Asa H. Craig, (Asa Hollister), 1847-1934
My friends, did you ever stop to consider the mission of the Sisters of Charity? Did you ever stop to investigate the marvelous organization of this institution, its almost universal presence among the poor and afflicted, the consecration of womanhood to the relief of distress, and her wonderful
devotion to the true principles of human kindness? If you have never seriously thought of who and what they are, I most earnestly ask you to follow me for a few moments, until we have uncovered some of these deeds of charity, some of the modest achievements of this band of silent and yet devoted followers of Christian love, of gracious deeds of relief, and of their zealous piety and devotion.
Sisters of Charity. Do you know them? You do, and yet you do not. You know them from the history of what the world has been pleased to describe unto you. You have read of their devotion to the relief of human suffering and of human poverty. You read the almost constantly recurring report of some good Sister Samaritan who appears on the scene of necessity, and as a matter of fact, performs the work of the emergency, and then disappears with the same silently unseen as was manifested in her coming. This history is so familiar to you that not even curiosity prompts you to wonder who gave this relief and what is the real motive that prompts its execution. This is about all that you know. You have seen and heard, and yet you did not realize what a sweet messenger of love had ministered to the wants of distress. She came and she went, having left the beautiful impress of her charity and her devotion. The afflicted felt the pure touch of her fidelity to Christian virtue, but the world was ignorant of this noblest of all noble deeds — the gift of relief without money and without price. In her coming there was no announcement of one who had earned the public acclamations of merit and renown. There had been no recognition of brilliant achievements, no approval of the mental victory in the attainment of science, no kingly honor because of fame and ambition, and no crown of glory to be given by a proud and grateful populace. In her coming there was no earthly reward but the glad heart of the afflicted, and no ambition to satisfy except the ambition to do God’s will in the relief of a poor, distressed humanity. She came as a duty, to lift the burdens of despair, to soothe the last moments of the dying, to care for the orphans, to make a home for the homeless, to encourage, to inspire, to hope, to love, to point out the paths of virtue, and to save from perdition the soul of a mortal being.
The ambition of the world is to produce some great institution of amazement, and not the simplicity of meekness. If it is charity, it must be on such a scale as to excite the approbation and applause of a people. But to bear the cup of relief with the silent step of an unheralded mission, is to the world a lost fragrance, an ignored and unknown virtue, and a blessedness of character that is not appreciated only by those who feel the tender devotion of this Christ-like manifestation of a true Angel of Mercy. Not only are they not appreciated by the giddy fashion of inconsistency, but because there is no pomp nor glory in these ministrations of good, because they have surrendered the ties that bound them to home, to fortune, and to worldly pleasure, and because they have dedicated their lives to the service of affliction. For these reasons of voluntary action of worthiness, and because the world was not consulted as to when, how, and why, they must therefore point the finger of scorn, ridicule the motive of the one who gives this sacrifice, and actually defame the spirit of noble womanhood in their acts of Christian charity.
For shame, brothers, to harbor for even one moment the suspicion of one thought of unholy devotion. In your thoughtless observances you unconsciously fall into the pit of ignorance. Whenever you drop a word of disbelief, of reproach to fidelity, of purity of character, of honest motives, you are defaming the worthiest inspirations of good that have ever animated the heart of woman. Because no one rises up to defend them from your sneer, from the loose jest of your sarcasm, do not think they are beneath the nobleness of your own mother, your own sister, your own wife, or your own daughter. Remember that the hand that is stretched out in the cause of human kindness is a woman’s who, in the nobleness of a true heart, gives her life for the benefit of others. In all the realms of duty, is there a consecration so grand and beautiful in its purity of conception as this? Can you paint a picture so full of the grandeur of devotion as is this?
