Customs!

[philosophette]

Among the Salesian Sisters, we have a lot of customs.

* Greet one another with "Viva Gesu!" responding with "Viva Maria!". This tradition goes back to St Francis de Sales, the patron of the Salesians. I believe that Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello borrowed the practice from the Visitandines for us. It is a reminder to us that we are to "Live Jesus!" and to be an image of God's love for all.

* We have a prayer that we say before we drive: "O Lord, may your blessing guide our way, defend us from evil, and keep us from harm." Then we say the Angel of God prayer and Mary, Help of Christians pray for us.

*On the feast of the Assumption we are given a practice for the year based upon one of Mary's virtues. It is supposed to be our "inheritance" from Mary at her Assumption! It is one of my favorite practices because the practice is always timely!

* Once a month the sisters meet with the animator (name for the superior in our Institute) to discuss where she is at and how she is doing with her health, community life, spiritual life, and anything else she wants to bring up or clarify. The old term for this is "rendiconto".

* The 13th (Mother Mazzarello), 24th (Mary Help of Christians), and 31st (Don Bosco) are observed each month with special dedications.

*Every evening the animator or someone in a leadership position with the community, gives something called the "Good Night". It is meant to be a 2-3 minute long thought about the coming day's Gospel or a reflection on the events of the day. Don Bosco intended it to be a way to help the young people and Sisters to go to bed with a "good thought". This tradition is alive and well and in Salesian school our Sisters do something similar for the young people in the morning assembly called the "Good Morning".

I could go on... but these are just a few.

[VeniteAdoremus]

I had [i]no idea[/i] about any of those Salesian practices! My sisters have a before-drive prayer too, with a lot of guardian angels involved. But I don't think it's a Dominican thing (they didn't tell me, in any case).

I especially love the "Good Night". I got to study some of Don Bosco's works when I became a summer camp leader (required reading) and I really loved him... he has so many good, practical ideas. But this one wasn't in my reading, or I forgot.

Do go on.

[laetitia crucis]

[quote name='philosobrat' post='1895741' date='Jun 19 2009, 01:59 AM']*Every evening the animator or someone in a leadership position with the community, gives something called the "Good Night". It is meant to be a 2-3 minute long thought about the coming day's Gospel or a reflection on the events of the day. Don Bosco intended it to be a way to help the young people and Sisters to go to bed with a "good thought"....[/quote]

The SSVMs/IVE also do this, following Don Bosco's example.

In addition, the SSVM/IVE...

- Have pizza every Friday night (or Saturday if there is a Friday evening apostolate and hence no time to make homemade pizzas).

- After blessing food, one shouts "Viva la Virgen!" To which all respond, "Viva!"

- Do not refer to each other by "Sister" when talking amongst themselves, but usually shorten their names or give each other "nicknames" as it is more "family-like". But in public, they will use the title "Sister" plus a proper form of their name to address each other.

- After a Mass of Ordination, Vows, or Investiture, or Major feast day they always have a huge feast after wards which includes a "show" for the guests put on by the sisters, brothers, and priests. This usually entails singing, instrumental pieces, and occasionally jokes and hilarious skits.

Hmm... ... there are many more, but I shall refrain as time is short.

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='laetitia crucis' post='1895983' date='Jun 19 2009, 08:14 PM']- Do not refer to each other by "Sister" when talking amongst themselves, but usually shorten their names or give each other "nicknames" as it is more "family-like". But in public, they will use the title "Sister" plus a proper form of their name to address each other.[/quote]

That one is so cute! There's a Sr. Maria Sterre der Zee (Mary Star of the Sea) and they call her "Sterretje", or "Little Star".

[laetitia crucis]

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='1895987' date='Jun 19 2009, 02:17 PM']That one is so cute! There's a Sr. Maria Sterre der Zee (Mary Star of the Sea) and they call her "Sterretje", or "Little Star".[/quote]

I totally agree! Another sister I know goes by "Santo" (though her whole name is also an advocation of Mary), but as she is quite petite, they call her "Santito". ("Little holy one.") I love it! Ah! It really does make things feel more family-like.

