Excerpt from Common Observances and Explanations of Some of the Rules: Of the Sisters of Charity, of the B. V. M., St. Joseph's Convent, Dubuque County, Iowa 1. In this book of "Common Observances, etc.," our Community will find a collection of the practices and forms most commonly employed by us in the discharge of our several duties, both spiritual and temporal, since the earliest days of its existence - many of these customs having been either adopted or introduced by our Very Rev. Founder, Father Donaghoe, as aids to the observance of our Rules and to the promotion of uniformity among us in the fulfillment of our duties. Now that time has tested their utility, we have been taught to prize them as well calculated to effect that for which they were intended. Therefore, along with some explanations that a few of our Rules seemed to require, we have collected these Customs into a little book, for more convenient reference, that, as time progresses and our numbers increase, these worthy practices may not fall into disuse. 2. Many of us can still recall the days when, a feeble few, we began these observances under the immediate care and companionship of our beloved Founder and Father, and our gentle, tenderhearted Mother Foundress - Mary Frances Clarke - both of happy memory. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.