This gallery of photos comes from Sister Clare Veronica Wyman, R.A., an archivist for the Religious of the Assumption of Kensington, England. It augments an image of a doll from the Pauline A. Money Collection that displays a model of the traditional habit worn by Wyman's order. Wyman noticed that several elements of the doll's attire do not precisely portray the traditional habit.
- The doll's cincture, also known as a girdle, is shown in blue with violet tassels; it should all be a shade of violet that exactly matches the the serge fabric of the habit, says Wyman, who wore the habit until the 1970s and keeps authentic samples in the order's archives.
- The cincture on the doll is tied; it should be doubled, Wyman says. To do this, the girdle was folded in half, bringing the tassels together. With the loop end on the left side of the waist at the front, the wearer would wrap the tassel ends around the waist, push one tassel through the front of the loop and the other tassel through the back of the loop, and then tighten snugly.
- The crucifix on the doll's rosary is disproportionately large.
- The doll's guimpe — a cloth that covers the wearer's neck and shoulders — is disproportionately short, Wyman says: "Originally, it reached almost to waist level."
- The skirt portion of the habit fell to 3 centimeters above the ground — proportionately longer than is portrayed on the doll. "It was very heavy and hot," she says.
- Unlike the doll, Wyman says, the sisters wore a white linen veil underneath the cream-colored woolen veil, which came to a point at the back. "It's impossible for me to describe how to do it, though I still can."
Browse the photos below.
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Headgear: Serre-tête on Doll
Sister Clare Veronica Wyman undressed the choir sister doll to show how the headgear was put together. This piece, called a serre-tête, covered the head and provided a secure base on which to pin the veil.
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Headgear: Veil on Doll
The cream-colored woolen veil went over the guimpe. Sister Clare Veronica Wyman writes, "I couldn't get the three pins to go where they should be — under the fold, not on top."
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Headgear: View of Inside (Back) of Guimpe
This photo shows the inside (back) of the doll's guimpe, which was worn over the serre-tête and under the veil. Originally, a guimpe was fastened with tapes, but Sister Clare Veronica Wyman shared that hers was fastened with a button and buttonhole.
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Headgear: View of Outside (Front) of Guimpe
This photo shows the outside (front) of the doll's guimpe, which was worn over the serre-tête and under the veil.
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Lay or Co-Adjutrix Sister
A lay or co-adjutrix sister typically had never been to school and could not read or write. Instead of praying the psalms from the Breviary, she said 15 decades of the rosary every day, usually, aloud, while she worked. Instead of teaching, her work supported the choir sisters, freeing them for the labors of the classroom.
Every choir sister had some sort of housework as well as teaching, and the lay sisters had some time with the children. Her habit or dress was black since this color was best for the work she did. If it was cold, she wore a black shawl.
In the farmyard, like the sister here, she wore a sacking apron. Notice the little chicken she is looking after. In the kitchen she had a blue merino apron.
Serving in the refectory or dining room, she wore a white apron. In the chapel she wore no apron at all, and you could see her purple girdle.
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Lay or Co-Adjutrix Sister: Veil Detail
Three pins held this sister's veil n place. Though in the photo it looks a bit frill, it is perfectly plain.
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Underwear: Calico Knickers
Sister Clare Veronica Wyman writes that sisters wore calico "knickers" under their skirts.
"Before these calico knickers it would have been 'drawers' — they were like two separate legs joined at the front and open at the back, held in place by waist tapes or by buttons and buttonholes," she said.
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Novices and Professed Sisters on a Walk by the River Swale
Photo of Sisters of the Assumption on a walk by the River Swale in Richmond, Yorkshire, England. The sisters whose veils have two "tails" are novices. The others the professed sisters.
