Carmel In America appendix C

In the course of one hundred years seven incorrupt bodies of deceased Carmelite nuns were discovered in three different monasteries. Two of these were found at Antwerp. They were the mortal remains of Mother Mary Margaret of the Angels, Wake (see p. 32), and of Sister Ann of St. Bartholomew. Two bodies were found at Munsterfeld and three at Newburg. Two of the Sisters whose remains were found at the last-named place were English, as were also Mother Margaret, Wake, and Sister Ann of St. Bartholomew. The third body discovered at Newburg was that of a Sister from Brussels.

In 1727, forty years after the death of Mother Magdalen of St. Joseph, Bedingfield, first prioress of the convent of Newburg, it pleased God to give evidence of her sanctity in an extraordinary manner, as an old document from the archives of the convent of Lierre testifies. It runs thus:

“Mrs. Fettyplace, nee Mostyn, in religion Mother Margaret Teresa of the Immaculate Conception, some time prioress of our Carmelite convent at Lierre, and great niece to Mother Magdalen, Bedingfield, had a letter this summer from the monastery of our order in Newburg, where three bodies are found entire; the first is Mother Magdalene of St. Joseph, alias Bedingfield of Redingfield, great aunt to our Mother; she founded that convent.... Mother Bedingfield's body from time to time sends forth a very fragrant smell; the handkerchief with which they washed her face is just as if dipped in oyle, her body and face a little brownish, but so beautiful and distincte, that it is most easy to know her; the whole body is perfectly entire and fleshy; her coffin is like new and the habit she was buried in is whole and not ye least rotted, her linen is white, as if just put on, notwithstanding they had been covered in her coffin with unquenched lime, wh. is alsoe as white as if just taken out of the lime pit. MotherAnastasia is not so perfectly entire but fleshy; all her habit is consumed with the lime. Sister Lucy is all entire. Great concourse of people come to see ’em, so as they might be counted by thousands,—great miracles were wrought while ye three bodys were exposed, wh^ch they y^t received y^e cures were rady to testifie it upon oath. Notwithstanding since, the Provincial of our Order for the present absolutely commanded they be no more exposed, but all kept in secreate, why we can't imagine, time whill

shew. For all doctors and surgeons and other great persons of understanding as also many ecelesiastiques and religious men has declared to be mirraculouse.”

The bodies were found in the following manner: As it was necessary to repair the mortuary vault, it was opened on May 4th, 1727, and the coffins were taken out, and some of them opened. The first one was that of the foundress, Mother Magdalene of St. Joseph, Bedingfield. The body was found entire and without a vestige of corruption, although a great deal of lime was in the coffin. Even her garments were in a state of perfect preservation, and the little bouquet of rosemary was entirely preserved, and the white veil was as clean as if it had been quite recently put on. This happened forty-four years after her death.

The second coffin was that of the sub-prioress, Anastasia of Jesus, Wakeman. The hands and feet of the corpse had disappeared, but the rest of the body was entire, although she had died of dropsy.

The third coffin contained the body of Mother Lucy of St. Ignatius, born at Ghent, in Belgium, of the noble family of Splynter. She died November 26th, 1691, aged fifty-six years. The body was incorrupt, and exhaled a sweet odor.

The two confessors of the convent, the chief apothecary and the principal physician of the city were sent for. These gentlemen attested that there was no sign of corruption in the bodies.

The other coffins that were opened contained nothing but dust, or were entirely empty. An Authentic process having been written and duplicated, one copy was sent to Rome, and the other to the Archbishop of Augsburg.

In the year 1804 the monastery was suppressed, and the three coffins buried in a separate tomb in the cemetery of St. George. The other coffins were deposited in a large grave near the gate of the cemetery, to the left. This took place during the nights of the 4th and 5th of February, 1804. There is nothing to mark their place of burial.¹ However, the place where the incorrupt bodies are interred is known, and some years ago the Bishop of Augsburg offered to allow the body of Mother Magdalen to be given to the family of the Bedingfields.

As regards the body of Mother Margaret of the Angels, it was discovered in the burying place of the English Carmelite convent at Antwerp in the year 1716. It was perfectly entire. (See an account of the finding of this body in Father Thomas Hunter's life of Catherine Burton, p. 289, Appendix.)

When the French Revolution drove the Sisters from Antwerp, they were obliged to leave the body behind. The following notice is found in an old

¹Consult the following works; Histoire du convent des Carmélites Déchausseés à Neubourg sur Danube, p. 563; Livre des Professes du dit convent, I et II partie; Livre des élections; Livres des visites des supériours; Livre des visites du Provincial; Vie de la Mere Theodore, Laudgravin de Hesse, Carmélite à Newbourg, par Charles August Buckhardt, curé de la ville et assistant du Chapitre de Weilheim—publié dans le recueil mensuel Le Lion, à Augsburg, 1852.

