Part 21

I took leave of M. Bonnetty afterwards. M. Farel took me to the establishment of S. Nicolas, for the education of orphan and other children, and their apprenticing to various trades, Rue Vaugirard, 98. This has been set on foot and conducted for about twenty years by Monsignor de Bervanger. He has collected out of the streets of Paris a thousand gamins, whom he receives at a small pension--twenty francs a month for orphans, twenty-five for other children; lodges, boards, instructs, and teaches them a vast number of trades. Of these he has even at present seven hundred: but the Revolution of February has cost him a diminution of three hundred. Five hundred of the garde mobile, who lately saved Paris, have been brought up by him. He observes that the difficulty for children destined to live by manual labour is how to join elementary studies, especially that of religion, with their apprenticeship to a trade. Without religion a workman does not find in all his life rule for his conduct, consolation in his toils, or hope for the future. Thus establishments uniting these advantages answer a deep need of society, and this has been the chief aim of the Œuvre de S. Nicolas since its institution in 1827, _i.e._, to succour orphans, to give them a love of virtue and labour, and prepare them, by the practice of religious duties, to become not merely good workmen, but good Christians. For this purpose an hour and a quarter is given every day, except Thursday, to the study and explanation of the Catechism, the Gospel, and Sacred History. The pupils are arranged in fourteen divisions, according to their age and intelligence. They are taught by priests approved by the archbishop--these are ever among them, not only in their work and studies, but at their recreations, instructing them to be content with the position assigned to them by Providence, and to bless Him amid the most painful toils and privations, out of regard to an eternal recompense--sentiments which the example of these priests in surrendering themselves to so charitable and self-denying a life must be very powerful in inspiring.

The children are specially instructed and prepared for their first communion and confirmation.

The establishment has within it twenty-five ateliers for pupils whose parents or guardians desire to leave their children till the end of their apprenticeship; for the children only attend these workshops on an express request. Care will be taken to put to good Christian masters the children not able to profit by this advantage. A great number of those brought up here are already set at the head of these workshops. Their younger brethren will find with them the same religious usages, and as it were the same family.

They are occupied in these workshops eight and a half hours a day. They have a class two hours every day, except their friends desire them to pass this time in the workshop, to perfect themselves in their employment. If their work should be suspended, they attend the classes.

The apprenticeship lasts two, three, or four years, according to the trade. When finished they may remain in the establishment; and what they earn beyond their maintenance may be deposited in a savings' bank. The parents can select for their children what trade they like, after considering their tastes, physical powers, and intelligence. Though these workshops are an increase of charge to the establishment, yet, as it does not seek to make a pecuniary speculation, the payment for the children in them is no larger than for the youngest, though their board is more expensive. Moreover, those who work require a larger amount of food.

All the earnings of the apprentices belong to the masters of the workshops, who have thus an interest in their progress, and in conforming themselves to the rules of the house, from which they are liable to be dismissed. On their side, they provide the tools. They have no power to inflict punishments, but report to the brethren.

The studies comprehend reading, writing, arithmetic, and orthography; the elements of French grammar, geography, and history; analysis of grammar and logic; book-keeping, linear-drawing, practical geometry, vocal music, the most complete instrumental music, gymnastics, and swimming; such primary instructions in natural philosophy, chemistry, and natural history, as are applicable to daily life; mensuration and horticulture.

The children do not remain in study more than two hours and a half following, nor occupied on the same subject more than from half an hour to an hour and a half. Those not in the workshops have eight hours of class and study, excepting the youngest, who have only six, as they rise later. Each class has from fifty to seventy scholars at most.

There is a small examination several times a year.

The food is prepared by sisters of charity. It is wholesome and plentiful, and shared by the masters. There is breakfast, dinner, and supper, besides the goûter.

Sisters of charity take charge of the infirmary, kitchens, refectory, linen, and washing: "they know that all holiness which isolates us from those who have need of our assistance is false."

Most careful provision is made for the cleanliness of the children. Warm water is supplied in winter; baths at all times. Every child is supplied yearly with a pair of summer and winter pantaloons new; those of the year preceding become every day's clothing.

House-work, in which the brethren have aid from the children out of class time, is paid to them. Long experience shows how much better for the children this is than when it is made a punishment. Moreover, some children have such need of motion, that great harm may be done them if it be refused them.

"All which appears low to the eyes of men, is an object of emulation among _religious_, whose vocation aims at the most perfect conformity with the counsels and example of our divine Saviour. Like Him, they dare to touch the Leper banished from man's society; like Him, they despise Pharisaic censure. They would deem themselves unworthy to belong in so privileged a manner to the service of a crucified God, if their heart was under the influence of human opinion, if regards even to their health, which a sensitive conscience often shows them to be superfluous, could arrest them in the accomplishment of their labours."

The brethren sleep in the dormitories among the children. One of them invariable keeps watch in these dormitories, which are lighted. The most careful and rigorous surveillance is exercised. The eldest rise at 5½; the youngest at 7. In winter they go to bed at 8; in summer at 8¾.

