Les Misérables, page 128
CHAPTER II--THE OBEDIENCE OF MARTIN VERGA
This convent, which in 1824 had already existed for many a long year inthe Rue Petit-Picpus, was a community of Bernardines of the obedience ofMartin Verga.
These Bernardines were attached, in consequence, not to Clairvaux, likethe Bernardine monks, but to Cîteaux, like the Benedictine monks. Inother words, they were the subjects, not of Saint Bernard, but of SaintBenoît.
Any one who has turned over old folios to any extent knows that MartinVerga founded in 1425 a congregation of Bernardines-Benedictines,with Salamanca for the head of the order, and Alcala as the branchestablishment.
This congregation had sent out branches throughout all the Catholiccountries of Europe.
There is nothing unusual in the Latin Church in these grafts of oneorder on another. To mention only a single order of Saint-Benoît, whichis here in question: there are attached to this order, without countingthe obedience of Martin Verga, four congregations,--two in Italy,Mont-Cassin and Sainte-Justine of Padua; two in France, Cluny andSaint-Maur; and nine orders,--Vallombrosa, Granmont, the Célestins,the Camaldules, the Carthusians, the Humiliés, the Olivateurs, theSilvestrins, and lastly, Cîteaux; for Cîteaux itself, a trunk for otherorders, is only an offshoot of Saint-Benoît. Cîteaux dates from SaintRobert, Abbé de Molesme, in the diocese of Langres, in 1098. Now it wasin 529 that the devil, having retired to the desert of Subiaco--hewas old--had he turned hermit?--was chased from the ancient temple ofApollo, where he dwelt, by Saint-Benoît, then aged seventeen.
After the rule of the Carmelites, who go barefoot, wear a bit of willowon their throats, and never sit down, the harshest rule is that of theBernardines-Benedictines of Martin Verga. They are clothed in black,with a guimpe, which, in accordance with the express command ofSaint-Benoît, mounts to the chin. A robe of serge with large sleeves,a large woollen veil, the guimpe which mounts to the chin cut square onthe breast, the band which descends over their brow to their eyes,--thisis their dress. All is black except the band, which is white. Thenovices wear the same habit, but all in white. The professed nuns alsowear a rosary at their side.
The Bernardines-Benedictines of Martin Verga practise the PerpetualAdoration, like the Benedictines called Ladies of the Holy Sacrament,who, at the beginning of this century, had two houses in Paris,--one atthe Temple, the other in the Rue Neuve-Sainte-Geneviève. However, theBernardines-Benedictines of the Petit-Picpus, of whom we are speaking,were a totally different order from the Ladies of the Holy Sacrament,cloistered in the Rue Neuve-Sainte-Geneviève and at the Temple. Therewere numerous differences in their rule; there were some in theircostume. The Bernardines-Benedictines of the Petit-Picpus wore theblack guimpe, and the Benedictines of the Holy Sacrament and of theRue Neuve-Sainte-Geneviève wore a white one, and had, besides, on theirbreasts, a Holy Sacrament about three inches long, in silver gilt orgilded copper. The nuns of the Petit-Picpus did not wear this HolySacrament. The Perpetual Adoration, which was common to the house ofthe Petit-Picpus and to the house of the Temple, leaves those two ordersperfectly distinct. Their only resemblance lies in this practice of theLadies of the Holy Sacrament and the Bernardines of Martin Verga, justas there existed a similarity in the study and the glorification ofall the mysteries relating to the infancy, the life, and death of JesusChrist and the Virgin, between the two orders, which were, nevertheless,widely separated, and on occasion even hostile. The Oratory of Italy,established at Florence by Philip de Neri, and the Oratory of France,established by Pierre de Bérulle. The Oratory of France claimed theprecedence, since Philip de Neri was only a saint, while Bérulle was acardinal.
Let us return to the harsh Spanish rule of Martin Verga.
The Bernardines-Benedictines of this obedience fast all the yearround, abstain from meat, fast in Lent and on many other days which arepeculiar to them, rise from their first sleep, from one to three o'clockin the morning, to read their breviary and chant matins, sleep in allseasons between serge sheets and on straw, make no use of the bath,never light a fire, scourge themselves every Friday, observe the rule ofsilence, speak to each other only during the recreation hours, which arevery brief, and wear drugget chemises for six months in the year, fromSeptember 14th, which is the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, until Easter.These six months are a modification: the rule says all the year, butthis drugget chemise, intolerable in the heat of summer, produced feversand nervous spasms. The use of it had to be restricted. Even with thispalliation, when the nuns put on this chemise on the 14th of September,they suffer from fever for three or four days. Obedience, poverty,chastity, perseverance in their seclusion,--these are their vows, whichthe rule greatly aggravates.
