We used to call them Sunflower Sisters.
The collar was cotton. It was starched. Then it had to be pressed. The also wore a bandeau, which is the head band that covers the forehead. This too was starched cotton. The piece that covered the cheeks was called the guimpe. It was a straight piece of cotton that was about 6in wide. It was draped over the head and held together under the chin with pins. The collar would cover the tails that hung in front. All of this was pinned on to a capt like that worn by nurses in surgery.
Unlike nuns who only wore one veil during the day, sisters often wore two veils. The under veil was a solid fabric, usually serge. That’s the veil that you see forming the triangle. It was hung so that it formed a triangular shape. Over it was the chapel veil which was sheer. This was a remnant from the 15th century when the sisters put the chapel veil over their faces, as did widows going to a funeral. Because that’s where many of these habits came from, widows’ garbs.
The SSJs had a very complicated habit. Because they were French, they had a custom of wearing a corset under their shift, this gave even the fattest sister an hour glass figure. OK, there were some hour glasses that were larger than others.
They put on a long black tunic to that had to be exactly 3" from the floor. Over that tunic they wore an apron that was more like a wrap around skirt with tons of pleats that had to be ironed on. The rosary was added later. Everything was held together at the waist by a black cord that you could barely see, because it disappeared into the folds of the skirt.
In the case of the SSJs, the founder, who was a French Jesuit never gave them a formal habit. Their first mother was a widow. This was what she wore. The women who joined her wore the same clothing. The French are notorious for pleats. I don’t know why they like them so much. But every French habit has fluted head pieces or pleats on the tunic, even men. The Franciscans (TOR) are of French origin. Their habit has 12 pleats in from and 12 in back. When these congregations of women were founded, they dressed rather fashionably. In other words, these were the fashions of the time, albeit they were considered simple compared to what wealthy women wore.
These habits wee a pain to maintain. There were no dryers then. They did not have wash and wear fabrics. They had to be ironed. Every sister had two habits and she wore one for a week before washing it, because they did not have the time to do laundry more than once a week.
When they were in the convent, they took off the collar and the outer veil. Some communities took of the habit itself and wore a housecoat.
I remember when it was illegal to wear religious garb in public in Mexico. The sisters had to take all those pieces off, put on a blouse and skirt to run to the drugstore and then come back and get into the habit again. THAT, must have been a pain in the neck. If I had to wear so many pins to hold my clothes on, I’d probably sleep in them until laundry day.
The Franciscan nuns were funny. They often did farming. They would wear a very large gardening had over their veils to keep cool. I could never figure out how that kept them cool.
Here is a little trick that all of us used, men and women religious which lay people may want to learn. The best way to keep cook in summer is to wear a men’s t-shirt under your clothes. The t-shirt absorbs the sweat. What often make you uncomfortable is the sweaty clothing sticking to your body. T-shirts do not stick to your body, because cotton does not do that. Also, the t-shirt gets wet and keeps you cool. You change the t-shirt and put on the same habit the next day.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
