The Demands of Rome: Her Own Story of Thirty-One Years as a Sister of Charity in the Order of the Sisters of Charity of Providence of the Roman Catholic ChurchSchoffen, Elizabeth
Religion
The Demands of Rome: Her Own Story of Thirty-One Years as a Sister of Charity in the Order of the Sisters of Charity of Providence of the Roman Catholic Church
Schoffen, Elizabeth
Ex-nuns -- United States -- Biography; Monastic and religious life of women
[Illustration: _Sister Ethelbert, my companion on the "begging trip" to
the Gulf of Georgia, near Alaska. She told me this was her seventh trip
to this part of the country on a mission of this nature. She died at the
age of thirty-six years._]
At one camp we visited, the men refused to keep us over night, so the
men who had rowed us all day, began to row us to the next camp. About
ten o'clock in the night, a storm arose, and we had to land, as it was
too rough to go farther. The shore space was very limited, as there were
huge mountains on one side and the breakers on the other. Dry wood was
very scarce so the fire we had was little better than none at all. There
were four of us--two sisters and two men--and all the covering we had
was one double blanket, with the rough, rocky shore for a bed. About two
o'clock in the morning, the storm subsided and we embarked again and
continued our journey, arriving at the next camp about four o'clock. Two
of the workmen very kindly gave us their bunk, but because of the cold
there was very little sleep. When we arose, the Chinese cook took us to
the kitchen and had us warm our feet in the large oven. He was a very
good and kind sympathetic friend for he looked so sorry for us and said,
"You have hard time."
Since I had to go begging, I was very pleased to have Sister Ethelbert
for a companion because I knew that she was not a trouble-maker, but a
truly good and sisterly person. I had hungered and longed for many years
to be with some sister that I could talk with on some other than the
written religious subjects and I was sure that this was the opportunity.
I tried to talk to her, and she would smile at me, and she tried to talk
to me, and I would smile at her. It was very apparent that our
vocabulary was very limited and simple, when it came to talking on
outside subjects. It was not till some years later that I realized why
this condition existed. It was from the long silence and suppression, of
not only speech, but our very thoughts, having been in bondage so long.
We were away from St. Mary's Hospital just three weeks and brought back
a little over eleven hundred dollars in checks and cash. Is it any
wonder that Rome can build such magnificent institutions?
As a result of the exposure and hardships on this trip I contracted
sickness from which I did not completely recover during the remainder of
my convent life. And oh, if I could only explain what it means to be a
sick sister! I was not receiving the proper care, so I wrote to my
Mother House, located in Portland, Oregon, pleading that something might
be done for me. I waited for three weeks for an answer, but received
none. I wrote to my Superior again, and told her that if the community
could not give me the care I needed, I would write to my father and ask
him to see that I received medical assistance. This was a very bold
thing for a sister to do, but I was certainly very sick and little did I
care what the community would do to me.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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