Hugo goes to great lengths to describe just how strict and extreme this particular convent was. They were “Bernadine-Benadictines of the Martin Verga order”, which is to say that they weren’t traditional Bernadines or Benadictines, but a far more strict strain that had spun out based on the leadership of this Martin Verga.
What does that mean you might ask? Well, according to the descriptions given to us by Hugo, it seems quite extreme, dour and frightening to me. Hugo describes an exceedingly strict rule that was exacted, one that went far beyond the traditional Benadictine rule. All black habits with necklines that extended to the chin. No white at all except for the headband. No crucifix, no exposed rosary… the attire of these nuns was quite extreme. There practice was austere. Obedience, chastity, poverty and permanent confinement were only the beginning. For six months of the year they would wear hair shirts, and the only reason they didn’t wear them year round was that when it was attempted in the past the summer heat proved to present very real health risks. They would scourge themselves weekly, and awake at 1:00 AM for two hours to recite Matins. The most extreme thing by far was the way that they practiced Perpetual Adoration.
During the day (from 4:00 AM to 4:00 PM) they would rotate through and change who was on duty every hour, but the night was an altogether different story. From 4:00 PM until 4:00 AM the following morning, one nun would kneel in vigil for 12 hours without a break. They called this “making atonement” and it is quite arresting in it’s details. The prayers were massive in scope:
all sins, all errors, all disorders, violations, iniquities - all the crimes committed on earth.
with these prayers on her tongue a sister would kneel on the cold stone before the altar, hands clasped before her, and a rope tied around her neck. If she reached the point of fatigue that crossed over into exhaustin she could lay prostrate on her face, rope still around her neck, arms folded across her body, continuing her prayers. This they considered a “noble act to the point of sublimity”. It sounds rather awful to me.
Now we have an explanation for the horror that Valjean had seen through the window. It was a sister, deep in the practice of “making atonement” as a part of the practice of Perpetual Adoration. Not a murder or some other gastly event, just a sister in worship as required by the strict rule of the “Bernadine-Benadictines of the Martin Verga order”