p. 47 | Exposures of Romanism

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 24, 1871

Exposures of Romanism.

THE old adage, “Troubles never come singly,” seems to be verified at the present time in the case of the Roman Catholic Church. No sooner was her chief political support destroyed by the success of Protestant Prussia over France, than Victor Emmanuel’s troops took possession of Rome, released the prisoners found in papal dungeons; and these tell a sad story of persecution and suffering. And no sooner was the convent system exposed in Austria by the discovery of the imprisoned nun of Cracow, than the courts of England were called to examine a somewhat similar case in connection with a convent in Hull. And similar cases of exposure are being from time to time presented in the United States, as for example, the case of Mary Ann Smith in New York; and only a few weeks ago, in Cincinnati, a nun—Miss Edith O’Gorman—who escaped from a nunnery in New Jersey, and lectures on the system of convent life. Her descriptions were so much like what we would expect from the principles of the system, and so similar to those which have from time to time been given by others, that we have no doubt of their truthfulness, and sad indeed were her revelations. The chief feature of the system, and indeed the source of its abuses, is the unreserved obedience that must be rendered to superiors—the turning of the subordinates in these establishments to mere machines, and not allowing them to think of personal responsibility. The following extract from her lecture will illustrate the terrible use made of this principle:

“The vow of chastity forbids the thought of any spouse but Christ. A sister must not permit her thoughts to dwell on any individual of the opposite sex. If allowed to see her father or brother, she must not touch his hand. Should a confessor take the hand of a sister, with whatever intent, she may not withdraw it. The vow of obedience has supremacy over the vow of chastity. It was related that St. Clara was very much afflicted because she accidentally raised her eyes and saw the face of a monk; but there are not many like her in the convents now. If a sister falls in love with a priest, she is bound to tell him and obtain his advice about it. The priest thus informed may, of course, take advantage of her confession, and beyond any doubt many priests do take this advantage. Nuns had their lovers among priests and laymen. The lecturess had seen six nuns in love with one priest at one time.”

“By the vow of obedience a sister must not only give up her will, but lower her judgment and reason. Sisters must kneel in addressing their superior, and listen to her commands, as though they were from the mouth of God. The superiors are often in the highest degree ignorant and brutal, taking delight in devising absurd peculiar tortures to test the fortitude of novices. The lecturess, while a novice, had been compelled by her superior, on one occasion, to eat a large earth worm, and on other occasions to do numerous things too disgusting to mention.”

To these exposures we might also add the volumes being published by Mrs. Julia McNair Wright, the last of which, “Almost a Priest,” a correspondent notices in the following words:

“Its foundation-facts and its leading characters are real; and published statistics are abundantly spread before us, to show the deadly design of popery and our appalling dangers.

“As a merely critical remark, we add that the narrative is wonderful for its vast variety of incidents and its diversity of characters—all delineated with a vigor and a keen discrimination, scarcely to be paralleled in any other work of the day. So far as each reader has had experience in the subject of the volume, will he see that the author is master of it, is truly at home in her great patriotic and Christian labor to arouse her country to the awful dangers now pressing upon us in every part of the land.”