Wearing a wedding dress before putting on the robes of the Congregation is a custom still found in some female Orders.Married women aren't the only ones who walk up to the altar in a beautiful white wedding gown with a long chiffon pulled back. The nuns wear it too. There is a special thing that when walking to the altar, the priest gives these sisters the vestment, the folded shawl, the robe the nuns will wear for the rest of their lives.
With the age of social networking sites, the recent "marriage to Christ" of 27-year-old Sister Maria Vittoria of the Cross at the Benedictine convent of Saint-Roger, Barletta, Pouilles region has resonated strongly. The "wedding ceremony" of entering the Order was held on April 27, 2018 by Bishop Leonardo D'Ascenzo, diocese of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie.
“It is customary for the Benedictine nuns to wear their wedding gown the day they enter the Order, before they officially put on the habit,” said Deacon Riccardo Losappio, diocesan communications officer. These women become "spouses of Christ", so the nuns wear wedding gowns when they come to see him to perfect their future in fullness with the Lord."
A joyful renunciation of all that is fleeting
During the ceremony, as Sister Maria Vittoria of the Cross did, the novices "will take off their wedding gowns, put on the Benedictine robes, receive the cross that marks their "joy renunciation of all that is fleeting". The deacon said there has been no practice like this in Barletta since the 1940s. But the recent re-establishment of the Saint-Roger convent has added young nuns, who have brought new life to the convent.
Among the religious orders where nuns wear wedding gowns when they make their vows are the Congregation of Clares, the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Immaculate Conception, and the Congregation of the Queen Mother of the Immaculate Conception.
Marta An Nguyen translated – Francis