Madame Baptiste writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch about plans to obtain winter provisions, the burgeoning number of boarders including many Protestants and the renovation of a house on the grounds to accommodate some lay sisters. 4p.
Madame Baptiste writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch asking him to procure civilian passes to Charleston for two friends of the convent that Madame Baptiste feels indebted to. One lady wishes to visit her husband who, Madame Baptiste says, "got permission from Gen Beauregard to send us two tierces of rice, when he refused to do the same for any one else." 4p.
Madame Baptiste writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch concerning new boarders and day scholars at the academy and writes at length about her ongoing conflict with another Ursuline sister. 12p.
Madame Baptiste writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch with news from the Ursuline Convent and Academy. She muses on the anniversary of her vows and begs the Bishop to tell her all about President Davis' visit to Charleston. She writes about obtaining a new cow for the convent "having disposed of one that was no account." 4p.
Madame Baptiste writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch about a photograph she received from General Beauregard as a thank you for her prayers for the safety of Charleston. She implores the Bishop to stay safe during the renewed shelling of Charleston and in a postscript writes, "we're afraid that we lost our Habit stuff in that vessel taken by the yankees." 4p.
Madame Baptiste writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch about festivities at the convent during the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the acceptance of new boarders at the academy, and a new "worldly" postulant who desires to join the Ursulines. 4p.
Madame Baptiste writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch about several recent visitors to the convent, including one woman, a mother of a boarder at the academy, who has come to retrieve her daughter. The mother, Madame Baptiste writes, has been "implicated for running off negroes to the yankees" and Madame Baptiste fears that both "may be hanged." 3p.
Madame Baptiste writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch about the mental state of one of the sisters and of general news at the Ursuline Convent and Academy. 4p.
Madame Baptiste writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch with news from the Ursuline Convent and Academy. She informs the Bishop she is sending a Miss Preston, fiancee to General Hood, to Richmond to see the Bishop while he is visiting there. 4p.
Madame Baptiste writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch about paying taxes and the need for more teachers, and revisits the idea of purchasing the Barhamville school as a future site for the Convent and Academy. 4p.
Madame Baptiste writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch about their anniversaries as Bishop and Mother Superior and wonders if the Bishop is "as tired of superiority as I am!" She also writes of a local murder in Columbia and a visit to the convent by the wife of "pirate Semmes." 8p.
Madame Baptiste writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch in Rome about the ongoing recovery effort after the war and the destruction of the Ursuline Convent. She is soliciting funds to rebuild and has written Washington with their case demanding reparations. The Ursulines have accepted the offer of General Preston to reside in his house while he is abroad and are using the Methodist College for additional space. 4p.
Madame Baptiste writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch in Rome from Valle Crucis, the Bishop's property outside of Columbia, having moved the convent and academy from temporary housing at Methodist college and Gen. Preston's mansion. Since Valle Crucis is too remote for day schoolers and too small for large numbers of boarders, she writes of setting up a satellite institute in Macon, Ga., until their convent can be rebuilt in Columbia. She mentions the pardon granted the Bishop and hopes that he will soon return to America. 2p.
Madame Baptiste writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch about the potential for growing crops at Valle Crucis and tells the Bishop of her disappointment concerning the exchange rate on 5000 Francs given to her by the Bishop on his return from Europe. 3p.