You are selfish. You see the world in all the brilliant display of fashion and beauty. You believe that the sole sphere of woman is to be the butterfly of vanity, or the slave to circumstances. In your health and happiness, you turn aside from the wants of the needy, the afflicted, and those who are sorely distressed. To you there is but one field of labor, and that wherein you can best earn the pleasures of existence and avoid the harrowing scenes of misery and want. You have no care for the millions of God’s creatures who are daily suffering from disease, from poverty, and from, the evils of a misspent life. You say that, as it is the result of their own sin, they have earned their misery; that it is but the just deserts of the disobedience of law. You have no patience, no humanity, no feelings of pity, and no sorrow for these penalties of disobedience. You have lived your life in the strict observance of a moral, and as the world says, an honorable manhood, and because of your morality, you spurn from your doorsteps those who have fallen.
If this was all, if you had denied only those who were seeking the gifts of your charity, you might stand higher in the scales of human justice, but the sin of injustice is worse, a thousandfold worse, when you curl your lip in scorn as you notice that the good Samaritan did not turn from the stranger and pass on the other side, who was not so absorbed in the mad scramble of life that he could not administer to the afflicted, who did not upbraid him for his sins and, like yourself, spurn him from the wayside. You see this good Samaritan, this Sister of Charity, alleviate his misfortunes and press to his parched lips the draught of kindness. You see her do this and more. You see her seek to restore his manhood, to teach him repentance, and yet you toss your head In scorn, you attribute some unholy unworthiness to these faithful creatures who, to do the work of Christ, whom you profess to worship, come in the same lowly garb of meekness as did the Savior of Bethlehem.
Now, my friends, let me ask you, why have you done this? Why do you attribute any other motive than that which you see in these noble acts of Christian charity? Have you ever seen an act, or heard a word spoken, that would betray even the suspicion of a cause for your ingratitude? Have you ever heard from any reliable authority or by any authority whatever, that these Samaritans are not the purest in character, the sweetest in benevolence, the most womanly, and the most Christian of all women in existence? Have you any reason whatever, except that derived from idle slander, for not weighing out to them the full measure of their worth? Have you formed any reasonable excuse for not honoring them few the chosen field of their usefulness? Can you believe in your heart that such creatures can harbor even the shadow of shame, of remorse, or of infidelity to their womanhood?
But you do not base your judgment upon the real acts of existence. You hear the preposterous slanders coming from the polluted sources of such notorious impostors as Maria Monks and then say, see what a woman says against woman. Such characters are not worthy even the silent contempt of an honest man or woman, and I ask you to consider the history of these polluted creatures who rise up to defame the hands who seek to restore womanhood even in its debased shame.
Had there been no sin, no depravity, no missteps in life, no unfortunate poor, there would have been no call for the mission of charity. They are not there for the pleasures of earth, or the pleasures of existence, except- as their benevolence gives to them the love of consecrated duty to bring relief, and the love of being the instrument of God to raise man from the depravity of misery and want. Theirs is a conscientious duty to dedicate their powers of existence to the sweet and sublime efforts of relieving distress, of comforting the desolate, and whispering the words of peace and consolation.
Mark the contrast. You encourage vice and poverty by not placing your hand against the stream of social crime that feeds it. They expose their lives in battling with that which you cross to the other side to avoid. They take from their basket of poverty the last crust to feed the destitute, while you spurn from your door the unfortunate poor, just as did the rich man deny the crumbs of his table to Lazarus. They will seek to raise the fallen, although he may be the most despised wretch in existence, but you fear to soil your clothes in a contact with vice and misery. They will enter the dens of infamy, and as they stop to stanch the flow of blood from an unfortunate victim, a hush falls upon those present, vice for a moment is forgotten, the presence of purity is a strength greater
than sin, and as this Sister becomes a ministering angel, there will be no depth of infamy that will mock at ‘her efforts, or will whisper her name in any connection except as it blesses and reverences the being that is before them. The idle tongue of jest is silenced, the thought of mother and sister comes back to them in all the force of a sweet recollection. That woman, that Sister is safe in that den of infamy, and were you, sir, to enter and cast one word of reproach, a syllable of slander, or an unchristian sentiment of baseness, those men, who have drank the cup of disgrace, of immorality, and of crime, will rise up in the defense of her whom you seek to dishonor.
