Novitiate Field Trip

Earlier this week the novitiate went on a 'field trip' of sorts for their Dominican History class. Sr. Maria Agnes, our archivist, gave the sisters a tour of our archives. Sr. Mary Veronica was also invited since she missed the last tour in 2010. So much history of our house is packed into this little area! There are binders full of calligraphy by the sisters, old disciplines, Pope Pius XII's zucchetto, three nails that are the exact replicas of the ones used to hang our Lord on the Cross and were touched to the ones at S. Croce in Rome, copies of the music made by the sisters, etc. There's also a file cabinet where the archivist keeps a folder on each sister. Any important items about that sister (profession announcements, publications, etc.) are kept there.

The archives are housed in what used to be the quarters for the extern sisters. This is a section in the basement which was originally outside of the enclosure. There is a little window with a grille where Mother Prioress would come to speak or recreate with the externs. That little parlor now houses our foreign language books, but the grille remains. 

At the end of the field trip the novitiate headed back, arms full of  photo albums and our monastery's old customs book to take back to the novitiate for leisurely reading/perusing.