The date was set for my clothing day, and I couldn't have asked for a better or more appropriate one. In the year 2005, May 29, a Sunday, fell on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. Since I had chosen as my mystery the Passion and Cross of Jesus, this day was perfect; but it was made even more perfect by the fact that May 29 was Sr. Mary William's birthday. Sister, who died in December of 2004, had championed my vocation indefatigably and was my role model and spiritual mother. I was very sorry that she didn't live to see me receive the habit, but, being clothed on her birthday, I felt she was blessing and looking down on me from heaven.
I was very excited to be measured for my habits (one to wear, one for spare). The Dominican habit is, I've always thought, one of the most beautiful of all religious habits: a loose tunic, creamy white, with long, deeply cuffed sleeves, and cinched with a black leather belt from which hangs a large black rosary; over that, the white scapular -- a panel in front and a panel in back, sewn together at the shoulders, the sides left open, a sort of over-long bib; over the scapular, a short white cape, ending just above the elbows, with a stiff stand-up collar; a white cap, shaped like a bathing cap; and over the cap, the waist-long veil -- white for the novice, black for the professed. Underneath, a full cotton petticoat skirt. The best thing about the petticoat is that it has two over-sized patch pockets that are accessed via slits in the sides of the tunic. A nun could keep all her wordly possessions in those pockets (which, I realize, is not saying much; nevertheless, they are huge pockets). White knee socks and black shoes or sandals complete the outfit.
Before her clothing, a postulant takes a 10-day retreat. I spent much of mine taking long, meditative walks in the woods, talking to Jesus in my heart. I found pieces of petrified wood, many small enough to be used in the making of a mosaic cross, which I had in mind to make by Lent the following year. I spent extra time before the Blessed Sacrament, contemplating the face of my Beloved, and wrote poetry and long letters to Jesus in my journal. A clothing retreat may or may not be directed by the novice directress; I opted not to be directed, since solitude was still a very important part of my personal spirituality. In fact, I was beginning to feel there was too much "togetherness" in the novitiate - recreating together, having class together, working in the laundry together, having adoration time together, putting up Christmas decorations together. . . . The effects of all my years of independent living were not so easily erased. I heartily wished the monastery had a real hermitage for sisters to use on their retreats and monthly Moses Day. However, I knew that, once a sister is professed, has moved out of the novitiate and is living in the professed sisters' dorm, she enjoys a bit more solitude.
Time was, the reception of the habit was a public event that took place in the monastery chapel, very much like a wedding: invitations would be sent and the sister would wear an actual wedding gown. After the preliminaries, she would then go into a private room to have her hair cut off, be dressed in the habit, and re-enter as a novice. Nowadays, the ceremony is closed to the public and takes place in the chapter hall with only the sisters to witness; the big public events in the chapel are the profession of temporary vows, when the sister takes the black veil and becomes an actual nun; and the beautiful profession of solemn (final) vows, when the bride of Christ receives her ring from the local bishop and symbolizes her death to the world and to her former life by lying prostrate before the altar.
On the day of my clothing, the sun shone bright and warm, the infamous Lufkin humidity settling like a heavy blanket over the town. I remember very little of the actual ceremony, being in a kind of daze. I had struggled so hard to arrive at that day. My hair, which had grown past my shoulders during my postulancy, was tied into a pony tail; Sr. Mary Annunciata cut it off with little trouble. Then Sr. Maria Cabrini took me into a small room and helped me put on my crisply pressed habit and white veil. When I went back out, the closing statements of the rite were pronounced by Sr. Mary Annunciata, and my new name was revealed: I was now Sr. Maria Simona of the Passion and Cross of Jesus.
(Photo by Sr. Mary Jeremiah, O. P.)
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