_CONVENT LIFE AT SLAPTON, IN DEVONSHIRE._
I will now pass on to say a few words about my life at the Slapton convent, in Devonshire, where we took up our abode after leaving Feltham.
We commenced life in our new home, which was part of an old chantry house, with glad, bold, and brave hearts, determined to keep the rules which were imposed upon us. Our motto was “In omnibus glorificetur Deus.” We were under stricter rule than we had ever been before, but we were glad of this, as we believed we were brought nearer to Jesus the stricter the rule we kept.
I cannot say much for the peace and happiness that fell to me here after two years had passed away. During that period I was housekeeper—Mother Wereburgh sacristan, and Mother Cecilia scribe. I was greatly praised and flattered; but there was one fault found with me, and this was my unwillingness to obey implicitly the two sisters who were put above me as my Superiors. The fact is that both these nuns were jealous of me, on account of the good opinion Father Ignatius had of me. Besides, I am certain that Mother Cecilia had no right to be made Novice-mistress, nor had Mother Wereburgh right to be made Lady Prioress. The former had not been properly professed, and the latter was what is termed a “desecrated virgin,” and it was unlawful, according to the constitutions of St. Benedict, for either of them to hold office. It was not right of Father Ignatius to place these women over me in the place of God, and to command me to see God in them. Although I tried hard, I could not submit to them, and thus my life became by no means a smooth or happy one.
I may mention here that, whilst residing at Slapton, a poor old woman was somehow induced to sell her little home in Herefordshire, that she might come to our convent; but alas! she “found everything,” as she told me, “so different from what I expected. My life is a misery to me. I shall never believe in anything again.” I must say she seemed at times somewhat peculiar; but when a person of fifty years of age begins life over again, and is expected to be as obedient as she was required to be when quite a little child, is it to be wondered at that such a return to an artificial childhood causes bewilderment? It was nothing else than devotion to Father Ignatius that caused her to give up her home.