[Thomist-in-Training]

[quote name='Maria_Faustina' post='1895683' date='Jun 19 2009, 12:31 AM']Poor Clares observe the Lenten fast year-round (that includes a perpetual abstinence from meat).
...Franciscan joy is also a custom. [/quote]

The Poor Clares Colettine have a perpetual abstinence from meat, but not all Poor Clares do. (From reading A Right to be Merry, I thought they all did, so when I found the ones I was writing to didn't, I was scandalized! But it actually varies according to the kind of Poor Clare & the versions of the Rule of St Clare I've seen mention fasting but not abstinence.)

[philosophette]

[quote name='laetitia crucis' post='1895983' date='Jun 19 2009, 01:14 PM']The SSVMs/IVE also do this, following Don Bosco's example.

In addition, the SSVM/IVE...

- After a Mass of Ordination, Vows, or Investiture, or Major feast day they always have a huge feast after wards which includes a "show" for the guests put on by the sisters, brothers, and priests. This usually entails singing, instrumental pieces, and occasionally jokes and hilarious skits.[/quote]

That is super cool that they do that. We (our formation group) ran into a bunch of them at a Marian shrine earlier this year.... they knew A LOT about Don Bosco and our charism!

We do a lot of "shows", too. I guess it is because we cannot give each other stuff (because we already have enough and it costs $ and the whole poverty thing), so we give each other little plays, songs, performances, which actually "cost" more sometimes!

Don Bosco also left us the tradition of "Gratitude Day", which is a day to show gratitude to our animators, provincial, etc. On the provincial level, all the sisters in the area gather on a given day and do little skits and funny songs to show our gratitude to the provincial for all that she does. We celebrate the joy of being a Salesian family. We do it on the local level, too, with the animator.... and in some of our schools, the students do it for their teachers, as well.

The FMA were founded to be "a living monument of gratitude to Mary, Help of Christians" (Don Bosco), so gratitude is part of our tradition.... our spirituality.

Other traditions.... communal penance on Fridays (usually abstinence and soup for one of the meals on Friday), we all learn some Italian (the language of the Institute) in order to be able to communicate with other FMA all over the world (some are better at languages than others!), Mother General sends us messages for feast days via the internet, monthly letter from Mother General reflecting on some aspect of our life, FMA houses are always having Sisters come and go! We are over 14,000 all over the world, and I have meet Sisters from the Philippines, Vietnam, Mexico, Cuba, Italy, the Congo, etc in the two years that I have been in this house. We are very international.

On the feast of Mother Mazzarello (May 13th) we try to get together with our Salesian brothers and have a big party. On the feast of Don Bosco (Jan 31st) we try to have an oratory for the young people. (Oratory is a youth gathering of games, catechesis, prayer, FOOD, fun, and socializing). We have quite a few saints in our family... so there is always a feast day coming up... so we love to cook! There is a saying among the FMA.... "your vocation is on your plate!" meaning, if you eat well, you will work well!

Ok... I cannot think of any others right now... I guess once they become such part of your daily life you tend to take them forgranted!

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='laetitia crucis' post='1895991' date='Jun 19 2009, 08:21 PM']I totally agree! Another sister I know goes by "Santo" (though her whole name is also an advocation of Mary), but as she is quite petite, they call her "Santito". ("Little holy one.") I love it! Ah! It really does make things feel more family-like. [/quote]

Although I will never get over Mother Milagro bellowing "GOLGOTHA! GET OVER HERE!"

[zunshynn]

Holy Thursday, obviously is huge for PCPA communities. At OLAM everything is beautifully decorated in the refectory for breakfast and lunch, and then is stripped bare for supper... Lunch is always a meal similar to what Jesus would have eaten at the Last Supper... usually lamb, couscous, wine, etc.

Sometime during the morning Mother Vicar chooses an old lesson that Mother Angelica gave years ago regarding the Blessed Sacrament to read to the communiity, then all of the sisters individually tell each other that they love one another, forgive them for any offenses and wish each other a blessed Triduum.

Then every sister has adoration that night at the altar of repose, which is in the large parlor. The Altar of Repose is beautiful... lots of pilgrims stay for a considerable amount of time also.

In the French and Indian monasteries... I don't know about Poland... the communities celebrate the day as an interesting blend of a feast and a day of penance. The food served is like that of a feast, but I believe they still keep silence during the meals, whereas for most solemnities PCPA monasteries recreate at all meals.

