The rest of the story is pitiable in the extreme.
The Irish Augustinians, according to the Abbess, acted like the cruel creditor in the parable. Not only did they sue the English nuns before the Italian tribunals, but having got a judgment, evicted them without mercy. This charge, which we cannot suppose is unauthentic, is most extraordinary, for it amounts to this, that 'a body of monks actually forced Benedictine nuns to break their vows by depriving them of the home and shelter necessary to early out those vows. That is, while the French Government is being upbraided for refusing to allow unauthorised Orders to remain in France, a Roman Catholic religious • body was actually evicting nuns on a money obligation: Even if the tuns were considered at Rome to have forfeited the right to be regarded as good Roman Catholics because they hoisted the Union Jack half-mast high when King Humbert was assassinated, they were at least a set of helpless women. But even eviction did not end the miseries of the nuns, for when they applied to have a dispensation from the vows which the Augustinians had made it impossible for them to perform, they were refused this relief unless they paid fees which it was absolutely impossible for them to pay.
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