Maria Monk
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
woman who claimed to have been a nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
who had been sexually exploited
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
in her convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
. She, or ghost writers who used her as their puppet, wrote a sensational
Sensationalism
Sensationalism is a type of editorial bias in mass media in which events and topics in news stories and pieces are over-hyped to increase viewership or readership numbers...
book about these allegations.
Maria Monk's book Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, or, The Hidden Secrets of a Nun's Life in a Convent Exposed was published in January 1836. In it, Monk claimed that nuns of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph
Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph
The Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph was a religious order founded in La Fleche, France by the Venerable Jerome le Royer de la Dauversiere and Venerable Marie de la Ferre...
of the Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
convent of the Hôtel-Dieu
Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal
The Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal is the oldest hospital in Montreal, Quebec. Since 1996 it has been one of the three hospitals making up the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal ....
, whom she called "the Black Nuns", were forced to have sex with the priests in the seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
next door. The priests supposedly entered the convent through a secret tunnel. If the sexual union produced a baby, it was baptized
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
and then strangled and dumped into a lime pit in the basement. Uncooperative nuns disappeared. Historians are unanimous in their agreement that the whole account was false.
Monk's errors began early in her story. In her account, she stated that there were three convents in Montreal: "1st. The Congregational Nunnery. 2d. The Black Nunnery, or Convent of Sister Bourgeoise. 3d The Grey Nunnery." She was, however, confused even on the nature of the orders. The Congregational Nuns were the Congregation of Notre Dame
Congregation of Notre Dame
The Congregation of Notre Dame was founded in 1653 by Marguerite Bourgeoys in Montreal, Canada. This was one of the first non-cloistered communities. The community's motherhouse has continued to be based in Montreal...
, founded by Marguerite Bourgeoys
Marguerite Bourgeoys
Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys was the founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame.- Biography :...
, not the Sisters of Charity, as Monk stated at the beginning of her text; the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph
Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph
The Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph was a religious order founded in La Fleche, France by the Venerable Jerome le Royer de la Dauversiere and Venerable Marie de la Ferre...
, whose habits were black but who were not typically called "Black Nuns", operated the Hotel-Dieu
Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal
The Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal is the oldest hospital in Montreal, Quebec. Since 1996 it has been one of the three hospitals making up the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal ....
, where Monk claimed that she entered and suffered, and it was not founded by "Sister Bourgeoise [sic]"; and it was the Sisters of Charity who were commonly known as the Grey Nuns
Grey Nuns
The Order of Sisters of Charity of Montreal, formerly called The Order of Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Général of Montreal and more commonly known as the Grey Nuns of Montreal, is a Canadian order of Roman Catholic religious sisters...
.
There is some evidence that Maria Monk had suffered a brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
injury as a child. One possible result of this injury was that Monk was easily manipulated, and was not able to distinguish between fact and fantasy. It has been suggested that Maria Monk was manipulated into playing a role for profit by her publisher or her ghost writers.
Atmosphere of anti-Catholic sensationalism
Maria Monk's book was published in an American atmosphere of anti-Catholic hostility (partly fueled by early 19th-century Irish and German Catholic immigration to the U.S.) and followed the 1834 Ursuline Convent riotsUrsuline Convent Riots
The Ursuline Convent Riots were riots that occurred on August 11 and August 12, 1834 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, near Boston in what is now Somerville, Massachusetts. During the riot, a convent of Roman Catholic Ursuline nuns was burned down by a Protestant mob...
near Boston. These were triggered by an incident in which one of the nuns left the convent but was persuaded to return on the following day by her superior, Mother Mary St. George, and by the Bishop of Boston, the Most Reverend Benedict Fenwick
Benedict Joseph Fenwick
Benedict Joseph Fenwick, S.J. was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. A Jesuit, he served as Bishop of Boston from 1825 until his death in 1846.-Early life and education:...
. This incident immediately gave rise to a rumor that the woman was being held in the convent against her will; a mob invaded and then burned down the convent in an effort to free her.
In 1835 Rebecca Reed published an anti-Catholic
Anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism is a generic term for discrimination, hostility or prejudice directed against Catholicism, and especially against the Catholic Church, its clergy or its adherents...
, gothic novel, a highly-colored account of her six months as an Episcopalian
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
protestant charity pupil at the Ursuline
Ursulines
The Ursulines are a Roman Catholic religious order for women founded at Brescia, Italy, by Saint Angela de Merici in November 1535, primarily for the education of girls and the care of the sick and needy. Their patron saint is Saint Ursula.-History:St Angela de Merici spent 17 years leading a...
convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
school in Charlestown, Massachusetts
Charlestown, Massachusetts
Charlestown is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and is located on a peninsula north of downtown Boston. Charlestown was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; it became a city in 1847 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874...
. Reed herself died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
shortly after the publication of her book; her disease was widely believed to have been caused by the austerities to which she had been subjected at the convent.
Reed's book became a best-seller, and Maria Monk or her handlers hoped to cash in on the evident market for anti-Catholic horror fiction
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
. Monk's tale was clearly modeled on the gothic novels that were popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries, a literary genre
Genre fiction
Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre....
that had already been used to stoke anti-Catholic sentiments in such works as Matthew Lewis's The Monk
The Monk
The Monk: A Romance is a Gothic novel by Matthew Gregory Lewis, published in 1796. It was written before the author turned 20, in the space of 10 weeks.-Characters:...
and Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer. He was a prominent person during the Enlightenment and is best known for serving as co-founder and chief editor of and contributor to the Encyclopédie....