[laetitia crucis]

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='1896762' date='Jun 20 2009, 04:17 PM']Although I will never get over Mother Milagro bellowing "GOLGOTHA! GET OVER HERE!" [/quote]



Seriously, I think I'm almost crying from laughing!

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='zunshynn' post='1896768' date='Jun 20 2009, 10:35 PM']...then all of the sisters individually tell each other that they love one another, forgive them for any offenses and wish each other a blessed Triduum.[/quote]

That is so beautiful. I'm going to ask my community whether they could adopt it!

[quote name='laetitia crucis' post='1896779' date='Jun 20 2009, 11:44 PM']

Seriously, I think I'm almost crying from laughing![/quote]

Oh, the stories... you probably have a thousand

[Maria_Faustina]

[quote name='Thomist-in-Training' post='1896019' date='Jun 19 2009, 02:21 PM']The Poor Clares Colettine have a perpetual abstinence from meat, but not all Poor Clares do. (From reading A Right to be Merry, I thought they all did, so when I found the ones I was writing to didn't, I was scandalized! But it actually varies according to the kind of Poor Clare & the versions of the Rule of St Clare I've seen mention fasting but not abstinence.)[/quote]

This is true. I realized that in my post, but didn't want to go through the kinds of Poor Clares and bore any one (not that it's boring....) . Poor Clare Colettines always do, and Poor Clares (O.S.C.--that is, basically, the "original" Order of St. Clare) usually do--at least the community I'm applying to does! Some of their sister communities have become more liberal in their dress, customs, etc., and I didn't want to get in to that...and I don't know about the Urbanist communities (like OLAM), actually. Anyone?

[zunshynn]

[quote name='Maria_Faustina' post='1898193' date='Jun 21 2009, 10:15 PM']This is true. I realized that in my post, but didn't want to go through the kinds of Poor Clares and bore any one (not that it's boring....) . Poor Clare Colettines always do, and Poor Clares (O.S.C.--that is, basically, the "original" Order of St. Clare) usually do--at least the community I'm applying to does! Some of their sister communities have become more liberal in their dress, customs, etc., and I didn't want to get in to that...and I don't know about the Urbanist communities (like OLAM), actually. Anyone?[/quote]

At OLAM they abstain from meat 3.5 days a week... Sat. evening they eat meat... Because Sunday has begun! I don't know if that's the Urbanist standard, that's just from the PCPA constitutions

[son_of_angels]

After any work, the community at which I am a lay oblate (Clear Creek Monastery in OK) always say a prayer from the psalms after work, following the Rule.
"Benedictus es Domine Deus, qui adiuvisti me et consolatus es me." They say this three times and then say the Gloria Patri.

(translation: Blessed art thou, Lord God, who hast aided and conforted me.)

[dominicansoul]

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='1894194' date='Jun 17 2009, 06:07 AM']Dude. Where to start?

First: not all customs apply to all communities, even within the same Order

Dominican nuns wear shoes! Not because they're not hard-core (they are) but because St. Dominic was asked to wear shoes while preaching, to tell him apart from Albigensian preachers. They used to be very strict about this, but nowadays some nuns and sisters wear sandals if they want to.

Dominicans sing the Salve Regina every evening after Compline (many others do too, nowadays), and serve the youngest friar/sister first at meals. (Both are traditions from the early days of the Order.)

Carmelites have an empty Cross (that is, without Corpus) above their beds to remind them that they should partake (love that word*) in Christ's crucifixion themselves.

Contemplative Sisters of St. John go to manifestations etc. to pray for those there. Even when they don't give a talk, and if applicable all through the night.

Most rosary-wearing religious wear it on their left side, because right-handed people would wear their sword there (for easy pulling).

*partly because it sounds like "pancake", I admit.[/quote]
I love pancakes!!

And [i]dude[/i], i wish we Dominicans didn't have to wear shoes!!! I always asked Mother if we could be different and become "discalced Dominicans." She would look at me funny and then look at the other sisters funny and totally ignore my request!

i think it was partly because my feet are really cute, and I wanted to show them off!

yeah, i had a real "foot vanity" problem that was always addressed by my other sisters!

...but think about it! "Discalced Dominicans"..... it just sounds right!