Jump to content
An Old School Catholic Message Board

Should Postulant's Outfits Be More Aesthetically Pleasing?


Veritas

More Aesthetic Postulant Outfits?  

171 members have voted

You do not have permission to vote in this poll, or see the poll results. Please sign in or register to vote in this poll.

Recommended Posts

[quote name='hugheyforlife' post='1072836' date='Sep 23 2006, 03:29 PM']
i really don't think it's a huge deal as long as they are able to be worked in. religious do not enter communities hoping for something aesthetically pleasing... or at least i would hope not.

the postulant pictured [url="http://franciscansisterscfr.com/postulant.htm"]here[/url] is a great example of something workable but not necessarily pleasing to the eye. (it is very pleasing to me but that is because i hope to someday wear it.. God's will be done.)

i like that this postulant does not wear the veil for the reason mentioned (somewhere) above. i like that the women are veiled when they become novices. it's another outward sign of an inner growth.
[/quote]
Actually, you're right - it's really not a big deal at all. And definitely you don't enter a community looking for something aesthetically pleasing as you said - but the opposite actually- something poor and lowly.

This reminds me of a line I read on the site made about the Sisters of Bethlehem in Livingston Manor, that recently went down (praiseofglory.com). Someone made the site who visited them. It read "I did not see any preoccupation with the habit. (men may not understand this, but women can get vain over sackcloth.) "

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='puellapaschalis' post='1064938' date='Sep 17 2006, 05:55 AM']
Tonsure is the symbol of the crown of thorns - the head is shaved apart from a ring of hair around the head. The precise form varies: the old Celtic monastics' tonsure only went around the back of the head.

I don't think it's done much anymore, either amongst the secular clergy or religious (whether ordained or not). The few seculars I know only have a small shaved patch at the crown of the head, and they're now all of an age where...hm...let's say perhaps they don't need to maintain it.

Hope this helps a little.

Love and prayers,

PP
[/quote]

The Carmelite Monks at Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Diocese of Cheyenne, WY) wear the tonsure. They also us the Tridentine Rite and follow the reform of Sts. Theresa of Avila and John of the Cross. They give a wonderful explanation for the symbolism of the tonsure on their page dealing with the Holy Habit. <http://www.carmelitemonks.org/index.html>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

franciscanheart

[quote name='Margaret Clare' post='1073051' date='Sep 23 2006, 07:31 PM']
Actually, you're right - it's really not a big deal at all. And definitely you don't enter a community looking for something aesthetically pleasing as you said - but the opposite actually- something poor and lowly.

This reminds me of a line I read on the site made about the Sisters of Bethlehem in Livingston Manor, that recently went down (praiseofglory.com). Someone made the site who visited them. It read "I did not see any preoccupation with the habit. (men may not understand this, but women can get vain over sackcloth.) "
[/quote]
I'm not really sure how one responds to the above. I guess it will do to say I like this post. :idontknow:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='brandelynmarie' post='1074802' date='Sep 25 2006, 03:33 PM']
:lol_above: "women can get vain over sackcloth"....oh my goodness, :yes: !
[/quote]


Oh, hello. I think some of you guys got a kick out of the little quote I posted. It is pretty funny and has a lot of truth to it.

But I wanted to apologize to any of you guys that had good things to say about making the habit prettier or just in general about the habit, like the yahoo forum on the religious habit. Because at the same time, it is good for Brides of Christ, especially ministering to the people, to reflect the dignity of their calling and give witness to the beauty and order of God. "Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

But I thought the quote was good nevertheless, because it can be sooo true.

Peace to all!


Margaret :j

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought y'all might want to see these pics, they are from the IHM's in Scranton PA. It shows the postulants and nuns habit changing over the years. Very cool!

[url="http://ihmnew.marywood.edu/2.OurHistory/PictorialArchives/Membership/Membership.htm"]IHM postulants[/url]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Alton we wore jumpers and they were actually pretty comfortbale, I was surprised. We had two pockets in our slip, that we could get to through a slit on our jumper. Heather and I had a real hard time at first figuring out what to do with our hands. We were so use to shoving them in pockets. One day I asked Sr.Beata what are we suppose to do with our hands and she told us to just leave them at our sides. It felt really awkward and Heather and I looked like big dorks until we became more relaxed and comfortbale. Wearing the jumper made me a lot more aware of my posture for some reason.
Our blouses buttoned in the back which took me a few days to get use to, also having mutlitple layers was hard. I was just constantly sweating and final my body adjusted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sr Mary Catharine OP

[quote name='veritas99' post='1083706' date='Oct 4 2006, 11:13 AM']
In Alton we wore jumpers and they were actually pretty comfortbale, I was surprised. We had two pockets in our slip, that we could get to through a slit on our jumper. Heather and I had a real hard time at first figuring out what to do with our hands. We were so use to shoving them in pockets. One day I asked Sr.Beata what are we suppose to do with our hands and she told us to just leave them at our sides. It felt really awkward and Heather and I looked like big dorks until we became more relaxed and comfortbale. Wearing the jumper made me a lot more aware of my posture for some reason.
Our blouses buttoned in the back which took me a few days to get use to, also having mutlitple layers was hard. I was just constantly sweating and final my body adjusted.
[/quote]


Tray, now I can ask you what I wanted to ask! Did your jumpers have a sort of "kick pleat" in the front and back? It looked like it from the photo. The ones I've been making for our postulants does but it is a lot of work!
We have slits in our habits to get to our pockets. I never thought of that for postulants. Usually,we just have possie's bring half or whole slips to wear underneath. Did you have "nun skirts" under your jumper?
Oh, women! Don't we love to compare clothes!

