Maria and the Bellasis Family 7

I was quite keen to get to the part of the English convent life of Mother Connolly, so Sister Francis decided that we would go to that now.

“I want to know when you came into her life, and how you felt about it all.”

“Actually my father was the first to get involved. He met her through her working with the poor at the church of St. Anne’s in London. He was so impressed that he became her financial guide for the rest of his life, and he wanted to show his belief in her, so he enrolled my two sisters, Monica and Cecelia, both younger than me, in her school for the youngest children at her new convent house in Derby.”

“Why didn’t you go?”

“I was a sickly child, and it was thought at one stage that I didn’t have long to live, so I stayed at home to start with. But when I was 7, I was considered well enough to try out boarding school, although I was allowed to have part time lessons, and have some of them in the outdoors, with just the tutor and me.  I learned my literature sitting on the back of the hay wagon, and between milking the cows.

“But I prefer to keep this all in chronological order so I wish to go back and put in the details of those first few difficult years. “

“Yes, certainly, but I do want to know about you and your family too.”

“Mother Connelly was  an affectionate and devoted mother, and her love was fully returned by her children. It had been decided that Frank, the youngest,  should remain with her for the next three years, and  Adeline for still longer.

“Pierce,  however, suddenly  determined to take them away from her and to send them to  school, and wrote his orders to that effect. Whether it was  that he could not resign himself to the idea of being without  influence over the lives of his children, or whether a dawning  jealousy of their devotion to their mother was making itself  felt since his separation from her and them, we cannot tell.  In any case, it was arranged that Adeline should go to the Convent of the Holy Sepulchre, New Hall, Chelmsford, and Frank to a school kept by a Mrs. Nicholson for little boys from four years of age at Hampstead. 

“Mother Connelly had now been joined in Birmingham by her  first companion. Sister Aloysia, as she was afterwards called,  was the first lay sister admitted into the new Society. She  was filled with admiration of Mother Connelly, as she watched  her, under the cross of the impending separation from her  children. 

“During her stay in Birmingham Mother Connelly had the pleasure of meeting the Rev. John Henry Newman, then residing at Maryvale, and a warm friendship began. Father Newman took a lively interest in the new Society, appreciating at once the aims and spirit of the Foundress. It was probably through his influence that a penitent of his, Miss Emily Bowles, joined Mother Connelly. She was a capable and accomplished young lady, and a recent convert.

“So by August they had chosen to start their convent in Derby, in a building which was huge, with echoing rooms. Mother Connelly's  practical mind also foresaw material difficulties in the care of such a large building. But she was not one to waste time in  wishing things to be otherwise than they were. She accepted  the inevitable, thanked God for His mercies, and prepared to  make the best of them.”

“How was her convent different from all the other ones?”

“It was strict, with keeping silence, reading the Rule, instructions, recreations, penances and spiritual duties. Hours were written out for each one as soon as possible, so each knew her duties. The parish school was waiting for them.”

And that was our hour gone for this week.

In the meantime I had had a letter from Florence Nightingale asking me to come to see  her again during the next week. She said she remembered that we had a common friend, and would find it interesting to hear of my experiences with her.  She didn’t say who it was, and I couldn’t guess.