Posted on February 20, 2020, by Loretto Heritage Center
By Susanna Pyatt
Come to the Heritage Centerto check out our latest museum update! We’ve added a digital interactive aboutthe history of the habit of the Sisters of Loretto. In the past two centuriessince the community was founded, the Sisters have had four major alterations tothe style of their habit and veil, plus many smaller changes to their dress.The interactive helps museum visitors explore historic photographs anddocuments to learn more about the meaningfulness of the Sisters’ habits and thechanges to them. Thank you to the Local History Trust Fund, administered by theKentucky Historical Society, for providing the grant funding to purchase the necessaryequipment for this exhibit update!
The earliest Sisters ofLoretto likely wore clothing typical for non-Religious women on the Kentuckyfrontier. Father Charles Nerinckx first set down guidelines for Loretto dressin the Rule he wrote for the community in 1816. “No stuff, but what they makewith their own hands, shall be allowed to wear,” was the first rule he setforth. He instructed that the Sisters would wear cotton clothing and gobarefoot in the summer, and wear shoes and clothing of yarn or “Country-Cloth”in the winter. A cloak could also be permitted in the cold, with the Superior’sapproval. The Sisters’ clothing would be black, and full to hide their figures.The veil would always be worn, at home and “abroad,” and a dark-coloredunderdress would also always be worn. Underneath this shift was to be worn“half a Scapular of Country Cloth…which may be of 600 linen, never finer.” Thecoarse linen was a less strict religious observance than the haircloth scapularfor which it was a substitute. In keeping with the Sisters’ vows of poverty,only one part of their dress—either the veil or the habit—could be new at thesame time.
The most distinctive part ofearly Loretto dress was the two hearts each Sister embroidered for the front ofher veil. The Sacred Heart of Jesus and the sword-pierced heart of Maryrepresented the founding devotions of Loretto as well as the community’soriginal motto, “Oh suffering Jesus! Oh sorrowful Mary!” Despite FatherNerinckx’s instructions, the first official habits and veils were not black.The Sisters struggled to find a method of dyeing fabric in which the blackcolor did not wash out of their clothing, so for many years they dyed theirhabits a more colorfast dark blue. By 1858, they determined to purchase blackserge for all their habits, though the first order of this fabric went up inflames when the Motherhouse convent burned.
The habit was meaningful asa symbol of the Sisters’ religious vows and of their identity as Lorettines.Wearing the habit visibly marked them as women religious; the distinctive veilmarked them as Sisters of Loretto. Uniformity of the habit helped the communitymaintain group cohesiveness. Updated Rules specified that all the habits mustbe of the same fabric, pattern, and make, and to ensure uniformity, all partsof the habit were made in the Motherhouse sewing rooms and sent out to theother Loretto houses. Rules and Custom Books written over the years alsospecified which rosaries would be worn with the habit, which pocket watches,what material for shawls and how to wear them, etc. Donning the habit every daywas itself a part of personal and communal ritual, as each Sister was encouragedto kiss her veil, habit, and girdle—all blessed at the time of her vows—as sheput them on in the morning and took them off at night.
Changes to the habit designcame in 1909. The view arose that an all-black habit was too intimidating to beworn by a teaching order and too austere to be healthy. The veil was changed toa white-lined veil, heavily starched to maintain an “M” shape. The embroideredhearts were no longer included, and the veil showed the white cap and collarworn with the habit but previously hidden by the veil. These changes werelargely accepted by the community, though, as correspondence in the Loretto Archivesattests, a few of the clergy with whom the Sisters worked used the matter tomake fusses about the Sisters’ adherence to canon law and clerical authority.
The veil was changed againin 1953. The smaller, lighter veil—which used commercially made liners and lessfabric—required less time and effort to make and maintain. It also restoredSisters’ range of side vision. With the deep M-veil, the Sisters could not seewell enough to drive, and even safely crossing a street could be difficult!
With the changes andchallenges of Vatican II in the 1960s, the habit and veil came underconsideration once more. In the mid-1960s, Loretto experimented with different,more modernized forms of the habit, including knee-length skirt suits. In 1967,however, the community voted to leave the decision of dress up to theindividual. Some Sisters continued to wear either full habits or modified veilsfor the rest of their lives. Most Sisters, however, chose to no longer weardistinctive religious dress, though many still wear specific rings or othersmall pieces of jewelry that indicate their identity and commitment asLorettines and women religious. For these women, leaving the habit behind was apositive change. It allowed them to move through the world doing their workwithout being bound to the assumptions and idealizations that others often attachedto women religious and that many Sisters felt created artificial barriersbetween them and other people.
