Comments on: Nun With Cotton Candy, Somewhere, USA 1964

By: Jillbeans

Jillbeans — Sat, 03 May 2008 18:40:09 +0000

Reminds me so much of second grade, when I had TWO nuns as teachers, Sister Julia and Sister Innocent. I’m thinkin’ this pic has to be from about 1969. Thank God our school closed due to lack of funds and I got sent to public school!

By: Ster Julie

Ster Julie — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 21:44:56 +0000

The bonnet worn in that play was correct for the order Cherry Jones was representing–Sisters of Charity of St Joseph, founded by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Here’s a picture of her: http://www.setonshrine.org/bio/bio.htm

Sorry if this is getting to you too late.

By: Keri Wormald

Keri Wormald — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:44:28 +0000

Sister Julie (or others with pertinent info!),
Thank you for your response. I am directing a production of Doubt in Richmond, VA and am trying to decide what style of habit the nuns should be wearing. In the Broadway production, Cherry Jones wore a bonnet as opposed to the full habit that I remember from childhood (I made my first Communion in 1965) and this play is set, very specifically, in Sept. 1964 – May 1965. The head of the school is very old-fashioned and disapproves of the new Pope’s earliest ideas. In your estimation, is this bonnet perhaps a representation of a certain Order or would the habit and wimple I remember from childhood be appropriately “old-fashioned” as well?

Oh, the school is in the Bronx, NY. Anyone attend Catholic school in the Bronx in 1964?

Thanks very much,
Keri

By: Ster Julie

Ster Julie — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:28:43 +0000

Ahem. Well, being a REAL nun for 30 years now, I can say I wouldn’t have joined if all I knew were grumpy nuns! The nun you met in my hometown of Upland was probably one of the Irish Presentation nuns that taught me at the local Catholic school there. The sisters were all business in the classroom, but outside of it they were fun, once you realized that they had a VERY dry wit.

The nun in the picture is a Fransican of some sort (I’m Franciscan, too, but the cross I wear is different). Do you know where this was taken?

Vatican II ended in 1965, but the nuns were already adapting their ancient regalia in the 1950′s (We were able to change from woollen habits to a lighter weight fabric then). The 60s brought the more radical changes to nunwear of lengths of hemlines, style of headcovering, drip-dry fabric, etc. You see, we had gotten away from the original idea of the habits. We were supposed to dress like the poor women we served (That’s why Mother Teresa’s nuns wear saris). Somewhere in history, some clerical fashionista told us that starched wimples and longer habits were holier. It ended up that these habits cost more than haute couture! So, Vatican II told us to get back to our roots and identify with the poor we serve. If that means shopping at Kmart or Goodwill, go for it!

One more thing about grumpy nuns–My sisters told me that it was very hard to smile all the time before the changes. Back then, when you needed shoes, you went to the trunk full of shoes from dead nuns until you found something to wear. If they hurt your feet, you were told to “offer it up for the Poor Souls.” There were so many fasts back then that the sisters were hungry most of the time, yet they still had to teach huge numbers of children every day, plus teach catechism classes to the children from the public schools after school, plus clean the church for Sunday. Each sisters was paid $25.00/month, none of which went into her own pocket, plus housing. Most of that money was sent back to the motherhouse to support the retired sisters, the new sisters in formation, and the administration’s costs. People of the parish would hold a “Pantry Shower” during the summer to put a few dented cans on the convent shelves to feed the sisters. If the sisters were lucky enough to serve in rural areas, they got gifts of food from the farmers like pig liver or maybe a chicken. And I’m not talking way back when. This was the norm until the 70s! It wasn’t until 1985 that the sisters started to get paid in a manner commensurate to their level of education and years of experience. We lost the free housing and use of a parish car, but we gained in the long run.

And no, that extra money doesn’t go into our pocket. It still goes to the common good of the order. Whenever we need anything (within reason. I’ll have to wait for that trip to Florence), we ask for it.

And as for that “they’re grumpy bc they aren’t ‘getting any’” comment–I was taught as a young nun to take care of my libido in other ways. Personally, I get a lot of satisfaction singing in a good choir, and I have had the good fortune to be part of some excellent choirs. I also enjoy sharing good jokes. Nothing beats a good belly laugh.

At least, in my experience!

By: rasma lowry

rasma lowry — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:56:12 +0000

After a summer candy stripe stint,we were rewarded with a day at the convent. I anticipated a soothing day of inspiration from the nuns that baked the holy wafers but instead got an eye opening look behind the habits.We swam in the pool together which seemed immortal to look at a one piece suit attired holy woman and played pool with them.There were cheating accusations,dirty looks and hidden balls in that game.AS a Lutheran I was shocked to say the least for I was expecting a day with Sally Field as the singing nun.The room gained a more serene feeling as the mother superior walzed by leaving a breeze from her bountiful skirt.I sure could have used some cotten candy to sweeten up that bunch.

By: Samantha

Samantha — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 17:53:08 +0000

Fairy Floss is what we call cotton candy in Australia, and probably in England too. I never knew it was called cotton candy until I came to the US.

By: Celeste Pierce

Celeste Pierce — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:13:09 +0000

Charles: Let me guess that you never went to Catholic school. Grumpy nuns were the norm during my formative years(1957-1965). I may have known one cheerful one. Nuns were not getting any and they were mad as hell about it, evidently. I think this is where the term “hot under the collar” came from.

By: Charles Phoenix

Charles Phoenix — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 21:16:42 +0000

FROM RALPH: Although the glass frames on the nun pictured with the cotton candy may be from 1964, her habit is definitely post Vatican 2. Vatican 2 took place in 1967 when the Pope allowed nuns to modernized their habits. I was in catholic school at that time and witness the change over. The collar on the habit even looks like a late 60′s style. Prior to that, nuns were completely covered. They only showed their faces and hands. Otherwise they were completely covered by the habit just like the nuns in Sound of Music. Think Peggy Wood singing Climb Every
Mountain.

By: Sharon Graham

Sharon Graham — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 03:18:44 +0000

I think cotton is the flowering part of the plant:
so a flower?
Nuns are “regular” people: I knew one back in
the late 1960s wearing the full- on floor length habit with
head cove: I was surprised to see that she read popular novels.

By: Tom Bridges

Tom Bridges — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 00:56:41 +0000

Actually cotton is a fiber that surrounds the cotton seed that results from the plants flower being pollinated. So I guess the answer to your question is none of the above.