each creation with correlation in the secular text. This second climax reaches its highest when the sons of men are invited to bless the Lord. The third is a climax of sanctities, beginning with Israel, the highest types from the sons of men ; next the sacerdotal order which connects these with the spirits and souls of the just; finally, reaching its last round when the sublime trio walking unhurt through the raging flames Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 89 invite one another to bless the Lord forever. Nebu- chodonosor, seeing the angel and hearing the heavenly quartette, utters his mandate of mercy. This twofold presentation takes us outside geological and secular realms and affords entertainment, spiritual, moral, and sublime. The community had now grown to fifteen members and prosperity was increasing year by year. It was at this time that a very bright little paper, called the "College Spy," was first written. Each issue was looked for with keen deUght by the fun-loving students, and even the Reverend Pastor and the faculty did not think to jeopardize their dignity by their pleas- urable anticipations. To the novices and rhetoric students, who evinced the smallest hope of the "poet's eye in a fine frenzy rolling," was allotted the writing of poems, one of which we subjoin, because being couched in allegorical form on the number and charac- ter of the fifteen foundation nuns and meeting the exactions of competition, it received from the Supe- rioress the prize of "One Dollar!" FOUNDATION STONES. A Builder would rear a mansion To last forever I ween — Selected from far away quarries. Some rocks, exactly fifteen. With care and toil He brought them. O'er ocean and prairies vast, Until in the land of the Sunset, He laid His stones at last. 90 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross To His men He gave directions To fashion these stones with care; For they should be foundations ^ Of a wondrous mansion, rare. Nor chisel, nor hammer were spared, On these obdurate rocks fifteen. Till they were fashioned and shaped, For that Architect's eye so keen. "Now raise," said the Master-builder, "On these well-cut stones fifteen. Such a firm and beauteous palace. As never before was seen." • "And further," continued the Builder, "My palace must stand alway; Nor storm, nor rain can harm it. For its base is strong, I say." Thus that edifice fair is rising: Shall it last forever, O say? It will, if the hammer and chisel On the younger rocks will play. And then the Master-builder With approving Face serene, Will gaze on His castle splendid, That stands on His rocks fifteen. The v^inner of the dollar being a novice, v^as told to use the money for anything she wished; hence, great was the consultation as to its most profitable invest- ment. Far-seeing financiers suggested that the dollar be deposited with the Mother Superior at ten per cent. Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 91 interest: counselors with pious intent insisted that it should secure a Mass for the dead; while a third party unabashed by its epicurean propensities was loud in favor of a feast, and strange to say, this greedy con- tingent prevailed: but before the participants sat down to the banquet, they had incurred so large a debt that many prize poems were discussed to cover the liabilities. Such competitive and remunerative devices for improve- ment stole away much literary hardships and bestowed the joys of successful work. Sister Mary Paul lent her- self with zest to these plans, and many a student owes a lucrative position to the department of humanities which, developing her latent talent, snatched her from among those who go down to their graves unsus- pected monuments of hidden greatness. Another later poem which received Sister Mary Paul's commendation was a parody on Poe's "Raven." With admirable coolness, Sister M. Paul kept in check what threatened to be a severe panic among the young ladies caused by a stray member from the Native Sons' celebration of September 9th, one Admission Day. The heat and fatigue of the day urged an unruly party to forget his discomfort in renewed acquaintance with Bacchus; then, in some way he stumbled to the door of the Convent. Mistaking the building for the hotel, he tugged violently to enter. His efforts awak- ened the children and a counterpart to Rosenthal's ^'Seminary Alarmed" followed. Sister Mary Paul, who, w^ith the frightened boarders, occupied the dormitory, telephoned to the priest's house for help. 92 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross The stirring event is detailed as follows: A MIDNIGHT INCIDENT. (With apologies to E. A. Poe.) 1. Once upon a midnight dreary, While we slumbered tired and weary, Over books hid 'neath our pillow, Books quite full of courting lore — Did we sleep, or were we napping, When there came that sudden rapping, As of some one roughly knocking — Rapping at the Convent door. *"Tis a thief," we said, "entreating Entrance at our postern door — Only this and nothing more!" 2. And the gingham — sad, uncertain rustle Of each gingham curtain. Filled us, thrilled us, with fantastic terror Never felt before; And each shivering, crying maiden. Who from sorrow overladen, Tried to keep her heart from beating. So kept, off and on, repeating, " 'Tis a Native Son entreating Entrance at our Convent door, — Only this and nothing more!" 3. Presently our souls grew stronger; Mother Paul could wait no longer, And in telephonic language Wired across two words or more — Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 93 "Come, O quick, good Father Cassin, Your swift presence we implore — For the fact is, we were napping, And a burglar came a-tapping, Rapping at our Convent door; Girls are making noise galore — " Quoth the priest, "Pray, say no more!" 4. Right upon his elbow turning. Angry thoughts within him burning. Father heard again the message More distressing than before; Lightning speed was in his moving And his pistols he looked o'er — "I'll go too," said good Miss Cassin; Pale she stood upon the floor. But her brother scarcely heard her; Fierce he shot through open door — Then he shouted "Nevermore!" 