The prioress is elected for three years by the mothers, who are called_mères vocales_ because they have a voice in the chapter. A prioress canonly be re-elected twice, which fixes the longest possible reign of aprioress at nine years.
They never see the officiating priest, who is always hidden from themby a serge curtain nine feet in height. During the sermon, when thepreacher is in the chapel, they drop their veils over their faces. Theymust always speak low, walk with their eyes on the ground and theirheads bowed. One man only is allowed to enter the convent,--thearchbishop of the diocese.
There is really one other,--the gardener. But he is always an old man,and, in order that he may always be alone in the garden, and that thenuns may be warned to avoid him, a bell is attached to his knee.
Their submission to the prioress is absolute and passive. It is thecanonical subjection in the full force of its abnegation. As at thevoice of Christ, _ut voci Christi_, at a gesture, at the first sign,_ad nutum, ad primum signum_, immediately, with cheerfulness, withperseverance, with a certain blind obedience, _prompte, hilariter,perseveranter et cæca quadam obedientia_, as the file in the hand ofthe workman, _quasi limam in manibus fabri_, without power to read orto write without express permission, _legere vel scribere non addisceritsine expressa superioris licentia_.
Each one of them in turn makes what they call _reparation_. Thereparation is the prayer for all the sins, for all the faults, for allthe dissensions, for all the violations, for all the iniquities, forall the crimes committed on earth. For the space of twelve consecutivehours, from four o'clock in the afternoon till four o'clock in themorning, or from four o'clock in the morning until four o'clock in theafternoon, the sister who is making _reparation_ remains on her knees onthe stone before the Holy Sacrament, with hands clasped, a rope aroundher neck. When her fatigue becomes unendurable, she prostrates herselfflat on her face against the earth, with her arms outstretched in theform of a cross; this is her only relief. In this attitude she prays forall the guilty in the universe. This is great to sublimity.
As this act is performed in front of a post on which burns a candle,it is called without distinction, _to make reparation_ or _to be atthe post_. The nuns even prefer, out of humility, this last expression,which contains an idea of torture and abasement.
_To make reparation_ is a function in which the whole soul is absorbed.The sister at the post would not turn round were a thunderbolt to falldirectly behind her.
Besides this, there is always a sister kneeling before the HolySacrament. This station lasts an hour. They relieve each other likesoldiers on guard. This is the Perpetual Adoration.
The prioresses and the mothers almost always bear names stamped withpeculiar solemnity, recalling, not the saints and martyrs, but momentsin the life of Jesus Christ: as Mother Nativity, Mother Conception,Mother Presentation, Mother Passion. But the names of saints are notinterdicted.
When one sees them, one never sees anything but their mouths.
All their teeth are yellow. No tooth-brush ever entered that convent.Brushing one's teeth is at the top of a ladder at whose bottom is theloss of one's soul.
They never say _my_. They possess nothing of their own, and they mustnot attach themselves to anything. They call everything _our_; thus: ourveil, our chaplet; if they were speaking of their chemise, theywould say _our chemise_. Sometimes they grow attached to some pettyobject,--to a book of hours, a relic, a medal that has been blessed. Assoon as they become aware that they are growing attached to this object,they must give it up. They recall the words of Saint Thérèse, to whom agreat lady said, as she was on the point of entering her order, "Permitme, mother, to send for a Bible to which I am greatly attached." "Ah,you are attached to something! In that case, do not enter our order!"
Every person whatever is forbidden to shut herself up, to have _a placeof her own, a chamber_. They live with their cells open. When they meet,one says, "Blessed and adored be the most Holy Sacrament of the altar!"The other responds, "Forever." The same ceremony when one taps at theother's door. Hardly has she touched the door when a soft voice on theother side is heard to say hastily, "Forever!" Like all practices, thisbecomes mechanical by force of habit; and one sometimes says _forever_before the other has had time to say the rather long sentence, "Praisedand adored be the most Holy Sacrament of the altar."
