According to an article that was widely published across America in 1898, Montreal was home to a convent full of teenage nuns who slept in coffins.
The article, entitled "Strange Convent in Montreal," reported that the Convent of the Holy Face started with five daughters who played with skulls and were subject to scourges and chains in their cells.
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They had a mother superior but a man - supposedly a doctor - ran the place.
Hundreds would visit each month to say prayers, according to the report.
The article stated that 14 nuns inhabited the place, most between 14 and 18 years of age.
They'd dance around and play like normal girls.
They would usually sport black but on feast days dress with a crimson front with a saint face painted on the front with a crimson veil and wear it to sleep in their coffins.
They had a beautiful garden out back but were not permitted to go out there.
The location of the supposed institution is not listed or described in the article, nor does Lovells give any hint of any such place, so we're suspecting that the story was invented.
The article, entitled "Strange Convent in Montreal," reported that the Convent of the Holy Face started with five daughters who played with skulls and were subject to scourges and chains in their cells.
They had a mother superior but a man - supposedly a doctor - ran the place.Hundreds would visit each month to say prayers, according to the report.
The article stated that 14 nuns inhabited the place, most between 14 and 18 years of age.
They'd dance around and play like normal girls.
They would usually sport black but on feast days dress with a crimson front with a saint face painted on the front with a crimson veil and wear it to sleep in their coffins.
They had a beautiful garden out back but were not permitted to go out there.
The location of the supposed institution is not listed or described in the article, nor does Lovells give any hint of any such place, so we're suspecting that the story was invented.