Jewels from Jane, Sept. 9

"On September 9, [1837] after five days of heavy rain, as the Sisters [Celestine Pommerel and St. John Fournier who had just arrived from France] were preparing to leave Saint Louis to go to Carondelet, the Bishop said to them: 'I did not wish you to lose your fresh, pink cheeks.' He did not tell them that, if he kept them while the rain lasted, it was because, at Carondelet, he had to enlarge the very small house which at present had no roof.

"'The day of our arrival, the weather was beautiful,' said Sister Saint John. 'Our first care was to open the trunks and distribute the presents from France. Everybody was joyful, when suddenly, a down-pour of rain flooded our heads, our trunks and our books. Our books especially caused us anxiety.'

"'Our good Mother Delphine, having provided for our arrival, of which she now was beginning to despair, [they had been so long on the ocean] had rented near the garden a hut abandoned for three years by the owners. We hastened to go there, but made little progress, as the mud reached to our ankles. Some mattresses stretched on the floor would have permitted us to have a little rest, if we had not had for our companions, rats, mice, and parasites of all kinds, which, without fear if not without reproaches, ran over our beds. At last, the roof was put on the house, the hut was emptied and the plague ended, as does everything here below.'

"The next week, the Bishop brought the first deaf-mute. The poor child became blind a few years later and died insane at the age of twenty."

From Mother Saint John Fontbonne: A Biography translation adapted from the original French edition by a Sister of Saint Joseph Brentwood, New York