Good marks are given to the children, which three times a year are exchanged for books, &c. Marks of conduct, work, and application, for each week, are hung up in the parloir. So likewise the places obtained in the compositions of the week; and the notes of three months, which are sent to friends. Pupils who constantly maintain themselves on the table of good conduct for three months are entitled to a reward. There is a solemn distribution of prizes every year before the short vacation, on the Sunday following 15th of August.

Extraordinary recreations are provided at times; as in summer a long promenade, in which the pupils take with them a day's provisions.

During the recreations of each day, the brethren make themselves children with their pupils, authority disguising itself under the shape of affection. This is the most favourable moment for studying character. They endeavour to gain the confidence of those in whom they have observed bad dispositions by employing the most attractive means of religion, and they have often the consolation of making them teachable and happy.

It is a great point to occupy the children during their recreation, and so to brace the body by exercise, that their nights may be sound and their health good.

Parents can see their children any day, but only at play time, and when they are not in disgrace. They cannot take their children out but on a few particular days.

Punishments are inflicted as sparingly as possible. No master may strike a child.

Children are received from eight to twelve years old. Those under ten are sent in general to the Maison succursale, at Issy. Twenty francs' entrance are paid besides the pension. The number is limited to 1000.

We had first an interview with Monsignor de Bervanger, the founder of this work, to whom, I should think, it must supply perpetual occupation. He sent a most pleasing boy round with us to the different parts of the establishment. In many of the various ateliers work has been suspended; this is an effect of the revolution: in many we saw the pupils at work under their 'chef.' They reach such perfection in their work, as to obtain an easy sale for it, and to gain their subsistence. A large number were playing in high spirits. The premises are necessarily of great extent, and certainly it is a bold and immense experiment, and most interesting. It is not the least astonishing that Monsignor de Bervanger set it on foot without private funds: but its maintenance involves a large degree of ever active charity, both in the brothers of S. Nicolas, who teach these boys, that would otherwise be the refuse of Paris, and who eat and sleep in the midst of them, and in the Sisters of Charity, by whom the kitchen, infirmary, refectory, &c. are served. Thus without the 'celibat' in both sexes, this and every other work of high charity falls to the ground. Not only on the score of expense would it be impossible to conduct such a house without the aid of those who disregard money altogether as a remuneration; not only would it be difficult to find so total a surrender of time and of the whole man in any who had household ties to bind them: but as certain devils cannot be cast out "save by prayer and fasting," so there would seem to be a like proportion of means to end in particular applications of the Cross's healing power. It would appear to be a necessary condition for the restoration of the suffering masses of society, that the highest blessing of the natural man--family life--should be voluntarily surrendered by those who are to be God's instruments in this special work. They who are seen amid the toil and sweat of every day's task to be living a supernatural life of charity,--they, and they alone, can gain the affection of the world's outcasts, and lighten the burden of the Cross which they have first themselves so borne. As I went over this house, and saw its inmates, I comprehended in some faint degree the amount of charity which such a life must require. The musical service, performed by these children themselves on Sunday, is described as very well done, and very interesting. Many of their friends come to hear. I thought their chapel confined for so large a number.

A little book which Monsignor de Bervanger gave us contains a pretty full account of this institution, from which I have taken many particulars given above. He observed that an Englishman not long before had paid them several visits. He was most struck by the terms of intimacy in which the masters lived with the pupils. This has also struck me pointedly wherever I have seen educational institutions in France. There the wall of separation does not seem to exist, which shuts out the English tutor or master from the real state of his pupil's mind, from his prevailing habits, and natural tone of thought. With us, the boy before his master, and the boy by himself or with his schoolfellows, are two beings wholly distinct. Seldom, indeed, can the tutor get at the real living soul with whom he has to deal; still seldomer mould and direct the development of his moral powers. It is, to the best of my belief, a _generic_ difference between Anglican and Roman Catholic education.

As we were walking home, M. Farel told me that in the diocese of Langres alone there were five hundred institutions of Sisters of Charity. "Do you not mean," I said, "five hundred Sisters?" "No," he replied; "not a commune is without them." I asked to how many several parent houses they might belong: he said, to about five. Thus the Sisters of S. Vincent de Paul only form a portion of those dedicated to this work.

_Friday, Aug. 11._--I copied the rest of the account of the cure which happened to the novice at the Rue du Bac. The Sisters asked me if I had seen the child who was cured of blindness. I said I had, and that she seemed to me of very limited intelligence, and extremely simple. One of them answered, "Yes; I asked her what she thought when she recovered her sight, to which she replied, 'C'était drôle à voir.'" While I was sitting among a number of the Sisters of Charity transcribing the account, their great cheerfulness--one might almost call it merriment--of tone was remarkable; they were those engaged in the general management of the house at the Secrétariat. There is something too in their faces which indicates inward peace. They look happy. I took the opportunity of reading the pastoral letter of the Abbé Etienne, their superior general, in which the account of the cures was contained. It was written to encourage them amid the unsettled state of public affairs. He reminded them that the Revolution of 1830 opened with a much more threatening aspect towards religion; and yet the period of eighteen years which they had since passed through had been one of unexampled progress and prosperity to their Institution. The times in which their founder S. Vincent de Paul lived were likewise most unsettled, but he only saw in that a larger opportunity for charitable exertions; he had promised his children, that so long as they were faithful to their rules the Divine protection should never fail them, and God had, beyond doubt, granted these two miraculous cures to the intercessions of S. Vincent at the opening of another momentous crisis to assure them that their Saint had not lost his power with God. He felt the greatest confidence in their zeal and charity and spirit of union, which made his own task light. Before leaving the house I visited their chapel again, which has to me a peculiar interest, on account of what is said to have taken place there.

