Patience? Sr Caroline

For the last few years of her life, Clara Louisa Latter was an Associate of our Community; I mentioned this in a blog back in April. Clara was the oldest daughter of William and Clara Latter. She seems to have remained in the family home in Belmont Hill after her father’s death in 1884; she died in October 1907, and her newspaper notice of her death refers to her many years of patient suffering. This does imply that for most of her time as an Associate she would not have been well, and I do have to wonder if the two are linked. She was admitted as an Associate in 1899, and died in 1907, so it depends on your definition of ‘many years’.

Clara’s link with the Community did not begin in 1907, though. It began many years before when her younger sister Caroline joined the Community in the 1870s. Clara and Caroline were among the eldest of William and Clara’s children, of whom there were at least 12. William was a Professor of Music, and the family lived at various addresses in Lewisham, moving to Belmont Hill by 1871. There are different combinations of children living at home in each Census, and I think that some, at least, were sent away to school. This may well have been the case for both Clara (born 1838) and Caroline (born 1840); neither are registered with their parents in the 1851 Census. William F, possibly the oldest son (born 1842), was away at school at that time; a Louisa Latter was also at school with an Ellen Latter (probably the 3rd daughter). Clara may well have used her middle name, to save confusion with her mother (also Clara). However, Caroline is not registered with them, and I cannot find her anywhere in 1851. By 1861, both William and Clara (the children) are at home with their parents and several of their younger siblings; Caroline is in Turnworth, Dorset, working as a governess. This may imply that their parents did not have sufficient income to support all their adult children, and that their daughters needed to earn their living somehow. Although, to be fair, I have not followed through the history of the siblings extensively, and working as a governess may have been something of a choice. Clara seems to have lived with her parents until their deaths; it is possible, as the eldest daughter, she was helpful in educating her younger siblings. Without further research, it is impossible to tell.

What drew Caroline into the religious life? Again, difficult to say. In 1871, she is registered as a boarder in New Street, Dorset Square, Marylebone. Three other women there are registered as ‘Sister of Mercy’; was Caroline there to explore her vocation, or was she boarding for other reasons? In any case, she did not stay there; she was professed as a choir Sister in the Community of All Hallows in January 1878, on the feast of the Conversion of St Paul. Interestingly, this feast is normally celebrated on the 25th January, the date when Sr Caroline was baptised in 1840. She was an able woman; we have known for some time that she was Sister in Charge of the Orphanage at some point, although we don’t have exact dates. But she is registered there as head in 1881, and White’s Gazetteer and Directory has her down as Sr Superior of the Orphanage in 1883. How long for, I have no idea. By 1888, she was Treasurer of the House of Mercy, and possibly of the whole Community, reading between the lines of various information in East and West, the Community magazine published at the time. What else do we know? A reference in a letter from M. Adele to Sr Lenora, in 1891: ‘S. Caroline is fairly well – but I think one sees the going downhill!’ From the context, this letter was written in Lent; Sr Caroline died on July 30th 1891, aged … well, probably 51, as it says in the 1891 census, although her burial record says 49. Our records show that she had been in religion for 22 years. This also raises a query; 22 years takes it back to 1869; Sr Caroline wasn’t professed until 1878. Even given that the time in religion dates back to our clothing, this is far too long, especially as she was not registered with us in 1871. Could our records be mistaken? Well, quite possibly; but there is another option. As I mentioned earlier, in 1871, Caroline was boarding with another religious Community, although I haven’t been able to track down which one. She is a boarder, with no occupation registered, so I have always assumed that she was exploring; but could she possibly have been clothed in another Community in 1869, only to finally come to rest in our Community by 1878? Again, I do not know.

How did she die? We do not have those records. We know M. Lavinia had cancer, but for most of our early Sisters, we have no knowledge. However, in this case, there are hints. That quote from M. Adele implies an illness or infirmity of some sort. It was not just age, even given that people aged earlier then; M. Adele was several years older than Sr Caroline. It also brings us back to Clara’s death notice and that statement of ‘patient suffering’; another sister, Alice Latter, died in 1913, with a similar statement made about her. It seems not beyond the bounds of possibility that Sr Caroline also had some years of suffering, however patiently borne, before her death. Could this have been a reason why she ceased to be in charge at the Orphanage? Treasurer was presumably a less physically demanding task; and one that Sr Caroline continued until 1891.

As we know, our Community’s links with the Latter family did not cease upon Sr Caroline’s death. It intrigues me that Clara did not become an Associate until some years after that; presumably she kept in touch, possibly staying at times, until she felt called to a deeper commitment. We may never know why, not how it sustained her during her last years of struggle.  To bear with suffering patiently is not easy, and one can honour those who do; but it is also okay to cry out to God, to ask why, to tell God how difficult it all is, and how angry we might be. Indeed, this kind of prayer may be essential to how we bear our suffering. It is also quite normal to not be patient all the time, however much we may need to apologise afterwards. But it is essential, as Clara may have found out, to allow God in to the heart of our suffering; to allow God to carry us through, however little we may know or feel that it is so.