While French forces under Napoleon were besieging Mantua, Italy, in 1776, a convent which lay exposed to cannon fire was evacuated by the nuns, and immediately occupied by the besiegers, who, hearing groans issue from underneath the building, humanely followed the sound, and discovered, in a damp and gloomy dungeon, a female seated on a crazy chair, and loaded with fetters, but whose countenance, though furrowed by misery, looked youthful.
On seeing the French soldiers, she earnestly petitioned for life and liberty, telling them that she had been four years confined in that cruel manner for attempting to elope with a young man. The soldiers instantly struck off her fetters, upon which she besought them to lead her into the open air. They represented to her that on quitting the shelter of the convent she would be exposed to a shower of cannon balls. "Ah," replied the nun, "that is nothing to remaining here!"
一七七六年，拿破崙指揮法軍圍攻義大利曼圖亞市，其間一座女修道院正臨砲火，眾修女棄院而去，法軍隨即佔領。他們聽到修道院下傳來呻吟聲，慈悲心動，循聲走到一個陰暗潮濕的土牢，牢中有個女人，坐在一張殘舊支離的椅子上，戴着腳鐐。苦惱在她臉上留下深深的皺紋，但她看來還很年輕。
那個女人見到法軍，懇求饒她性命，放她自由，說由於想跟一個少年私奔，四年來一直被這樣殘酷囚禁。眾士兵馬上給她砍掉腳鐐，但聽到她請求帶她到戶外，就告訴她說，一出修道院，便是連綿砲火。那修女說：「啊，和留在這裏相比，砲火算得什麼！」