Discalced Carmelite Nun Communities

[graciandelamadrededios]

To start with, the habit of the Discalced Carmelites and I will also include the footwear, are St. Teresa response/reaction to the elaborate, overly styled, and expensive dresses and veils of the Calced Carmelites.  I agree with you Chiqui.  Note that this only applies to the rich Beatas and not the poor nuns or their servants.  The original garment of the Nuns were made from rough frieze or horse blanket.  I can imagine, how penitential it was.  The Nuns were discalced, but wears hemp sandals or alpargates when its cold, paired with hand made stockings.  The rich beatas might have worn silk stockings and pretty shoes.

The following link shows parts of the Carmelite Habit: http://www.archives-carmel-lisieux.fr/english/carmel/index.php/au-carmel/le-style-de-vie/le-travail/la-roberie/the-carmelite-habit

 

The tiny headcap, "coiffette", to wear under the toque

 

The toque in linen. Slipped on the head, it is kept in place under the chin and behind with pins and is placed between the robe and the scapular (see photos of Thérèse).

The first veil placed on the toque and held in place with pins.

The second veil placed on the smaller one (they removed it for work). There was a third longer veil worn covering all of the head when meeting workers.

 

Carmel originates from the Holy Land, so the information provided to you about the toque makes sense.

Also, I think the day veil which is shirred and is tucked under the scapular resembles a monk's hood.  It could be that it was arranged this way in solidarity with their male counterparts but maintaining the feminine aspects of being a nun.  

 

 

 

 

Also, please forgive me for not understanding clearly what "involved" means.....

You are right, Chiqui, Discalced Carmelite Nun's habit is quite simple compared to other elaborate habit worn before Vatican II.  But by today's standard, where some cloistered and active nuns have chosen to wear the modified habit, the traditional habit seems quite elaborate already.

Edited August 1, 2016 by graciandelamadrededios

[Sr Mary Catharine OP]

The toque is the Muslim influence on Spain. 

Oh, Our Lady gave the scapular to the Dominicans about 50 years before St. Simon! It was originally an apron worn by the monks. OSB, Trappist, etc. don't bless their scapular whereas for Dominicans it IS the habit of the order. :-)
As people tease, in the 1200's our Blessed Mother was busy with a lot of sewing! 

[graciandelamadrededios]

Alpargates are a kind of handmade espadrille used by Spanish farmers of the 16th century. The Carmelites of the Teresian reform carried out by Teresa of Avila adopted them and passed on to their foundations abroad.

Sr Aimee thanked her family one day for the gift of raw materials in a letter to her sister Marie: I just received a big bag of hemp sewn and harvested by my dear brother Arsène. I looked at it and handled it with pleasure. This hemp will be used to make the braid that will form the bottom of our alpargates (or shoes) that are not in use in the world, or rather in our France. In the past, in the time of our mother Saint Teresa it was the shoe of the poor in Spain. It was a godsend that happened at the right time. Our good depositary didn’t know where to buy this to give this sister in charge of providing us with shoes this year. [Sr St Vincent de Paul].

Walking with alpargates is difficult on wet floor tile (these squares of baked earth), thus the wearing of wooden sandals (photo) for walking on the cloister tiles during wet weather.

As the alpargates were easily soiled because of their light color, the Carmelites also wore wooden sandals with their alpargates to go in the garden. For the laundry, they had to wear clogs over alpargates because wet alpargates took a long time to dry! Marie Guérin complained of this in a letter to her father (letter of July 3rd, 1898).

 

 

 

 

 

[graciandelamadrededios]

15 hours ago, Sr Mary Catharine OP said:

The toque is the Muslim influence on Spain. 

Oh, Our Lady gave the scapular to the Dominicans about 50 years before St. Simon! It was originally an apron worn by the monks. OSB, Trappist, etc. don't bless their scapular whereas for Dominicans it IS the habit of the order. :-)
As people tease, in the 1200's our Blessed Mother was busy with a lot of sewing! 

Etymology[edit]

The word toque is Breton for "hat". The spelling with the "que" is Middle Breton, and Modern Breton is spelled tok. Old Breton spells the word toc. The word was borrowed into the French language both for the chef's uniform and the knit cap.

The word toque is Arabic "طوق" for "round" and "طاقية" "taqia" for "hat" originally for something "round" that has an opening. The word has been known in English since 1505. It came through the Medieval French toque (15th century), presumably by the way of the Spanish toca"woman's headdress", from Arabic *taqa 'طاقة' for "opening".^[3]

[graciandelamadrededios]

I notices several photos of older nuns wearing white veils on top of their day black veils.  I observed this among Polish/Spanish/Eastern European OCD Nuns....

Any ideas why?

 

 

[graciandelamadrededios]

Any ideas, Chiqui?

 

[graciandelamadrededios]

 

 

 

[Luigi]

Here's a photo of the Terre Haute Carmelite community, as of November 2016. I lifted the photo from the Facebook page of St. Joseph's Benedictine Abbey in Louisiana (The Abbey of Fire and Flood!). The abbot there gave a retreat to the Terre Haute Carmelites, and he posted a photo of himself with them. 

[graciandelamadrededios]

 

 

[DominicanHeart]

2 hours ago, graciandelamadrededios said:

 

 

Which one is this?

[graciandelamadrededios]

12 hours ago, DominicanHeart said:

Which one is this?

Discalced Carmelite Nuns in Poland

[graciandelamadrededios]

 

 

 

 

 

Black Professon veil over white veil

 

[truthfinder]

38 minutes ago, graciandelamadrededios said:

 

 

Black Professon veil over white veil

 

Which monasteries are these?

[graciandelamadrededios]

28 minutes ago, truthfinder said:

Which monasteries are these?

From A Russian Carmel founded by a Polish Carmel.

[graciandelamadrededios]

 

Sr. Lucia Marie of the Resurrection