Receiving religious names

[Hope Joan-Therese]

Hi everyone, 

I'm interested in a few different communities- specifically the Sisters of Life, Daughters of St Paul, Nashville Dominicans, and DSMME's. I was wondering if anyone here knows what the procedure for receiving religious names is with any of them. As in, does the abbess decide by herself, do you submit a few options and she decides, or do you choose?

[Kayte Postle]

Hello Hope and welcome to phatmass! I'm pretty sure for the SoL, DSMME, and the Nashies the postulants submit three names and then Mother will pray and choose a name, most times from the list, but I believe there have been rare instances (I'm thinking at the Nashies) where Mother has chosen something off of the list. For the Daughters of St. Paul it's a similar situation, with the exception that they can elect to keep their baptismal name. 

I'm not 100% sure on this information, and I'm sure others will chime in and correct me if I'm incorrect. =) 

[Nunsuch]

For the minority of communities that still use religious names, pretty much the only constant is that no two sisters can have precisely the same one. However, more than one sister can have a variation on a particular name (e.g., Catherine, Elizabeth, Mary, etc.). Some communities require that "Mary" (or some variation on that) be part of the religious name; others do not.

I also don't think any of these communities has an Abbess. Just FYI.

 

[GraceUk]

That's an interesting question. Sometimes the Superior chooses the name and sometimes the sister gets to choose her own. Imagine being stuck with something like Polycarp for the rest of your life!

[JHFamily]

On 7/20/2020 at 11:55 PM, Kayte Postle said:

DSMME, and the Nashies the postulants submit three names and then Mother will pray and choose a name, most times from the list, but I believe there have been rare instances (I'm thinking at the Nashies) where Mother has chosen something off of the list.

I can confirm that this is true.

[HollyDolly]

I had a great aunt who was a School Sister of Notre Dame. She also had a cousin who was a member of the same order too, but up in the New York area.My great aunt was in Wisconsin.I also had a second cousin who was a Sister of Charity of Nazareth ,Ky. Her  religious name was Sister John Edna. Now Edna  came from her mother, and John might have been St.John, or maybe my uncle Bill's middle name. Can't recall what cousin Elizabeth's religious name was.But my great aunt was Sister Mary Generose. Whether the mother superior picked that name for her,, or not, don't know.  Don't know of anyone in the family with the name Generose.We have some Apollonias, Barbaras,etc..Interesting question.

[nikita92]

Hope- there are many past posts on this exact topic on Phatmass vocation station. All you have to do is Google "Phatmass religious names" and it will bring up alot of posts and the dates. 

I think you would enjoy what everyone (including some religious) had to say on this topic! 

Just a idea! 

[Hope Joan-Therese]

On 7/24/2020 at 12:38 AM, nikita92 said:

Hope- there are many past posts on this exact topic on Phatmass vocation station. All you have to do is Google "Phatmass religious names" and it will bring up alot of posts and the dates. 

I think you would enjoy what everyone (including some religious) had to say on this topic! 

Just a idea! 

Thank you! I'll do that.