I here insert the account of the cures, which I copied from the original, and the attestations, which I procured from the two surgeons who had treated the several cases. The superior-general thus introduces the mention of these two cures:--"This is not all, my very dear Sisters. At a time when, perhaps, yet greater trials are in store for the Church and for us, and when, perhaps, likewise, yet greater mercies are to reward our faith, God has thought fit to set, as it were, the seal of His Omnipotence on our confidence, and to show by prodigies all the power of S. Vincent's protection at the throne of Divine Goodness. Two astonishing cures have taken place this year before the shrine of S. Vincent, during the 'neuvaine' of the translation of his relics. I do not qualify them as miracles, because the ecclesiastical authority alone has the power so to term them. But my heart feels the need of bringing to your knowledge the details concerning them, because I know all the joy and edification which you will experience in them, and how proper you will esteem them to encourage you to draw closer the ties which bind you to your holy calling, and to lead you to appreciate the designs of God for our two families, if we are faithful in corresponding to them. I shall preface the account of each healing by the certificate of the medical man, which sets forth the state of the patient at the moment when it took place."

"_Attestation du chirurgien sur la maladie de la sœur Marie Javelle._

"Le 2 Mai 1848 j'ai été appelé au couvent de la rue du Bac, n° 132, pour la sœur Marie Javelle, âgée de 24 ans, que j'ai trouvée couchée, ayant la tête inclinée sur l'épaule gauche, qu'elle touchait presque, avec raideur des muscles du cou, impossibilité de la ramener à sa position naturelle, et douleur vive, augmentée par les moindres mouvements. On m'apprit que cet état avait été la suite immédiate d'un coup violent, porté par mégarde sur la tempe droite.

"M. Lenoir, chirurgien de l'hôpital Necker, vit cette malade avec moi le lendemain 3 Mai. Sans rejeter la possibilité d'un simple torticolis, nous eûmes, ensemble, la pensée d'un déplacement d'une apophyse articulaire du côté gauche de l'une des dernières vertèbres cervicales.

"Le danger de la réduction de ces déplacements, que nous fîmes connaître à la supérieure, l'absence jusqu'ici d'accidents graves, nous déterminèrent à nous borner à l'application des moyens propres à calmer la contraction des muscles du cou.

"Les jours suivants, les accidents augmentèrent. Il survint de la fièvre, la tête s'inclina davantage sur l'épaule; la malade eut de la peine à boire, ce dont je m'assurai en lui voyant avaler, par saccades convulsives, quelques gorgées de liquide. Le bras gauche devint douloureux jusqu'à la main, dont le contact retentissait péniblement jusqu'au cou; il était dans une extension continuelle, avec raideur tétanique qui ne me permit point de le changer de place. Le membre inférieur gauche, d'abord engourdi à sa partie supérieure, présenta aussi de la raideur.

"La respiration était un peu gênée. Les facultés intellectuelles conservaient leur pleine intégrité. Les choses étaient dans cet état le 8 Mai, à sept heures et demie du matin. Nous avions exprimé des craintes plus graves que les jours précédents. La supérieure n'avait pas osé permettre des tentatives de réduction dont nous avions annoncé les conséquences possibles, auxquelles la malade, bien résignée, se serait prêtée volontiers.

"Le 9 Mai, à sept heures et demie du matin, sans aucune manœuvre chirurgicale qui soit à ma connaissance, j'ai vu dans le cabinet de la sœur Buchepot (première directrice du noviciat de la communauté) la jeune sœur Marie Javelle, debout, marchant facilement, portant sans effort sa main sur sa tête, celle-ci revenue à sa rectitude naturelle, le cou ayant repris sa forme, sa souplesse, et exécutant tous les mouvements.

"Paris, le 10 Mai, 1848."

Having forwarded my copy of the above to M. Hervey de Chegoin, he returned it to me, with the following attestation, written at the end:--

"Je certifie cette copie conforme au procès-verbal que j'ai avéré de la maladie de la sœur Marie Javelle.

"HERVEY DE CHEGOIN, "Médecin des hôpitaux, &c."

Accompanying it with the following note:--

"Monsieur, j'ai signé bien volontiers la copie que vous m'avez adressée: elle est aussi exacte que le procès-verbal lui-même est l'expression de la vérité dans l'exposé des symptômes pendant huit jours, et de leur disparition subite et complète après la circonstance qui l'a précédée.

"J'ai l'honneur d'être, "Monsieur, "Votre très obéissant serviteur, "HERVEY DE CHEGOIN. "31 Juillet, 1848."

The relation of the cure itself is as follows:--

"_Detailed relation of the healing of the Sister Marie Javelle._