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Authors: Alys Clare
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precious manuscripts. Something about her austere manner and her air of detachment, as if she silently communed with the angels, earned Father Micah’s approval; with an all but imperceptible nod, he beckoned to the Abbess and left Sister Bernadine to her scripts.
Sister Emanuel, who had the care of the elderly in the small hostel that the Abbey ran for retired nuns and monks, also initially escaped without criticism. But then the retirement home was a quiet, devout place; aged men and women who were walking calmly and courageously towards their death and the hope of heaven tended not to sing and make jokes. When Sister Emanuel explained that she also helped the Abbess by taking over the keeping of the accounts ledger when Helewise was very busy, however, Father Micah fixed both nuns with an angry expression.
‘This duty then interferes with the devotion you owe to your patients, Sister.’
It was an accusation that was, Helewise knew quite well, totally unfounded. She was on the point of saying so when, to her amazement, the priest turned to her. ‘And, Abbess Helewise, you should not seek to ease your own burdens by increasing those of others.’
Helewise experienced the full range of emotions of the unjustly accused. Fury, resentment, humiliation and, yes, a certain amount of self-pity: she wanted to shout out, like a hurt and angry child, it ’ s not fair!
Taking a calming breath – if she were to remonstrate with Father Micah in her own defence, to do so in front of the astonished Sister Emanuel was not the place – she inclined her head and walked out of the retirement home into the fresh, cold air outside.
Rather to her surprise, she found that Father Micah had followed her. Did it count as a minor victory, that, instead of waiting for him decide when he was ready to leave and lead the way out, she had pre-empted him?
Probably not, in his view. But it certainly did in hers.
Father Micah reserved the greater part of his spleen for the home for fallen women. Unfortunately, this was the area of her responsibility in which Helewise felt the most satisfaction; during her time as Abbess of Hawkenlye, the Abbey had earned a reputation as a humane, instructive and encouraging place for those deemed by society to be outcasts. Yes, some of the older women were too set in their ways to heed the call back to the path of righteousness. But even they, whom the nuns knew would make their way straight back to the dark corners where they plied their trade and earned their crust, were given help when they asked for it and sent on their way with a good meal inside them. Their unwanted babies were loved and cherished in exactly the same manner as the legitimate offspring of the richest nobleman.
Younger women, some of them resorting to prostitution in desperation, some the victims of assault, some fooled by young men promising everlasting love and marriage if they would but give in just this once, came in shame to Hawkenlye and found there the answer to their prayers. The nuns cared for them in their pregnancies and, in return, they performed what tasks were set them usually without protest. They were encouraged – an encouragement that had the force of an order – to attend services in the Abbey church and to pray for the strength to amend their lives. Their babies were delivered under the watchful eyes of the infirmarer or one of her midwives and afterwards, when mother and child were strong enough, the nuns did their best to find them homes. Sometimes a reluctant father could, with a little pressure, be persuaded to take the mother of his child to wife and give her baby a home. Sometimes a baby would be adopted by some childless couple as their own. Sometimes the nuns themselves would keep the child in their care while the mother left and returned to her former life.
Few women presented themselves again at the Abbey for the same reason, which alone made Helewise believe that the Hawkenlye method was the right
Sister Emanuel, who had the care of the elderly in the small hostel that the Abbey ran for retired nuns and monks, also initially escaped without criticism. But then the retirement home was a quiet, devout place; aged men and women who were walking calmly and courageously towards their death and the hope of heaven tended not to sing and make jokes. When Sister Emanuel explained that she also helped the Abbess by taking over the keeping of the accounts ledger when Helewise was very busy, however, Father Micah fixed both nuns with an angry expression.
‘This duty then interferes with the devotion you owe to your patients, Sister.’
It was an accusation that was, Helewise knew quite well, totally unfounded. She was on the point of saying so when, to her amazement, the priest turned to her. ‘And, Abbess Helewise, you should not seek to ease your own burdens by increasing those of others.’
Helewise experienced the full range of emotions of the unjustly accused. Fury, resentment, humiliation and, yes, a certain amount of self-pity: she wanted to shout out, like a hurt and angry child, it ’ s not fair!
Taking a calming breath – if she were to remonstrate with Father Micah in her own defence, to do so in front of the astonished Sister Emanuel was not the place – she inclined her head and walked out of the retirement home into the fresh, cold air outside.
Rather to her surprise, she found that Father Micah had followed her. Did it count as a minor victory, that, instead of waiting for him decide when he was ready to leave and lead the way out, she had pre-empted him?
Probably not, in his view. But it certainly did in hers.
Father Micah reserved the greater part of his spleen for the home for fallen women. Unfortunately, this was the area of her responsibility in which Helewise felt the most satisfaction; during her time as Abbess of Hawkenlye, the Abbey had earned a reputation as a humane, instructive and encouraging place for those deemed by society to be outcasts. Yes, some of the older women were too set in their ways to heed the call back to the path of righteousness. But even they, whom the nuns knew would make their way straight back to the dark corners where they plied their trade and earned their crust, were given help when they asked for it and sent on their way with a good meal inside them. Their unwanted babies were loved and cherished in exactly the same manner as the legitimate offspring of the richest nobleman.
Younger women, some of them resorting to prostitution in desperation, some the victims of assault, some fooled by young men promising everlasting love and marriage if they would but give in just this once, came in shame to Hawkenlye and found there the answer to their prayers. The nuns cared for them in their pregnancies and, in return, they performed what tasks were set them usually without protest. They were encouraged – an encouragement that had the force of an order – to attend services in the Abbey church and to pray for the strength to amend their lives. Their babies were delivered under the watchful eyes of the infirmarer or one of her midwives and afterwards, when mother and child were strong enough, the nuns did their best to find them homes. Sometimes a reluctant father could, with a little pressure, be persuaded to take the mother of his child to wife and give her baby a home. Sometimes a baby would be adopted by some childless couple as their own. Sometimes the nuns themselves would keep the child in their care while the mother left and returned to her former life.
Few women presented themselves again at the Abbey for the same reason, which alone made Helewise believe that the Hawkenlye method was the right
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