Among the Visitandines the one who enters says: "Ave Maria," and the onewhose cell is entered says, "Gratia plena." It is their way of sayinggood day, which is in fact full of grace.
At each hour of the day three supplementary strokes sound from thechurch bell of the convent. At this signal prioress, vocal mothers,professed nuns, lay-sisters, novices, postulants, interrupt what theyare saying, what they are doing, or what they are thinking, and all sayin unison if it is five o'clock, for instance, "At five o'clock and atall hours praised and adored be the most Holy Sacrament of the altar!"If it is eight o'clock, "At eight o'clock and at all hours!" and so on,according to the hour.
This custom, the object of which is to break the thread of thoughtand to lead it back constantly to God, exists in many communities; theformula alone varies. Thus at The Infant Jesus they say, "At thishour and at every hour may the love of Jesus kindle my heart!" TheBernardines-Benedictines of Martin Verga, cloistered fifty years ago atPetit-Picpus, chant the offices to a solemn psalmody, a pure Gregorianchant, and always with full voice during the whole course of the office.Everywhere in the missal where an asterisk occurs they pause, and say ina low voice, "Jesus-Marie-Joseph." For the office of the dead they adopta tone so low that the voices of women can hardly descend to such adepth. The effect produced is striking and tragic.
The nuns of the Petit-Picpus had made a vault under their grand altarfor the burial of their community. _The Government_, as they say, doesnot permit this vault to receive coffins so they leave the convent whenthey die. This is an affliction to them, and causes them consternationas an infraction of the rules.
They had obtained a mediocre consolation at best,--permission to beinterred at a special hour and in a special corner in the ancientVaugirard cemetery, which was made of land which had formerly belongedto their community.
On Fridays the nuns hear high mass, vespers, and all the offices, as onSunday. They scrupulously observe in addition all the little festivalsunknown to people of the world, of which the Church of France was soprodigal in the olden days, and of which it is still prodigal in Spainand Italy. Their stations in the chapel are interminable. As for thenumber and duration of their prayers we can convey no better idea ofthem than by quoting the ingenuous remark of one of them: "The prayersof the postulants are frightful, the prayers of the novices are stillworse, and the prayers of the professed nuns are still worse."
Once a week the chapter assembles: the prioress presides; the vocalmothers assist. Each sister kneels in turn on the stones, and confessesaloud, in the presence of all, the faults and sins which she hascommitted during the week. The vocal mothers consult after eachconfession and inflict the penance aloud.
Besides this confession in a loud tone, for which all faults in theleast serious are reserved, they have for their venial offences whatthey call the _coulpe. To make one's coulpe_ means to prostrate one'sself flat on one's face during the office in front of the prioress untilthe latter, who is never called anything but _our mother_, notifies theculprit by a slight tap of her foot against the wood of her stallthat she can rise. The _coulpe_ or _peccavi_, is made for a very smallmatter--a broken glass, a torn veil, an involuntary delay of a fewseconds at an office, a false note in church, etc.; this suffices, andthe _coulpe_ is made. The _coulpe_ is entirely spontaneous; it is theculpable person herself (the word is etymologically in its place here)who judges herself and inflicts it on herself. On festival days andSundays four mother precentors intone the offices before a largereading-desk with four places. One day one of the mother precentorsintoned a psalm beginning with _Ecce_, and instead of _Ecce_ she utteredaloud the three notes _do si sol_; for this piece of absent-mindednessshe underwent a _coulpe_ which lasted during the whole service: whatrendered the fault enormous was the fact that the chapter had laughed.
When a nun is summoned to the parlor, even were it the prioress herself,she drops her veil, as will be remembered, so that only her mouth isvisible.
The prioress alone can hold communication with strangers. The others cansee only their immediate family, and that very rarely. If, by chance,an outsider presents herself to see a nun, or one whom she has known andloved in the outer world, a regular series of negotiations is required.If it is a woman, the authorization may sometimes be granted; the nuncomes, and they talk to her through the shutters, which are opened onlyfor a mother or sister. It is unnecessary to say that permission isalways refused to men.
Such is the rule of Saint-Benoît, aggravated by Martin Verga.
These nuns are not gay, rosy, and fresh, as the daughters of otherorders often are. They are pale and grave. Between 1825 and 1830 threeof them went mad.
