Chapter 3
Volume 2: 2: Cosette · Book 6: 6: Petit Picpus I
3: Severities
Chapter 3Visible text2 paragraphs
A POSTULANCY of at least two years is required, often four; a novitiate of four years. It is rare that the final vows can be pronounced under twenty-three or twenty-four years. The Bernardine-Benedictines of Martin Verga admit no widows into their order.
They subject themselves in their cells to many unknown selfmortifications of which they must never speak.