Religious Orders That Use Wedding Gowns

[vee]

Sorry I dont have sources but from my tiny understanding some OCD Carmels view the habit itself as both wedding gown and burial shroud. Its hard for me to explain but Ill try. They dont see their time on Earth as being already wedded but rather they are wearing the gown in prepartion for the union at death upon which they finally meet the groom. For example the mantle symbolizes the soul which they must try to present clean and spotless on their death/wedding day. Or something like that, I could be way off I should just ask them myself....

edited to add
Ok Ive sent an email containing basically what I wrote here so we shall see what they say....

Edited July 28, 2010 by vee8

[Chiquitunga]

That is interesting, vee8 .. And yes, I think they do see the habit as a wedding dress, as a lot of communities do I think. But I think most Carmelites do very much view themselves as Brides of Christ, even now. And yes, I have heard of that symbolism for the white mantle. In [url="http://picasaweb.google.com/ocdnuns/CarmelOfJesusMaryJosephValparaisoNE#5051543847235483010"]Valpariaso's little booklet[/url], which is in that picasa album, they say "The mantle symbolizes that purity with which the Carmelite wishes to adorn her soul out of love for Jesus Christ, her Divine Spouse." They put it on right before Mass where they will be united to Him in Holy Communion.

This reminds me also of that quote from Blessed Elizabeth about being the Bride of Christ .. and here she is on her clothing day

[img]http://i32.tinypic.com/2zivejb.jpg[/img]

[size="3"][i][font="Book Antiqua"]"To be the Bride of Christ!
"Bride," I must live all that this name implies
of love given and received, of intimacy, of fidelity, of absolute devotion!

To be a bride means to be given as He gave Himself;
it means to be sacrificed as He was, by Him, for Him...
It is Christ making Himself all ours and we becoming "all His!"
To be a bride means to have all rights over His Heart...
It is a heart to heart exchange for a whole lifetime...

"To be a bride" means to have eyes only for Him
Our thoughts haunted by Him,
our heart wholly taken over, wholly possessed,
as if it had passed out of itself and into Him;
It means keeping our gaze always fixed on His,
to discover His least sign, His least desire;
it means to enter into all His joys, to share all His sadness.
It means to know nothing else than to love,
to love while adoring, to love while praying, while asking,
while forgetting oneself;
to love always in every way!"[/font][/i][/size]

Beautiful!!!

Also, here is St. Teresa Benedicta at her clothing. I got this from eBay [url="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=130413094759"]here[/url] (and there's another one of her is this dress at the bottom)

[img]http://i25.tinypic.com/rrtevd.jpg[/img]

[vee]

[quote name='Chiquitunga' date='28 July 2010 - 01:46 PM' timestamp='1280342799' post='2149163']
That is interesting, vee8 .. And yes, I think they do see the habit as a wedding dress, as a lot of communities do I think. But I think most Carmelites do very much view themselves as Brides of Christ, even now. And yes, I have heard of that symbolism for the white mantle. In [url="http://picasaweb.google.com/ocdnuns/CarmelOfJesusMaryJosephValparaisoNE#5051543847235483010"]Valpariaso's little booklet[/url], which is in that picasa album, they say "The mantle symbolizes that purity with which the Carmelite wishes to adorn her soul out of love for Jesus Christ, her Divine Spouse." They put it on right before Mass where they will be united to Him in Holy Communion.

This reminds me also of that quote from Blessed Elizabeth about being the Bride of Christ .. and here she is on her clothing day

[img]http://i32.tinypic.com/2zivejb.jpg[/img]

[size="3"][i][font="Book Antiqua"]"To be the Bride of Christ!
"Bride," I must live all that this name implies
of love given and received, of intimacy, of fidelity, of absolute devotion!

To be a bride means to be given as He gave Himself;
it means to be sacrificed as He was, by Him, for Him...
It is Christ making Himself all ours and we becoming "all His!"
To be a bride means to have all rights over His Heart...
It is a heart to heart exchange for a whole lifetime...