Why, may I ask, does this unappreciative world not praise these deeds of noble doing? Why are these silent Sisters of Mercy, these true Samaritans, these devoted followers of Christ, cast in the background of forgetfulness? I will tell you why. It is from prejudice and not from any foundation of cause. You do not feel the inspiration of this mission; you do not conceive the holy duty that should inspire all men in the elevation of truth and honor; you do not understand the true sentiments of Christianity. These things are beyond your realization of duty and justice, and as you are floundering in the slough of ignorance, you ascribe a motive that is not pure and holy. You have never studied this sacrifice; you cannot understand how it is possible to consecrate the pure life of woman to the relief of humanity. You may see how man may spring to the service of his country, how he may imperil his life to rescue the fire-caught victim or the shipwrecked mariners, but you do not consider that this same spirit may actuate woman, and by it she may ignore the pleasures of life, and seek at all times to aid in the relief of poor, distressed humanity. It requires no more courage or sacrifice for you to obey the order to charge, than it does for her to bind up the wounds of the bleeding soldier, to soothe the delirium of fever, or to nurse back to life the shattered form of chivalry. While the world is ever ready to cheer you on, to welcome you, to ring the praises of heroism from shore to shore and from continent to continent, yet they are silent to the just dues of her who follows in the footsteps of war, of bloodshed, and of disease.
But what is this prejudice, this lack of appreciation due these noble Sisters? Is it not because they are Catholic? Have you not been taught in your infancy, in your boyhood, in your manhood, that there is and ought to be a prejudice? Have you not been Shown what exists in imagination and not in reality? Were you not taught from the Reform opposition of the sixteenth century, or from <the rebellion of Henry VIII? Were you not raised in a condition of semi-unbelief; that there is a secret undercurrent in the Catholic Church that is not Christian; that the motives of relief are not a sincere desire to be what it represents, that, after all, there may be a fountain of iniquity we know not of?
You seek to deny that it is because it is Catholic, but there is, and there can be, no other reason. Your prejudice has made it so. You have inherited it from your ancestors. You may not be to blame for what was born in your constitution, but you are to blame for not being consistent, for not investigating, for not looking upon the other side. You see the noblest virtue of womanhood dedicated to the mission of charity, then why not love her for this devotion? You do not obtain this statement from hearsay; you see it in every walk of life, and in every form of poverty and misery. You worship Jesus because of His glorious promises of salvation. You see Him going about curing the sick and afflicted, the maimed and the blind. You see Him teaching humility, admonishing the wicked to go and sin no more, to do unto others as you would have others should do unto you. You see the poverty of life, His desire to raise up those who have fallen, His willingness and desire to assist the needy, to relieve the lowest depths of misery, and to teach Christianity to all men. You worship God for His manifestation of love, but when woman seeks to emulate our Savior you ascribe to her a motive, the nature of which, and its utterance, ought to be beneath the dignity of a man, or a rational human being.
Read the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew and you need no further evidence of the great responsibility and duty that is imposed upon all of us.
“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand. Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
“For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
“Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”
Here we have the divine promise of God, that as we “have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” Likewise we find in the same chapter that if we deny those who are an hungered, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, then we deny Christ, and he says: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Before proceeding further in this discussion, let us examine this Society, which the world knows so much of and yet fails to appreciate.
The origin of the Daughters of Charity, or as afterwards called, Sister of Charity, dates back to 1630, when Vincent de Paul, who, seeing the necessity of a perfect organization for the dispensation of charity, instituted this Society, which has grown and spread its branches into every city o£ earth.
But some of you may ask, who was Vincent de Paul? Read the record of his works, the history of his life, and you will find in him one of the noblest Christians that the world has ever produced. His record of good works places him as one of the most benevolent, the most earnest in the relief of mankind from the enthrallment of sin and poverty, the purest in character, the most devoted to truth, piety, and manhood, the most remarkable in learning, in organization of forces, and in the spreading of the true gospel of Christianity. Of all the men that have blessed the world for being in it, none can show a record of greater worth, of purer principles of conception, or of grander attainments for good, than Vincent de Paul. His was a life of the most devoted consecration, of the loftiest deeds of benevolence, of the grandest Christian devotion, and the sweetest love for the ministrations of kindness, of filial affection to all mankind, and to the practical demonstrations of true Charity.
