"Burn Down the Convent" | |
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President Lincoln's assassination in 1865 had a profound effect on the Sisters of Notre Dame in California. Though they joined the country in grieving, the Sisters quickly became the target of threats. Originally from Belgium, they were ignorant about the custom of draping doors in black for a murdered president. The uncovered convent doors inflamed their neighbors. The Sisters were traitors! There were rumblings about burning down the convent and running the Sisters out of town.
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 San Jose, CA, convent in 1851
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The shocked Sisters heard about the plot from a San Jose Mercury reporter and quickly draped the convent in mourning. Additionally, a Notre Dame College graduate and poet Annie Fitzgerald (soon to become Sr. Anna Raphael) rose to occasion and offered a poem, "The Funeral Dirge", as a healing balm to the community. The San Jose Mercury newspaper published the poem and it was later read at the city's memorial service.
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Sr. Anna Raphael Fitzgerald
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Portion of the 1865 poem
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Decades later in 1909, Sr. Anthony of the Sacred Heart Quinlan wrote a poem for Lincoln's centenary that was published as a patriotic flier.
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Sr. Anthony Quinlan
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Cover of the 1909 flier
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All photos courtesy of the California SND Archives.
Full-length Poems:
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