Awful Disclosures | Page 4

warning given in this book; while its author,
disheartened at length by the powerful combination of Protestants and Papists against her,
led to distrust even the few who remained her friends, destitute of the means of living,
and alternately persecuted and tempted by her ever watchful and insidious enemies, died
some years since, under condemnation (whether just or unjust) for one of the slightest of
the crimes which she had charged against them--thus falling at last their victim.
American parents have here a book written for the salvation of their daughters; American
patriots, one designed to secure society against one of the most destructive but insidious
institutions of popery; American females, an appeal to them of the most solemn kind, to
beware of Convents, and all who attempt to inveigle our unsuspecting daughters into
them, by the secret apparatus of Jesuit schools. The author of this book was a small,
slender, uneducated, and persecuted young woman, who sought refuge in our country
without a protector; but she showed the resolution and boldness of a heroine, in
confronting her powerful enemies in their strong hold, and proved, by the simple force of
truth, victorious in the violent conflicts which were waged against her by the Romish
hierarchy of America and the popular press of the United States.
The publishers have thought the present an opportune period to place this work again in
the hands of American readers, with such information, in a preface, as is necessary to
acquaint readers of the present day with the leading circumstances attending and
succeeding its original publication. They have examined most of the evidence supporting
the truth of the narrative, of which the public can judge as well as themselves. The details
would be voluminous, even of those portions which have been collected since the heat of
the controversy which the book long ago excited. Suffice it to say, that undesigned and
collateral evidence in corroboration of it has been increasing to the present day; and that
the following brief review of some of the early events will afford a fair specimen of the
whole.
In the year 1835, Maria Monk was found alone, and in a wretched and feeble condition,
on the outskirts of New York city, by a humane man, who got her admitted into the
hospital at Bellevue. She then first told the story in outline, which she afterwards and
uniformly repeated in detail, and which was carefully written down and published in the
following form:--she said she was a fugitive nun from the Hotel Dieu of Montreal,
whence she had effected her escape, in consequence of cruelty which she had suffered,
and crimes which were there committed by the Romish priests, who had the control of the
institution, and to which they had access, by private as well as public entrances. Having
expressed a willingness to go to that city, make public accusations, and point out

evidences of their truth in the convent itself, she was taken thither by a resolute man, who
afterwards suffered for an act of great merit; but she was unable to obtain a fair hearing,
apparently through the secret opposition of the priests. She returned to New York, where
her story was thought worthy of publication; and it was proposed to have it carefully
written down from her lips, and published in a small pamphlet. Everything she
communicated was, therefore, accurately written down, and, when copied out, read to her
for correction. But the amount of important material in her possession, proved to be far
greater than had been supposed, and many pages of notes were accumulated on numerous
topics brought up to her attention in the course of conversation and inquiry. All those
were submitted to persons fully competent to decide as to the reliability of the evidence,
and the strictest and most conscientious care was taken to ascertain the truth.
There were but very few Protestants in the United States acquainted with the condition or
history of convents in different countries, the characters of those who control and direct
them, the motives they have for keeping them secret, the occupations often pursued
within their walls, in short, the shameful practices and atrocious crimes of which they
have been proved to be the theatres, in modern and ancient times, by Romish ecclesiastics
and even popes themselves. The public were, therefore, quite unprepared to believe such
accusations against men professing sanctity of life, and a divine commission to the world,
although Miss Harrison and Miss Reed of Boston had published startling reports
respecting the character of the priests and nuns in that vicinity.
The following were some of the considerations which were kept in view by those who
proposed the publication of the narrative:--
"If the story is false, it must have been forged by the narrator