SMC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Sr. Mary Catharine' post='1083722' date='Oct 4 2006, 10:37 AM']
Tray, now I can ask you what I wanted to ask! Did your jumpers have a sort of "kick pleat" in the front and back? It looked like it from the photo. The ones I've been making for our postulants does but it is a lot of work!
We have slits in our habits to get to our pockets. I never thought of that for postulants. Usually,we just have possie's bring half or whole slips to wear underneath. Did you have "nun skirts" under your jumper?
Oh, women! Don't we love to compare clothes!

SMC
[/quote]


What's a "kick pleat""? We had a pleat in the front and back, it was kind of a pain to iron. When I would iron my jumper I think I would make it worse. Heather would jsut laugh at me. The slip was long and alomt like a jumper itself and made of cotton. It had two pockets in the front. Then our blouse went over the slip and the blouse buttoned in the back. Then we put our jumper on that had a small zipper on the left side. The slit in our jumper was by the pleat so we could get into our pockets. Jsut inside the the slit there was a little loop that we could string our keys on. In my grey jumper the slit was onthe right and in my black one the slit was on the left. Heather's wasn't like that though. I would have an identity crisis every sunday and monday because I would be trying to force my hand into a pocket that wasn't there. It was amusing.

What are "nun skirts"?

The trick is remember to take your chapstick out of you slip pocket or out of one of the many pockets in your habit ( for those who wear them) before throwing it in the laundry. In the bathroom by where we throw our laundry there are gentle reminders about removing your chaptstick and pens from pockets.

The canonical novices said they were so excited to receive the habit because now they have more pockets. They liked to make fun of heather and I with our two little pockets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was lovely to see the old photos of the IHM Postulants in their black dresses and bonnets but didn't they look very serious.!! :( :( :( Far different from those cheerful souls we see today. :D: :D: :D:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:idontknow: Sheesh! All this fuss over postulant clothes! I say live by the K.I.S.S. rule: Keep It Simple Sisters! I think the [url="http://www.sistersihmofwichita.org/pages/postulant.htm"]IHM Sisters of Wichita KS[/url] have done it by going to a long sleeved blouse and skirt with sweater, maybe a chapel veil, too. :thumbsup:
Have a great day everyone!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sr Mary Catharine OP

[quote name='stlmom' post='1083811' date='Oct 4 2006, 01:28 PM']
:idontknow: Sheesh! All this fuss over postulant clothes! I say live by the K.I.S.S. rule: Keep It Simple Sisters! I think the [url="http://www.sistersihmofwichita.org/pages/postulant.htm"]IHM Sisters of Wichita KS[/url] have done it by going to a long sleeved blouse and skirt with sweater, maybe a chapel veil, too. :thumbsup:
Have a great day everyone!
[/quote]

Hey, I agree with you! We did the skirt/blouse for awhile but some people can look dumpy in that and the jumper and blouse look neater. Our jumpers are very easy to make...I was the stupid one who thought that the pattern with the pleats in the front looked nice and wouldn't be too much work. I'm actually eliminating them.

Pockets are a necessity for monastery life! Our postulants have one and they want more but they can do with one. As for the slit in the habit to get at the pockets, it's really great. It makes things a lot easier.

What I meant by "Nun skirts" was cotton slips that are almost like skirts yet are slips.

We're always being reminded to remove everything from our pockets and at Regular Chapter when we do the venia if you forget to take stuff out of your right pocket (the side we lie on) well, OUCH!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Sr. Mary Catharine' post='1083868' date='Oct 4 2006, 11:28 AM']
Pockets are a necessity for monastery life! Our postulants have one and they want more but they can do with one. As for the slit in the habit to get at the pockets, it's really great. It makes things a lot easier.

What I meant by "Nun skirts" was cotton slips that are almost like skirts yet are slips.

We're always being reminded to remove everything from our pockets and at Regular Chapter when we do the venia if you forget to take stuff out of your right pocket (the side we lie on) well, OUCH!
[/quote]

Sr. Anastasia (at OLAM) was telling me that she finds herself very forgetful in the monastery, because it's not like she has a desk to keep notes on. lol. I'm sure if they hadn't any pockets they'd all be goners. lol

Btw, Sr. Mary Catharine, how many different kinds of chapters are there?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
franciscanheart

I had posted about the postulant outfit I liked the most before but didn't give a very good picture of it. Even now, reading through, it is still my favorite. I still like that they don't have the veil and I especially like that it's floor length.

[img]http://farm1.static.flickr.com/126/356917647_55e1741801_o.jpg[/img]

[img]http://farm1.static.flickr.com/159/356917646_564508dd23_o.jpg[/img]

[img]http://farm1.static.flickr.com/136/356917645_8a7ef95bf9_o.jpg[/img]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hmmm, these are Capuchin-Franciscan Postulants in Australia,(the guys), they dont seem to worry about such questions of aesthetics!!...
:P:
[img]http://www.capuchinfriars.org.au/images/clip_image002.jpg[/img]

and theses Benedictine Sisters, i am just not sure whom are postulating... and who are not??
[url="http://www.stgertrudes.org/Membership/Vocations/postulants.htm"]http://www.stgertrudes.org/Membership/Voca.../postulants.htm[/url]
:idontknow:

E-J

and..an Article entitled. Simplicity in religious Life' interesting thoughts, with a picture of Postulants.looking very Italian, from i dont know what Congregation..
[url="http://cmswr.org/spiritual_reflections/simplicity_in_religious_life.htm"]http://cmswr.org/spiritual_reflections/sim...igious_life.htm[/url]

Edited by Emile James
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...