Appendixes. 379

manuscript: “The entire and incorrupt body of our dear Venerable Mother Mary Margaret of the Angels, to the great grief of the community, was left behind us at Antwerp. They were going to bury it before our departure, in the chest, but seeing the nuns so afflicted, it was left in its place. And after we were gone (so Sister Anna Maria informs us¹) the Bishop's secretary, with some others, came and examined the body again, and gave a new attestation of its miraculous incorruption. After this the chest was again locked and conveyed to the vault where all the Bishops of Antwerp are interred in the Cathedral of Our Blessed Lady.”

Some years ago, great efforts were made by the English Carmelites to regain possession of this venerable relic, and at one time they seemed to be on the point of succeeding, but to their great disappointment, the permission of the Antwerp authorities could never be obtained. While the correspondence on this subject was being carried on, an old lady was discovered who had in her possession the coffin in which the body of Mother Margaret had first reposed. This lady, Madame Sophie Van Celst, a religious Sister, wrote on April 26th, 1875, an account, of which the following is a translation from the original French:

“On August 13th, 1716, thirty years after her death, when the place of burial of the religious was to be enlarged, her body was found incorrupt but her garments had gone to pieces. An old religious, who had lived with Mother Margaret, and who was present when the body was found, exclaimed: ‘It is our Sister Mary Margaret of the Angels!' and hastily removing the cloth that covered her holy face, she pulled out along with it an eye to which it adhered. (This was afterwards replaced.) An inquest was held in presence of his lordship Pierre Joseph Franken, Bishop of Antwerp, and three physicians attested that this preservation was altogether contrary to the laws of nature. During six weeks the corpse was, by order of the Bishop, exposed to the air in the open coffin. After the lapse of that period of time her habit was changed to one of brown silk, with a white mantle of the same material, lined with red silk. (I saw myself the pieces of this habit on the holy corpse in the mortuary vault of the Bishop.) It was then placed in a beautiful new coffin, locked with two keys, one of which was taken to the Bishop's residence and the other kept in the convent. It was then placed in a small chapel near the monastery church.

“My uncle and godfather, the Canon Antoine Corneille Van Celst, secretary of the last three Bishops of Antwerp, had the happiness of often seeing the sacred body. It is of him I learned most of these details.

“During the French invasion, the Carmelites having decided to return to their native country, and not being able to take the body of their Mother Mary Margaret with them, they sent information of this to the Episcopal office, at which our second director, Reverend Mr. De Gruytters, was then

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¹This Sister was left behind at Antwerp for three weeks, when the Sisters departed for England.

380 Appendixes.

secretary. This gentleman deemed it prudent to put the body in the Bishops mortuary vault, under the sanctuary of the Cathedral. But as it was necessary to remove the masonry that closed the entrance to the steps, a rumor was spread that the treasures of the church had been locked up in the vault. Hereupon the sans culottes (French revolutionists), who at that time ruled the city, had the coffin in which the body of Mother Margaret was enclosed, carried to the city hall, and opened it by forcing the lock. Daigné, one of the most bitter against the nuns, and who drove them away, even the Ursulines to whose pupils he had given lessons in dancing, seeing a beautiful diamond ring that had been put on the finger of the corpse, by a relative of Mother Margaret, exclaimed: ‘This would exactly fit my little finger.' He then put it on and kept it. This precious treasure, the body of Mother Margaret, remained for a long time at the city hall, among ruins. It was afterwards replaced in the mortuary vault of the Cathedral.

“There was also a little box filled with letters of Venerable Ann of St. Bartholomew and Blessed Margaret of the Angels of Oorschot. I do not know what has become of it. The last gardener of the Carmelites, who died at a very advanced age, confirmed many of these details. In the year 1842 His Eminence Cardinal Engelbert Sterckx, Archbishop of Malines, examined the bones of Mother Mary Margaret and had them enclosed in a smaller and more precious casket.”

