Person:Jennie Williams (24)

Jenny became an Ursuline nun, and her name in religion was Mother Mary of Calvary. (Mere Marie de Calvaire) (The Ursulines have been compared with the Jesuits where teaching qualifications are concerned - crème de la crème - they were more highly educated than other orders, and surprisingly broad-minded women, on the whole, especially considering they were a cloistered order. This is why they were the only nuns to be addressed as "Mother", rather than "Sister" - although after Pope John XXIII and Vatican Council II, much was changed. An Ursuline nun then became "Sister Mary Smith" rather than "Mother Ste. Frances'. The medieval garb had to be modernized, and the grates, bars, grills that enclosed us from the outside world had to be taken down.)

It was the custom in those days, and maybe still is, to give a dowry to enter a convent. I don't know if this was a set amount, or all one's 'worldly goods'. The five Williams children had plenty of money, and Aunt Jenny gave hers to the Ursulines, then after a year or so, she contracted tuberculosis, and was told she must leave the Monastery, as her health would not permit her to fulfill her duties. They reimbursed her dowry, but after she left, her living expenses and medical care used up most of the money. After she recuperated, she thought of marrying a young man who had been in love with her for a long time. But she felt a religious calling, and missed the convent life, but felt she couldn't return, as her money was gone. So her devoted suitor gave her the money to go back. (Now, that's love!) Apparently the Ursulines were having a hard time of it then - the cattle on their farms were dying of some contagious disease, and the new dowry permitted them to buy a new herd of cattle. Ruthann remembers that when she went to the convent to school, at age five, Aunt Jenny continually told her - "anytime you want a glass of milk, you just go to the kitchen and tell the Sisters (the "Sisters" were not the teaching nuns, but the less educated ones who did the cleaning, cooking, etc.) that I sent you. I paid for everyone of those cows and you may as well enjoy the benefits!" So according to Aunt Jenny, those were "her cows". She later became the first Mother Superior of the convent at Merici, a suburb of Quebec City, and lived long enough to celebrate her fiftieth anniversary as an Ursuline. Mother said I was taken to Quebec to see her once, when I was a baby, but she died several years before I was an Ursuline pupil at age fourteen. (written by Patricia Anne Pennell Hall, my mother, about her experiences at the convent she attended, as did her Mother Alexine Williams Pennell, daughter of John Prout Williams (Jennie's sister) and Elizabeth F. Von Stock.