MARYMOUNT HERMITAGE NEWSLETTER 2150 Hermitage Lane Mesa, Idaho 83643-5005 Website: www.marymount-hermitage.org Tel. (208) 256-4354 E-mail: [email protected]

Volume 36, No. 10 October, 2019 IT’S A HABIT By Sister Mary Beverly, HSM 60, before we were liv- What is a habit? I still have a ing in Mesa, Idaho. Webster’s dictionary on my desk. The only personal pos- Consulting this time-honored re- session I have is her source for habit, the first defini- sewing machine. This tion is “a disposition or involun- Singer sewing machine tary tendency to act constantly in was given by my Dad a certain manner usually acquired as an engagement gift to my Mom. You will see in the by frequent repetition.” A habit photos that it is detailed with gold stenciling, showing is something I do regularly, like taking a daily walk. that these old Singer sewing machines were not only The fourth definition is functional and reliable, but beautiful. I love mine! “a costume indicating rank, How often do I make membership in a religious dresses for myself? On an order, or a special activity, average, I make two dress- as a riding habit or a nun’s es every two years. When habit.” So a habit is what I I am sewing, the job takes usually wear, my normal up two rooms in my house, clothing. I am not a nun, so, though I love sewing, I but, as a Hermit Sister, I do wear a religious habit. try to make this inconven- By definition, a religious habit is not clothing I ient mess as infrequently as possible. If I am going to can buy in a women’s clothing shop. There is some- make one dress, I might as well make two. Each dress thing distinctive about religious clothing as opposed takes a week to make, from start to finish, from cutting to secular clothing. How then do Sisters get religious out the pattern pieces to the final hand sewing. habits? By the traditional skill of sewing. In my Do I make my own pat- case, I have to sew the dresses and veils which I tern pieces? No. In the wear. Fortunately, my mother taught me to sew from convent, everything was the time I was a child and then, later in the convent as homemade for the pre- a teenager, I learned dress- Vatican II style, long, wool making. habits that we wore. Fortu- These 35 years at Mary- nately for me, the style mount Hermitage, as Hermit Sister Rebecca Mary and I Sisters of Mary in the Diocese chose for our hermit habit is a princess style dress. I of Boise, I have sewn habits for can find this classic dress style pattern in any fabric both Sister Rebecca Mary and store. Because of the change in the fabric manufactur- myself. My mother died at age ing in our country, or lack thereof, finding suitable Continued on page 2 Page 1

road was being constructed. The woman was wearing (Cont. from page one) IT’S A HABIT basically the same clothing we are and the mummy dress material is very difficult now. I always ask was 3,000 years old. Feminine, but functional! Even Our Lady to help me with my sewing work and she today, in Asian countries in the rural areas, women are it is who helps me find all that I need when there are wearing this same style. That’s what I call classic cultural, economic changes in world commerce. women’s clothing. When Sister Our hermit habit is simple, practical and modest. In Rebecca Mary and I religious terms, our habit is a symbol of our dedication first came to Idaho to God. It is a sign of our consecration, of being in the and were working at world, but not of the world. In many cultures, a veil, Nazareth Retreat especially for the wedding ceremony, is the distinctive Center in Boise, we feature for the bride. As a vowed Hermit Sister, the were still wearing the veil proclaims that I am a bride of Christ, and a public habits from our for- witness to the Church, who is THE Bride of Christ. It mer SSMO community. We had decided on the is a privilege to wear a religious habit and, in this very dress and matching denim pants, but I still could not unchurched part of the country, I know that wherever I visualize what we would do about a veil. go, I AM the Catholic Church for many people. What One day, a Mercy Sister came to Nazareth to they think of me is what they will think of the true make a retreat. When I saw her veil, I knew I had Church. So wearing a religious habit is also an awe- found the answer to our question! I asked her if she some, public responsibility. When a young woman made her own veil, and she proudly said, “Yes.” I becomes a novice and receives her veil for the first asked, “Would you be able to give me your pattern time, the Bishop blesses it and her. Ever after, the veil pieces, and allow us to and entire habit is blessed, that her life might be holy make our own veils like and worthy of Christ and the Church. yours?” She was very pleased to accommodate COMMUNITY NEWS our request. To this day, By Sister Mary Beverly, HSM I still have and use her VISITORS: On Sunday, September 8, some members pattern papers. of the Verbum Spei Fraternity visited me and Mary- You have probably mount Hermitage for the first time. At the invitation of seen us wearing our hermit habits, but for those of Bishop Peter Christensen, Bishop of Boise, this com- you who have not, the dresses and jeans are dark munity is being newly blue denim fabric (which fade with years of wash- established in Idaho as of ing). The veils are a light blue cotton fabric with a this spring. It is an inter- headband that is quilted. The veil, national community of dress, and jeans are durable and priests and brothers and machine washable. Our habit is this will be an English- suitable for and actually inspired by speaking, formation the high desert ranch land where we house for them in the live. Denim fabric is eminently USA. Seen from L to R American for frontier, working are Brother Christopher wear, but the style of dress/tunic who is being received as over pants is actually an ancient of 10/1; Joe from MN, who is discerning joining the Asian design. Along the trade route Fraternity; Father Dominic, the local superior; and from China to Europe, a mummy Brother Jonathan, who is studying to be a priest. was recently dug up when a new Please pray for all young people discerning vocations.

The MARYMOUNT HERMITAGE NEWSLETTER is published by Marymount Hermitage, Inc., a non–profit, tax-exempt corpora- tion in the State of Idaho. The Hermit Sisters of Mary are a canonically approved, Catholic community of women hermits, following the Rule of St. Benedict. The newsletter is published each month by the 15th on our website only. The purpose of the newsletter is to share the spirituality and material progress of Marymount Hermitage. Please pray that we may be faithful to our way of life in prayer and penance, solitude and silence for the sake of the Church and the world. Donations are sincerely appreciated and are tax- deductible. Thank you in advance to those who have remembered Marymount Hermitage in their wills. God bless you! Page 2