The same person relates the manner in which the first coffin in which the body had reposed, came into her possession. She writes:

“Miss Basteyns, of Antwerp, was a member of the community. Her relatives resided in a large house at the egg market. When the nuns were leaving for England, they left the coffin with this same family, by whom it was, on account of the troubles of those days, kept concealed. When the house was sold, the coffin was carried off through a hole that had been made in the wall of the cellar. This was done to avoid difficulties with the Dutch government.¹ It was then deposited with Mr. Van de Goor, an apothecary, and a very fervent Catholic, who was happy to possess such a treasure. This gentleman, leaving the city in 1842, and not being able to take the precious relic along with him, made a present of it to me. I had providentially gone into his pharmacy when he showed me the coffin, and I, who in my childhood had often heard of this wonderful coffin, exclaimed spontaneously, without, however, knowing that it was so: 'That is the coffin of Margaret of the Angels.' ‘Yes,' he answered with surprise, ‘and often did I place myself in it during the bombardment of the city and was preserved from the balls and bullets of the Dutch that flew through my house.² Because you appreciate this treasure, I give it to you. I will place myself in it once more.'

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¹Belgium and Holland were united from 1815 to 1830.

²This was the famous bombardment of Antwerp by the Dutch, during the Belgian Revolution of 1830.

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“For fear of the government we brought over the coffin about ten o'clock on a hand cart, and received it processionally, singing the Litany of the Blessed Trinity. I must here add, that a short time after we received the coffin, one of our Lay Sisters, our good Catherine. a simple and sincere soul, who is now eighty years of age, felt the happy effects of it. She suffered from a wound in the palm of her right hand, that was terribly swollen and was already attacked by gangrene. The surgeon, Mr. Van Camp, on beholding the hand, requested me to call another physician who might assist him in amputating it. Certainly it was a serious case. Deeply afflicted, I advised the Sister to have recourse with confidence to Mother Margaret. I began to pray to her with the sister, and when putting on the ordinary plaster, we placed a small piece of the coffin immediately upon the wound. The following day at a very early hour, Mr. Van Camp, the surgeon, examining the hand, exclaimed in astonishment: ‘Who was here since last evening? What did you do to the hand? I cannot understand this, the hand is healed.' When we explained to him our recourse to Mother Mary Margaret, and told him of the piece of the coffin we had at the same time applied to the hand, Mr. Van Camp, as upright as he was expert in his profession, acknowledged that he could not fail to see in the event something supernatural.”

About the year 1846 the English Carmelites of the community that had been established at Antwerp, having made some inquiries regarding the body of Mother Margaret, received the following reply from the Dean of Antwerp:

ANTWERP, 29th June, 1846.

Madame Prioress,

In order to satisfy your pious request, I have the honor to inform you that I am only the guardian of the remains of your Venerable Mother Mary Margaret of the Angels. These remains are deposited in the Bishop's vault, under the high altar of the Cathedral where they were visited and examined by his Eminence, the Cardinal Archbishop of Malines, in the year 1843. All the bones have been found, also her garments, which I have taken from the vault and of which the church is the depository. It is undoubtedly true that the body of your Venerable Mother was for a long time in a state of preservation, but at the epoch of the French Revolution it suffered from the sacrilegious hands of the impious by contact with the air, the vault having remained open for many years.

This, Reverend Mother, is all the information I can give you respecting the remains of your Venerable Mother. I thank you for your kind prayers and recommend myself especially to them.

Your humble servant,

J. B. BIECKMANS, Dean Curé de N. D.

Margaret Wake was born at Antwerp on the 12th of November, 1617, and baptized at the parish church of Saint Walburga. Her father was Mr.

382 Appendixes.

Lyonel¹ Wake, youngest son of Sir Isaac Wake, Bart. Sir Isaac was Ambassador to Savoy and Venice. The present head of the Wake family is Sir Herewald Wake, Bart. of Courteen Hall, Northamptonshire. Mr. Lyonel Wake was a Protestant. His wife, Mary Thorny, was also an English lady but a Catholic. One day Mr. Wake entered a Catholic church at the moment when a procession of the Blessed Sacrament was to take place. He knelt down with those present, and appearing very devout, a candle was handed to him. After a moment's hesitation he accepted the candle and followed the Blessed Sacrament. Here he received the grace of faith, for after the procession, he presented himself to the pastor to become a Catholic. A short time after his abjuration, Margaret entered the Carmelite monastery, where she took the habit on June 10th, 1633. She received the same name as Blessed Mary Margaret of the Angels who was then living in the monastery of the Spanish Carmelites. On the 11th of June, of the following year, she made her vows.² She died, after a saintly life, on June 21st, 1678, in the sixty-third year of her age, and the forty-fifth of her religious life.

Dierckxsens says that after her body was found, it remained exposed to the air for the space of two years and three weeks by order of the Bishop of Antwerp.

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¹Father Hunter calls him Leonard.

²Dierckxsens, Maria Margarita ab Angelis, etc.

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