Religion: Treasury v. Nuns

Ten years ago, from their cloistered monastery in Indianapolis, sisters of the Discalced (unshod) Carmelite order sent word to their friends that they wished a new monstrance (altar vessel in which the Sacred Host is exposed). A piece at a time, gold came in to the sisters in the form of rings, pins, bracelets, keepsakes. The Carmelites had a monstrance designed by a firm of goldsmiths in Utrecht. Planning to have the monstrance plated, they sent the jewelry to a smelter to be converted into bullion. But they reckoned without President Roosevelt’s gold acts of 1933 and 1934. Last week, in response to queries from the Carmelites regarding sending their bullion abroad, the Treasury Department informed them they must surrender it to the U. S. Mint. The sisters learned they would get only $600 for the metal which they had thought was worth $2,000. Chagrined, they faced a choice between waiting for more donations or buying a comparatively plain monstrance from a religious supply house.