Ursuline Convent Riots - The First Riot: August 11, 1834

The First Riot: August 11, 1834

By the end of the first week of August, both Mr. Cutter and the Charlestown selectmen were sufficiently disturbed by the rumors of impending action against the convent that they decided to investigate the situation further. With the permission of the Mother Superior, Mr. Cutter returned to the convent to interview Sister Mary John on August 9. He reported that he

was informed by her that she was at liberty to leave the Institution at any time she chose. The same statement was also made by the Superior, who farther remarked, that, in the present state of public feeling, she should prefer to have her leave.

On Monday, August 11, a group of selectmen was admitted to the convent and given a detailed tour by Sister Mary John. That afternoon, the selectmen prepared a statement for publication in the Boston Gazette Tuesday morning. The statement was intended to reassure the public that the woman was in good health, that she was not being held against her will, and that the convent was fit to live in.

Although rumors of a planned disturbance had reached the convent by August 11, neither the nuns, the students, nor the parents appeared to believe that anything serious would occur. Franchot even reports one student comparing the day to a holiday.

At about 8:00 on the evening of August 11, a group of angry Protestant citizens gathered outside the door to the convent. They began to call for the release of the "mysterious lady". A witness to the riot reported that a nun came to the window and asked the crowd to disperse. According to this witness, on seeing the nun, the crowd offered their protection to the nun. At this point the mother superior appeared and stated that the nuns did not need any sort of protection, and that the entire household was in bed. She further threatened the crowd with retaliation from the Catholic population of Boston: "The Bishop has twenty thousand of the vilest Irishmen at his command, and you may read your riot act till your throats are sore, but you'll not quell them."

The crowd eventually dispersed, only to return several hours later. At about 11:00, a crowd of between fifty and sixty men (as estimated by the Boston Evening Transcript; the Mercantile Journal estimated the crowd as between 150 and 200) set fire to tar barrels on the convent grounds. Several fire companies were called to the scene, but declined to intervene, instead joining a crowd of spectators, which eventually grew to around 2,000 people.

Soon after the tar barrels had been set alight, the crowd broke down doors and windows to enter the convent, and began to ransack the buildings. The nuns and pupils began to leave from the back, and hid in the garden. At about midnight, the rioters set fire to the buildings, which burned to the ground within an hour or two, leaving them in ruins.