's La Religieuse. Monk's story epitomizes the genre-defining elements of a young, innocent woman being trapped in a remote, old, gloomily picturesque estate, where she learns dark secrets and escapes after harrowing adventures.
Monk claimed that she had lived in the convent for seven years, become pregnant, and fled because she did not want her baby destroyed. She told her story to a Protestant minister, Rev. John Jay Slocum, in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, who encouraged her to repeat it to a wider audience. According to the American Protestant Vindicator, by July of 1836 the book had sold 26,000 copies. Other publishers later issued books that supported Monk's claims or were close imitators, or else they published tracts
Tract (literature)
A tract is a literary work, and in current usage, usually religious in nature. The notion of what constitutes a tract has changed over time. By the early part of the 21st century, these meant small pamphlets used for religious and political purposes, though far more often the former. They are...
that refuted the tale. Historian Richard J. Hofstadter called it, in his 1964 essay "The Paranoid Style in American Politics
The Paranoid Style in American Politics
The Paranoid Style in American Politics, by Richard J. Hofstadter, is an historical essay tracing the influence of conspiracy theory and “movements of suspicious discontent” through the course of American history...
", "[p]robably the most widely read contemporary book in the United States before Uncle Tom’s Cabin."
The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, excerpt
- The Superior now informed me that having taken the black veil, it only remained that I should swear the three oaths customary on becoming a nun; and that some explanation would be necessary from her. I was now, she told me, to have access to every part of the edifice, even the cellar, where two of the sisters were imprisoned for causes that she did not mention. I must be informed that one of my great duties was to obey the priests in all things; and this I soon learnt, to my utter astonishment and horror, was to live in the practice of criminal intercourse with them. I expressed some of the feelings which this announcement excited in me, which came upon me like a flash of lightning; but the only effect was to set her arguing with me, in favour of the crime, representing it as a virtue acceptable to GodGodGod is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, and honourable to me.
- The priests, she said, were not situated like other men, being forbidden to marry; while they lived secluded, laborious, and self-denying lives for our salvation. They might be considered our saviours, as without their service we could not obtain pardon of sin, and must go to hell. Now it was our solemn duty, on withdrawing from the world, to consecrate our lives to religion, to practice every species of self-denial. We could not be too humble, nor mortify our feelings too far; this was to be done by opposing them and acting contrary to them; and what she proposed was, therefore, pleasing in the sight of God. I now felt how foolish I had been to place myself in the power of such persons as were around me.
Public furor
Monk's book caused a public outcry. Protestants in MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, demanded an investigation, and the local bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
organized one. The inquiry found no evidence to support the claims, though many American Protestants refused to accept the conclusion and accused the bishop of dishonesty.
Colonel William Leet Stone, a Protestant newspaper editor from New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, undertook his own investigation. In October of 1836, his team entered the convent and found that the descriptions in the book did not match the convent interior. During their first visit, the investigators were denied entry to the basement and the nuns' personal quarters. Stone returned to New York, interviewed Monk, and concluded that she had never been in the convent. On a later visit, he was given total access to all quarters. Stone's team found no evidence that Maria Monk had ever lived in the convent.
Maria Monk disappeared from the public view. It was later discovered that she had spent the seven-year period in question in the Magdalen Asylum for Wayward Girls
Magdalen Asylum
Magdalene asylums were institutions from the 18th to the mid-20th centuries ostensibly for "fallen women", a term used to imply sexual promiscuity....
. One critic points out that a nun character in her book, Jane Ray, was actually residing with Monk at the Magdalen Asylum, rather than at the Hotel Dieu Nunnery.
Many details of the story seem to have originated with Monk's legal guardian, William K. Hoyte, an anti-Catholic activist, and his associates. The writers later sued each other for a share of the considerable profits, while Monk was left destitute, by most accounts returning to prostitution.
Later life
Monk traveled to PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, with a lover whom historians often identify as Graham Monk. She penned a sequel, Further Disclosures of Maria Monk. When she gave birth to another child, Oliver (a brother to William), out of wedlock in 1838, most of her supporters abandoned her.
The Boston Pilot
The Pilot (newspaper)
The Pilot is the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston and claims the title of "America's Oldest Catholic Newspaper", having been in continuous publication since its first issue on September 5, 1829...
published this obituary on September 8, 1839: "There is an end of Maria Monk; she died in the almshouse, Blackwell's Island
Roosevelt Island
Roosevelt Island, known as Welfare Island from 1921 to 1973, and before that Blackwell's Island, is a narrow island in the East River of New York City. It lies between the island of Manhattan to its west and the borough of Queens to its east...
, still cooking as was her wont, New York, on Tuesday".
Awful Disclosures remained in print for years afterwards and was occasionally revived. There appear to have been two Australian editions (1920, 1940). The last recorded unsupplemented facsimile
Facsimile
A facsimile is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of reproduction by attempting to replicate the source as accurately as possible in terms of scale,...
edition was published in 1977.
Legacy
Despite the near-unanimous conclusion that the tales were fabrications, and despite Monk's ill repute, some anti-Catholic groups, particularly fundamentalist ProtestantFundamentalist Christianity
Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
authors such as Loraine Boettner
Loraine Boettner
Loraine Boettner was an American theologian and author.-Biography:Boettner was born in Linden, Missouri. He received a Th.B. and Th.M. from Princeton Theological Seminary, and he received the honorary degrees of Doctor of Divinity and Doctor of Letters . He was a member of the Orthodox...
and Jack Chick
Jack Chick
Jack Thomas Chick is an American publisher, writer, and comic book artist of fundamentalist Christian tracts and comic books...
, still cite Monk's story as if it were true.