Page:Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk (Truslove & Bray).djvu/42

Rh "Doleurs de notre Sainte Marie," (the sorrows of our holy Mary). At the end of each verse we responded

"Ave Maria." We then repeated the litany of the providences and the "Benissante."

Then we kissed the floor, and rising, took our work, to converse on permitted subjects — called recreation — till one o'clock. We then repeated litanies, one at a time in succession, still sewing, for an hour.

At two o'clock commenced the afternoon lectures, which lasted till near three. At that hour one of the nuns stood up in the middle of the room, and asked each of us a question out of the catechism; and such as did not answer correctly had to kneel, until that exercise was concluded, upon as many dry peas as there were verses in the chapter out of which they were questioned. I have sometimes kneeled on peas until I suffered great inconvenience and pain. It soon makes one feel as if needles were running through the skin. At four o'clock recreation commenced, when we were allowed to speak to each other while at work. At half-past four we began to repeat prayers in Latin, while we worked till five o'clock, when we repeated the "prayers for the examination of conscience," the "prayer after confession," the "prayer before sacrament," and the "prayer after sacrament." At dark, we laid our work aside, and went over the same prayers which we had repeated in the morning excepting the orison mental: instead of that long exercise, we examined our consciences, to determine whether we had performed the resolution we had made in the morning, and such as had repeated an "acte de joie," or expression of gratitude; such as had not, said an "acte de contrition."

When the prayers were concluded, any nun who had been disobedient in the day knelt and asked pardon of the Superior and her companions "for the scandal she had caused them." and then requested a penance to perform. When all the penances had been imposed, we all proceeded to the eating-room to supper, repeating litanies on the way. The ceremonies