5. Deep into the darkness peering, Poor Miss Cassin, praying, fearing. Dreaming dreams, no mortal Dared to dream before; Ghastly grim she thought her brother Flying through his chamber door. "Not the least obeisance made he. Not a minute stopped or stayed he," Said Miss Cassin in narrating All the woes that night she bore — These she told to Leonore. 94 Li^e of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 6. Not a word her brother uttered, Not a nerve within him fluttered; Not the winds could beat him flying Through that gloomy night of yore, Running fast and running faster Till he reached the Convent door, Till he clutched the wretch a lying ' With the lamp light gloating o'er — And the dust of Day's carousal Was upon the coat he wore: Only this and nothing more. 7. Now the girls in great alarm Fearing much some untold harm. Muttered orisons that angels Never heard from lips before. Father Cassin found them praying And this fact (the girls were saying) Urged him quickly to the danger, Made his wrath to quick outpour: "Wretch," he said, "how cam'st thou hither? Fly I say from Convent door." "Reverence," quoth the wretch, "No more!" 8. Miss Mahoney near the casement, ^ Heard this parley at the basement, And her prayers to saint or angel. Little relevancy bore. "Art thou Jew or French," said Father, "That thou venturest near this door, Or hath all the demons fired thee From the dark Plutonian shore?" Not a syllable expressed he, Till he said, "You're right, asthore!" Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 95 "Native Son," said Father Cassin, "Your vague answer I deplore; Tell me quick, hath Pluto fired thee, Up against this Convent door? For I cannot help agreeing That no other living being, Would so disrespect these precincts As to hurl thee near this door; And thy beard unshorn, unshaven — " "Hold! your Reverence, I'm no craven- Wine hath fired me — nothing more!" 10. Father Cassin at the basement Saw the maidens at the casement; Stern contempt was in his aspect, As their hands he did explore. Water was in every basin To let show'r on that Free Mason Should he gain the Convent door — Should he dare to take Lenore. Angry, awful words suppressed he, Fisting Native Son repressed he, When he saw the basins pour. "Xanthippe! ye Xanthippes!" Was the priest's indignant roar — Then led the man from Convent door. CHAPTER VIII. Oppressed by failing health Rev. J. M. Conway was obliged to leave Santa Rosa ; and, after severe mental and physical suffering, he finally passed to his reward. His remains were laid to rest among his first parish- ioners in London, Ohio. His place was filled by the Reverend John M. Cassin, in whom Sister Mary Paul experienced God's unspeakable providence ; for no priest could render more devoted attention to a community than he; and for nearly three decades of years, his untiring work has helped largely to make the Ursuline College what it is. In point of time, we are too near this man of God, to portray his manly and holy character: and, moreover, his deep humiHty would be wounded thereby; suffice it to say that a more devoted friend has seldom been given to a community than was given to the Ursulines of Santa Rosa in the person of Reverend John M. Cassin. To Sister Mary Paul he was guide when too great zeal urged her to undertake that which could not be done well; he was her solace, when her work failing to bring the results she sought, threatened discourage- ment. However, her nature would not allow her to linger in the miasma of dejection, for she was par ex- cellence an optimist, and she often quoted Words^worth's Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 97 optimistic quatrain which truly expresses her sentiments regarding neighborly intercourse: "I've heard of hearts unkind, kind deeds With coldness still returning; Alas! the gratitude of men Hath oftener left me mourning." This gratitude from others came to Sister Mary Paul, because her own guileless soul rarely saw in them aught but good, and she had a way all her own that brought to the surface the virtues that she saw in others, and which the owners themselves did not dream that they possessed. The vacation beginning June, 1889, found Mother Alphonse Costello quite ill. Her constitution, never robust, gave little hope of recovery. On June 16th, Trinity Sunday of that year, this saintly religious passed from Ufe's stem conflict in the Church Militant to her well earned reward in the Church Triumphant, leaving her devoted Community to mourn their great loss. For over thirty years, her little tombstone stood solitary in God's Acre, seeming to forbid companion- ship till at least some of the work she so ardently com- menced was accomplished. It was the subject of this biography that broke the barrier of solitude and lay down to rest beside this valiant woman, this much re- vered Superioress, whose desire to see great things done for her beloved Santa Rosa was, perhaps, the rea- son why our dear Lord kept a phenomenal record of good health among the sisters whom she loved so well. 98 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross Perhaps also, nuns so strongly constituted withstood the ravages of time and the pressure of labor. This, together with a most salubrious climate and rooms flooded with beneficent sunshine, was a natural reason for soundness of body and mind. This blessed gift Sister Mary Paul, en joyed to its fullest, and truly had she need of it; for little leisure to nurse ailments is left to her who sees so much to be done in God's serv- ice with one's span of years so short at most. Nothing more clearly illustrates the strength and beauty of our nature so much as