"To be a bride" means to have eyes only for Him
Our thoughts haunted by Him,
our heart wholly taken over, wholly possessed,
as if it had passed out of itself and into Him;
It means keeping our gaze always fixed on His,
to discover His least sign, His least desire;
it means to enter into all His joys, to share all His sadness.
It means to know nothing else than to love,
to love while adoring, to love while praying, while asking,
while forgetting oneself;
to love always in every way!"[/font][/i][/size]

Beautiful!!!

Also, here is St. Teresa Benedicta at her clothing. I got this from eBay [url="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=130413094759"]here[/url] (and there's another one of her is this dress at the bottom)

[img]http://i25.tinypic.com/rrtevd.jpg[/img]
[/quote]

Yes it was exactly Valparaisos booklet that you linked to in which I read the description of the mantle. Thanks for the link to it again because I couldnt find it! And thank you so much for sharing that quote from Bl Elizabeth its incredibly ...
Im starting to think her writings will be next on my reading list.

The pics are also beautiful Ive never seen either before

[Chiquitunga]

[quote name='vee8' date='29 July 2010 - 10:04 AM' timestamp='1280415853' post='2149451']And thank you so much for sharing that quote from Bl Elizabeth its incredibly ...

[/quote]
[font="Arial"]Ha! that is so cute! You're very welcome! And I got that picture from [url="http://elisabeth-dijon.org/vie/biographie/0_chronologie.html"]here[/url], on the page [url="http://elisabeth-dijon.org/vie/biographie/14_la_prise_dhabit.html"]Prise d'Habit[/url] But also there is this beautiful book on her [url="http://www.amazon.com/Light-Love-Life-Elizabeth-Trinity/dp/0935216073"][i]Light Love Life[/i][/url], though it's out of print, very similar to that Edith Stein one on eBay, with a bunch of rare, or rather, not-as-much-seen pictures of her.[/font][font="Arial"] I love it so much! And while I'm on the subject, there's one like [/font][font="Arial"][size="2"]this on St. Therese, though much longer with even more rare pictures, [/size][url="http://www.amazon.com/Therese-Lisieux-Pierre-Descouvemont/dp/0802838367"] [i]Therese and Lisieux[/i][/url] Ah, this one is amazing![/font]

[HisChild]

I know this is off topic, but if you decide to order that Edith Stein book from ebay (or any of her other books/items), the seller, Crazy4Nuns, is a wonderful seller. She's always sending her orders with nun holy cards, and even wraps her books in nun wrapping paper. It's all so lovely! And she ships very quickly!

[Chiquitunga]

Neat, I found this picture of the new Carmelite venerable (who is my screen name) while searching for a new avatar picture

[img]http://i35.tinypic.com/314rsw7.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i35.tinypic.com/2rdxmaw.jpg[/img]


A little more about her .. [url="http://www.stl-ocds.org/blog/?p=649"]http://www.stl-ocds.org/blog/?p=649[/url]

[url="http://chiquitunga.jimdo.com/"]http://chiquitunga.jimdo.com/[/url]

Edited August 18, 2010 by Chiquitunga

[SrBenigna]

[quote name='Chiquitunga' timestamp='1280464703' post='2149789']
[font="Arial"]Ha! that is so cute! You're very welcome! And I got that picture from [url="http://elisabeth-dijon.org/vie/biographie/0_chronologie.html"]here[/url], on the page [url="http://elisabeth-dijon.org/vie/biographie/14_la_prise_dhabit.html"]Prise d'Habit[/url] But also there is this beautiful book on her [url="http://www.amazon.com/Light-Love-Life-Elizabeth-Trinity/dp/0935216073"][i]Light Love Life[/i][/url], though it's out of print, very similar to that Edith Stein one on eBay, with a bunch of rare, or rather, not-as-much-seen pictures of her.[/font][font="Arial"] I love it so much! And while I'm on the subject, there's one like [/font][font="Arial"][size="2"]this on St. Therese, though much longer with even more rare pictures, [/size][url="http://www.amazon.com/Therese-Lisieux-Pierre-Descouvemont/dp/0802838367"] [i]Therese and Lisieux[/i][/url] Ah, this one is amazing![/font]
[/quote]



