https://www.cityofsmoke.com New York in History and Anecdote Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:12:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 https://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/991 Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:13:17 +0000 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/?p=991 Among the publishing sensations of 1836 was a book by one Maria Monk entitled Awful Disclosures, which purported to be her memoir of life in a Montreal nunnery. Hot stuff by early 19th-century standards, Monk's book claimed that all nuns were forced to have sex with priests and that the "fruit of priestly lusts" were baptized, murdered, and carried away for secret burial in purple velvet sacks. Nuns who tried to leave the convent were whipped, beaten, gagged, imprisoned, or secretly murdered. Maria claimed to have escaped with her unborn child.]]>