This great man was induced to undertake the organization of charity by a simple incident which occurred in 1627. As he was ascending the pulpit to preach, a lady approached him and asked that he should remember to his congregation the poverty of a very worthy family who was living a league distant. The thought of poverty, in the midst of plenty, touched his heart with sympathy and in his plea for relief he so wrought upon his congregation that many journeyed through the intense heat of the day to render aid to the distressed family. Vincent was much surprised at this spontaneous willingness to confer benefits, but at the same time he saw that charity without a shepherd could not be dispensed with economy and satisfaction, therefore he brought into an organization a band of willing workers who, under the name of Daughters of Charity, laid the foundation of this wonderful society that has for more than a century encircled the earth.
Vincent entrusted the supervision of this organization to Mile. Le Gras, a devout and enthusiastic lady. This work, which was so humble in its origin but great in its consequences, was eagerly sought after because of its beautiful Christian force in the world of charity. While Vincent wished to avoid the praises of a grateful and appreciative people, yet his modesty, his silent ministrations of good, only made him more lovable and more to be admired.
But we will not discuss the wonderful development of the Sisters of Charity, as it took root in alii Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in America, in the Islands of the Pacific, and wherever Christianity was being taught by the brave missionaries of the Church. On the field of battle, where the presence of woman had never before appeared, there stood this noble order ready to receive the last message of the dying and to relieve the unfortunate fallen. In hospitals, in fever-stricken localities, where there was cholera, the plague, or wherever disease, war, or affliction was raging, there were sent these Angels of Mercy.
Volumes have been written, and volumes more may be published, explaining the sacrifice of life, the privations, the willing desire to obey the call of duty, the tender ministrations of love, or the complete surrender of self to the wants of others, and yet there has not, nor can there be expressed the full measure of that debt which the world owes this unappreciated order of Charity.
So extensive had become the work of these Sisters that it was decided best to place the organization in the United States under a home government, consequently in 1800 there was established at Emmetsburg, Maryland, a motherhouse, which was to govern all the other houses in the United States, but to look to Paris, the central head, for its general instruction.
Thus established, has the mission of these Sisters become more and more widespread as the wants of distress have demanded greater assistance. In all the prominent cities on this continent do we find the evidences of their labor and their devotion, by the magnificent erection of schools, hospitals, asylums, homes, and other institutions to aid the relief of poverty and affliction.
In order to show to our readers what these organizations are doing, I visited the Sisters of Charity in Milwaukee, Wis., and there obtained a list of benevolent institutions which are located in that city, and which is but a counterpart of what exists in every city of equal population. While these works are not all instituted by the Sisters of Charity, yet they are the societies of women with the same objects in view and the same holy purpose to serve, the true objects of Christianity.
These Sisters attend to the sick in their own homes.
What can you say of this noble array of these institutions of benevolence? Who can read of the wonderful deeds of individual sacrifice and then say there is no depth of purity of purpose in all this wide expanse of charity? And yet this is but a grain of sand in the monument of doing that stands to the credit of these Sisters of a true Christianity. Not alone are their hospitals, asylums, homes, and institutions of relief found in Milwaukee, but’ they are scattered through all the nations of earth. Wherever we find the worship of God there we find the influence of some good Sister Samaritan, who is seeking to alleviate distress, to advance the welfare of mankind, and to build up the religion of Him who said: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”
Now, my friends, we have attempted to show you something of this most interesting of all important institutions. You have learned that it was conceived in the simplest of all beginnings, that from the one act of charity in 1627 the whole world was made to feel this wonderful influence, and while it is impossible for me to give an adequate history of the millions of blessings which have been bestowed by these devoted Sisters, yet I can thank God for the inspiration that prompted Vincent de Paul to organize woman’s sympathy, woman’s sacrifice, and woman’s filial devotion to the poverty stricken poor, to the unfortunate victims of disease, of suffering, and of the grand spectacle of elevating mankind from sin and the depths of infamy. Gan you form in your mind a sweeter picture, a more blessed representation of human love, than these silent, lowly, and never-ceasing scenes of charity? And yet there are those, who pretend to be Christian, who will raise that double-headed monster, slander, and allow it to strike its fangs deep into the quivering flesh of innocence, and then gloat over its brutal acts of villainy. If there is a hell to torment the souls of those accursed defamers, if it could bum with an unending torture, such punishment would not be too severe as a just sentence for this unholy blasphemy against these devoted Sisters.