does friendship, which brings forth our most charming manifestations, especially those of generosity and heroism. Surely we climb to heaven on the rounds of love, for the greater our charity towards our fellow creatures in general, the greater our love for the individuals whom we select from among them for the sacred intimacies of our inner selves. Pinnacled above all lesser friendships tower three groups of exemplars. The pagan group presents Damon and Pythias, noble Syracusans, stand- ing on the scaffold vying with each other as to which shall secure the privilege of dying for the other. The strength of their love is shown in their extraordinary desire to suffer for each other, while their speech arouses the admiration of the witnessing multitude who rend the air with acclamations for pardon. The tyrant king, Dionysius, is rendered motionless by the sublimity of the spectacle and by the extraordinary dispute of the peerless friends. Below the stratum of his besotted- ness runs a tiny, unsuspected rivulet of manhood, which Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross 99 the power of the scene forces to the surface, opening a vent in these words: "Live ! Uve, ye incomparable pair ! Ye have demon- strated to me that somewhere there exists a Supreme Being who has endowed you with one of His own at- tributes. Love such as this, can emanate only from Him!" And Damon and Pythias, saved from the scaffold, descend amid the dithyrambic plaudits of the populace. In the second group, the Jewish, we have for ex- emplars David and Jonathan, whose great friendship is glorified and immortalized by the Sacred Text. Count how many times it says: "Jonathan loved David as his own soul." Note the wondrous love in their dispute as to which shall secure the privilege of yielding Israel's throne to the other. Observe also how many times Jonathan risks his life for his cherished David. But these friendships, exquisite though they were, dwindle into insignificance when we reach the highest pinnacle and contemplate the Divine Friend pillowing the head of his beloved John on His Sacred Heart. Here we have the very apotheosis of friendship, the guide for all mankind, who seek unspeakable calm for their weary head on the breast of a friend. O blessed passion of Love which abides with us after Faith and Hope, their great mission fulfilled, have passed away and only heaven remains ! Thus the Divine Friend stands on the bridge of human love, a sacred model connecting past, present, and future with love chains, linking a St. Polycarp with a St. Lawrence, a loo Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross St. Francis de Sales with a St. Jane de Cliantal, and numberless religious friends with friends. Among the last, ranked Sister Mary Paul in her role of friend; and well did she copy her holy ancestors in respect to the claims of the most delicate of pas- sions, which in her exuberant nature needed right di- rection and wholesome restraint. Her friendship, removed from a chilling world, was transmitted into glowing loyalty which fulfilled its God- given mission ; namely, happiness and security. The trying months of noviceship and the small thorny paths leading up to profession were rendered less hard by the help of her "dear friend." The elections consequent on the death of Mother Alphonsus were presided over by His Grace, Most Reverend P. W. Riordan, D. D., and resulted in the choice of Mother Agatha Superioress; Sister Mary Paul Assistant; and Sister Kostka Zelatrice. These new officials were highly pleasing to our holy Assistant, not because she found herself second in authority, but because she praised God who had given her the favor of a Superior whom she not only loved but also esteemed for rare prudence in the difficult and arduous task of governing a religious community. During Mother Alphonsus' administration, these qualities had been under the keen observation of the sisters, the ill-health of the former causing most of the work to be done by her Assistant now the Supe- rioress-elect ; hence the joy of Sister Mary Paul to have over her dear sisters one whom she believed would rule for their welfare. Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross loi What satisfaction Sister Mary P?;iil^gjive/ during fter term of office, would be better understood,. C(^^^4'^ the;, observer see the gayety and happihesij > of her s^ritudl' ' children, whenever she went amongst them. Her con- ferences were full of unction, the outcome of her inter- ior recollection and of her love for the charge entrusted to her by God. Her plan here was similar to that of her school-room work; "because," said she, "no matter what be our condition of life, the Commandments bind us, and upon them our spiritual structure must be raised." She held in abhorrence anything that savored of comparisons either regarding the character of one's work or the hours of labor entailed. If such compari- sons were remotely suggested, she was troubled that any one in God's house should be anything but radiantly happy when one, rather than another, had been selected to perform the heaviest labor in God's holy service. In her office she could not escape the inevitable task of reproving; but whenever this had to be done, she took care that the recipients of the reproof had, what she called, a good laugh before re- tiring. This little kindness of hers was so well known among pupils that they looked for some funny story on days upon which they deserved and received her censure. The funny story came just before night prayers, so that they generally knelt to pray calm and repentant, while the most thoughtful learned most use- ful lessons on cheerfulness under difficulties, espe- cially difficulties resulting from one's own shortcomings. The two virtues, simplicity and sincerity, she I02 Life of Sister Mary Paul of the Cross deefnied nec'e^sa^ry^ to good breeding. *'In the perfect Ikdy* we- T€