Of course we soon learnt to look upon our Superiors as possessing infallibility. In the words of the Lady Prioress of Llanthony convent:
What the Pope is to Roman Catholics, that a Superior is to a nun. _I_ cannot err, in regard to you; though I may do wrong or make mistakes in regard to matters belonging to myself, yet I cannot err as regards you, for our Lord would not permit this. Therefore, no matter what I do or say to you, it must be right, so far as it concerns you; it is God’s will for you, and the very slightest rebellion against my wish or orders, even in thought, is rebellion against God.
In “The Rule of our Most Holy Father St. Benedict” (Burns & Oates), on page 53, these words occur: “The third degree of humility is that a man, for the love of God, submit himself to his Superior in all obedience, imitating the Lord, of whom the apostle saith, ‘He was made obedient unto death.’ … And in order to show that we ought to be under a Superior, the word of God says, ‘Thou hast placed men over our heads.’”
That this is a most extraordinary and utterly unwarranted application (?) of Scripture, I need scarcely point out to my intelligent readers.
Of course the Father Superior is as infallible as the Mother Superior; and yet I have heard the Llanthony Mother frequently criticise the reverend Father’s doings when his actions did not exactly fall in with her ideas, or if they at all clashed with her will. This Mother, too, often accused me to the reverend Father of things I had never done. I recall to mind an occasion when I was smarting under one of these unfounded accusations, and how, in an agony of mind, I exclaimed, “It is not true, and she knows it is not true.” The Father Superior commanded me to be still, and listen to God speaking to me. Practically we were taught that the Lord only reveals His will to us through our Superiors. A nun must obey the convent bell as if it were the voice of an angel. If she should be writing when the bell sounds, she must instantly lay down her pen, without even waiting to finish the formation of a letter; and as an example of how pleasing such instant obedience is to God, we were told that a certain saint was called three times whilst reciting the office of the Blessed Virgin; she obeyed promptly, and on returning and taking up her book, she found the letters written in gold;[9] and thus, even in this life, was her perfect obedience rewarded. When the bell rings, or a Superior calls, everything must be left at once, even though the nun knows full well she will be penanced for leaving things about, and yet she dares not stay to put them away without a breach of this Vow of Obedience.