Once again it is my pleasure to welcome Regan Walker to the salon, with a fascinating look at the Ursulines.
My latest novel, To Tame the Wind, begins in 1780 in the Ursuline Convent in Saint-Denis, then a small town just outside of Paris. The heroine, Claire Donet, is the granddaughter of a comte, boarding in the convent school with other children of the nobility so that she can one day take her place as the mistress of a grand home. Of course, a certain English privateer will interfere with those plans, but what of the Ursulines she lived among for so many years?
The Ursulines were an order of nuns who became famous for their teaching of young girls. Originally “the Company of St. Ursula” was an order founded in 1535 by Angela Merici in the town of Brescia, Italy. Members of the Company of St. Ursula did not take vows, but simply promised “virginity” and lived in their own family homes, supporting themselves by their work.
After Angela Merici's death in 1540, and under the influence of the Council of Trent, members of the Company became involved in the teaching of the Christian faith. By about 1590, the Company reached France. Parisian noblewomen, anxious to support the reforms of the Council, undertook to establish religious communities of women in Paris and elsewhere.
By 1612, with Papal approval, the original idea of “the Company” gave way to that of a monastic order in which the members, called “Ursulines”, lived in canonical isolation. The nuns managed to retain their commitment to teaching, however, by taking a fourth vow to educate young females.
The Ursulines arrived in Saint-Denis, just outside of Paris, in 1628. Eventually they raised funds to build a convent. The building, as it is today, is pictured below.
The convent building had, at the time, extensive lands and was surrounded by gardens where the nuns grew vegetables for their table. The drawing below shows the convent grounds and the convent building in the upper center.
In the mid 17th century, King Louis XIV gave the convent “his special protection” and made concessions to the Order, particularly in terms of taxes. The Ursulines did not disappoint their monarch. They developed premier schools for young girls that rivaled those of the Jesuit colleges for boys. From 1639 onwards, when Marie de l’Incarnation set sail from France for Canada, the Ursuline convents of Europe spread to all continents. By 1700, they had over 350 convents located throughout France boarding 10-12,000 young girls and educating countless poor girls who might be day students.
The Ursulines taught their students that femininity was inextricable from piety. The schedule they adhered to gave the girls’ student life a certain rhythm meant to order their lives as women after they left the schoolrooms of the Ursulines.
Boarding students heard Mass daily with the nuns before breakfast, recited Marian litanies at midmorning and recited the Little Office of the Virgin before they went to bed. The Virgin punctuated the students’ daily prayer life; the Mass anchored it.
What happened to the Ursulines?
In the 18th century, King Louis XV took a lively interest in Saint-Denis and added a chapel to the convent. With such patronage, the number of Ursuline convents in France grew to 400, and they continued to send missionary nuns to other countries. In 1771, the first Ursuline convent was established in Ireland where they taught boys of poor families as well as girls. It was also in this century the Ursulines came to America (you can still tour their convent building in New Orleans).
The influence of the Order in France continued into the late 18th century, at least until the French Revolution, when the nuns settled their debts and left the convent in 1792. During the Revolution, the French Ursulines valiantly tried to maintain their apostolate as long as they could and upheld it courageously and daringly, but suppressions and dispersions came nonetheless. Out of some 10,000 Ursulines living in France at that time, about 1,000 were jailed and 38 guillotined.
In the 19th century, the Ursulines reached Latin America, Africa, Asia and Australia. Their missionary zeal stemmed from a desire to make the Christian faith known and to teach young girls, and at times it was aided by the persecution they suffered, which forced them to leave Europe.
My research into the Ursulines has given me great respect for them.
Fascinating! I knew very little about the Ursulines. I knew St Ursula was the patron saint of female education, and allegedly was captured by pirates along with 900 virgins she was sailing with [I've always wondered how you got all those virgins on a ship of the time] and I have to say I love the parallel of having pirates mixed up with la petite Ursuline of the story. It's a neat irony!
Thanks, Catherine, for having me on your lovely blog to talk about the Ursulines. I loved the Ursulines in my story--and so did my heroine!
I'm so glad you liked the post, Sarah! Thanks for the interesting comment. There is a pirate in my story but it's the heroine's father!
I love reading about nuns and convents. Thanks for posting.
Wonderful peace, Regan and a new book on my TBR pile. People in our era woefully underestimate the toughness of nuns. Witness Marie de l’Incarnation heading to the wilds of Canada. The founded hospitals and schools all over North America (nuns in general, not just the Ursulines). What has struck me is the degree to which the created a world of women, run by women for women.
Thanks, Regan. I've always wondered about the Ursulines. There's still the convent building in New Orleans' French Quarter, and one of the French Quarter streets is named Ursuline. There was an Ursuline Academy on Galveston Island that was destroyed by Hurricane Carla in 1960. I believe it had formerly been a convent.
Thanks for leaving your comment, RADay.
I'm so glad you liked it, Caroline. I think you'll enjoy To Tame the Wind, too. The sisters are wonderful characters.
Thanks, Cheryl. Yes, the Ursulines did go to the "New World" and other countries (Canada, Ireland, etc.) with their mission to teach young girls. An amazing legacy. And they are still having an effect today with their colleges and other institutions of learning.