On wearing the habit

[BarbTherese]

 

[dominicansoul]

I was the laundress.  Once I turned a dominican habit to a carmelite brown in the wash.  We had hard iron in our water all our whites turned brown if we didn’t use a special chemical wash.  So.. there I was trouncing upstairs to let mother know I made a terrible mistake.  She calmed me down and asked who’s habit was it? I didn’t even think to look so I ran back downstairs and looked at the tag and ran back upstairs to her office.  I was out of breath, she waited patiently for me to say whose habit it was.  I looked at her and blurted out... “it’s mine!” 

“Divine Justice” Mother said, as she gave me permission to rewash it in special chemicals to turn it white again... 

Edited August 26, 2018 by dominicansoul

[Jennifer]

This is a lovely tale.....Mother had a sense of humour.!!

[gloriana35]

I was a Franciscan, and many of the Sisters still wore the 'old habit' then. One of the Sisters had an utter obsession with showing she observed poverty most of all. I was doing laundry, and I noticed that her underwear (the sort I believe most people wore in the 19th century and earlier) and nightdress were in absolute tatters. (The community, indeed, could stress poverty, but no-one was kept from asking for knickers if need be.) I mended the enormous holes - and she was enraged with me! I don't know whether it gave her a lift, knowing that she was poorest of us all, or whether she felt she'd be violating poverty unless the waited until her knickers completely disintegrated before asking for others.