For that book on Edith Stein (the one on Ebay) - this same book is available for $14.95 at this site - http://www.sistersofcarmel.com/edith-stein-books.php - I know these sisters aren't approved, but they have a good selection of books that you often see go for big bucks on Ebay or Amazon, etc.

[GraceUk]

Last year or quite a while ago, somebody posted a link to some lovely pictures or it might have even been a video of three postulants and the clothing ceremony. They were in lovely wedding gowns. Even though I do like looking at these pictures I still have reservations about the wedding dress idea and a lot of orders have long ago dropped this practice.

[LaPetiteSoeur]

The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary do, as well. They are fervant believers in Feenyism, though and so I stopped looking into them. In the book [b]Bernie Becomes a Nun[/b], Sr. Maria Del Rey says wedding gowns are more of a European custom and "Americans tend to go about it more simply."

She's written some other books about the Maryknoll sisters (all published in the 50s) and a diocese (can't remember which one) published two books: Why I Entered the Convent, and Melody in their Hearts. Both were really good.

Dieu vous bénisse.

[Chiquitunga]

[quote name='Chiquitunga' timestamp='1280342799' post='2149163']
[img]http://i25.tinypic.com/rrtevd.jpg[/img]
[/quote]

[quote name='SrBenigna' timestamp='1282154436' post='2159601']
For that book on Edith Stein (the one on Ebay) - this same book is available for $14.95 at this site - [url="http://www.sistersofcarmel.com/edith-stein-books.php"]http://www.sistersof...stein-books.php[/url] - I know these sisters aren't approved, but they have a good selection of books that you often see go for big bucks on Ebay or Amazon, etc.
[/quote]

Hi! Thanks! Yes, that is true. I have seen some pretty rare books there. Actually I just stumbled upon this book here for $9.99 and thought I'd post about it [url="http://153571.brightwebsite.com/store/show_product/?product_id=40536077"]http://153571.bright...uct_id=40536077[/url] This is a great place to find rare Carmelite books too


[quote name='HisChild' timestamp='1280500753' post='2149849']
I know this is off topic, but if you decide to order that Edith Stein book from ebay (or any of her other books/items), the seller, Crazy4Nuns, is a wonderful seller. She's always sending her orders with nun holy cards, and even wraps her books in nun wrapping paper. It's all so lovely! And she ships very quickly!
[/quote]
Yes, that is true! I got something from her once and that nun wrapping paper was neat! (<--loving the new nun emoticon!)

Edited August 23, 2010 by Chiquitunga

[Piccoli Fiori JMJ]

I just posted this in another thread, and then I remembered this thread. Although the image is a little dated, here is the Poor Clares in Rockford, IL. It came from a book (hence why there are two pages stuck together... I scanned it.)

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v359/LausTibiChriste/Catholic/postceremonies.jpg[/img]

Edited August 23, 2010 by FutureNunJMJ

[Chiquitunga]

[quote name='Chiquitunga' timestamp='1280207504' post='2148621']
[url="http://www.institute-christ-king.org/vocations/sisters/"]Adorers of the Royal Heart of Jesus Christ Sovereign Priest[/url]

Also, I know a lot of OCD Carmels used to at least. I'm sure some still do, but I don't know the specifics.
[/quote]

One of them that does Littleton, CO ~ [url="http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/4938"][i]Discalced Carmelite novice receives habit[/i][/url] .. beautiful little article, btw .. so many converts end up in Carmel it seems