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...

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