If this simple chapter will be the means of allaying some of this intemperate and inconsistent prejudice, and above all, if it will still that monstrous tongue of scandal, of mockery, of falsehood, of vulgar insinuations of indecency, and of lowest cunning, then I shall feel that I have not written in vain.
Once I was just as ignorant of the blessings of these ministrations of love and affection as are you. Once I did not appreciate their holy calling, but I am proud to say that there is one sin I shall never be called upon to answer for, and that is the sin of disrespect, of unmanly speech, of infamous conduct, of vile utterances of jest and ridicule, or the insinuation of a debased shame. And now, if I can be the means of creating study and reflection, then will the veil of prejudice be raised and the nobleness of character will shine forth in all its brilliant splendor, and these gracious deeds, which God has been pleased to bestow upon mankind, will rise up and bless the hand that guides them, and will become an honor in the unfolding of Christian virtues.
Before closing this short testimony of what we see and know, I wish to uncover one more jewel in this wreath of everlasting flowers, and this is the jewel of poverty. The rich, the poor, the lowly, and the great, are all placed upon the same plane of human kindness. The poorest beggar will receive the same tender treatment as the count of honor. There are no distinctions in station or society, no decree against unworthiness, and no respecter of persons. If it is an enemy in affliction, they will soothe the brow of distress, bind up the wounds of misfortune, and watch the ebbing life of disease.
It is charity in its fullest and deepest meaning. There is no pretense except that of the strictest observance of duty. They seek to honor Jesus in their mission of love, and as they scatter the deeds of loyalty they become the true Samaritans of old, the Angels of Mercy, and the true Sisters of Charity.
In this chapter I have mentioned the Sisters of Charity as a special society, and have given them prominence over all others, not because they are more worthy than other orders of Sisters, but to follow one branch with a particular name, giving its origin and mission. To the Protestant world the Sisters of Chanty mean all who have consecrated their lives to the service of God and the relief of humanity.
Were we to select an order with the greatest number of commendable virtues, it is probably safe to say that the “Little Sisters of the Poor” rank in patient humility and unrequited love and honor with any, or all of the others. These Sisters do not have even the pleasure of seeing the infant develop into childhood, or the sick and the maimed restored to health and manhood, but theirs is to watch and guard the old and feeble outcasts of society. A class of people without home or friends, a class who have lived beyond the usefulness in life, who are childish in spirit, uncongenial in manners, and who are helpless, irritable, uncouth, disagreeable; in fact, just that class that no one in the wide world would harbor or comfort.
These Little Sisters accept this as their dotty, and if God’s blessing is to descend because of one act of human charity more than another, it should be the prayer of all Christian people that this blessing should fall upon these lowly creatures who soothe and comfort the last hours of the aged men and women who are homeless, poverty-stricken, and alone and friendless.
When the war with Spain was declared, President McKinley asked for one hundred Sisters of Charity to go to the camps, the battlefields, and the hospitals, to nurse the sick and the wounded. Did they respond? Not only did one hundred offer their services, but three hundred Good Samaritans answered the call, and were you, dear reader, to follow them through the blighting scenes of disease, you would find them worthy the greatest homage that it is possible for us to bestow upon human beings.
At San Juan a Sister died while at her post of duty. At her funeral every respect was bestowed upon her that was possible. Her coffin was decked with the stars and stripes, and floral offerings from ten thousand saddened hearts. Soldiers who were camping miles away marched in to bow their heads at the grave of this departed Sister. They had learned to love her for her bountiful gifts of affection, of tenderness, and devotion. Thus we find that the world is full of this same generous disposition to alleviate distress, to sacrifice their own lives in the rescue of others, and at all times to be the ministering Angels of Mercy to those who are in poverty, in affliction, in the feebleness of age, and in the true spirit of Him who said: “As ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”