I recently helped a lost nun find her car in a parking garage, and I while I should have asked her then, I was too shy - what the heck religious order wears lavender-colored habits?
Google has failed me on this one - any ideas?
Was it something like the Sister-Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adorationwear? (they are known as the Pink Sisters)
No… I’ve done a little more research into the right terminology, and she was wearing a lavender or light purple veil in a similar style to this one. These are pretty close to the right look too, but they’re light blue (and I don’t know who they are either - any ideas?) She had no wimple or anything covering her neck, just a dress/habit and a veil on her head.
Wimples are very rare any more for any order.
No, no, she was definitely a nun in the more traditional sense. She was a tiny older black lady with a strong accent (not sure where she was from), visiting patients in the hospital - not nearly as fabulous as the sisters you linked to.
If its anything like karate belt colors, watch out for the ones in black 
OK, you said you’re from MD. I looked up “nuns baltimore”, and found the Oblate Sisters of Providence. Many of them are wearing black, but some of them seem to wear purple, like this one:
http://www.oblatesistersvocations.com/SrAvila.html
It was also an order started specifically for women of African descent, and was concerned with the education of girls of color, so it’s a likely fit for your black nun.
When I was being taught by the Sisters of Mercy, the nuns had three habits – navy blue, white and gray – all the same style. Normally the blue was worn by the teachers, the white by the nurses and the grays were, well, I don’t really know, maybe just for a change of pace.
I’m disappointed in myself that it never occurred to me women of color were excluded from becoming nuns until relatively recently. How infuriating. Their vocation stories are simple but moving. Thank you for that link.
I don’t think the purple is an actual habit. Those nuns seem to just be wearing simple, modest modern clothing, along with their veils. I think many orders do that.
I suppose that could be it, but her veil was definitely a lighter purple. We’re talking lavender, not “Ravens fan” purple.
kunilou - I didn’t realize that they didn’t always wear the same color! I thought each order had its own uniform and stuck to it. So I guess she could have been from pretty much anywhere.
We had some Sisters visiting from India while back. They wore lavender habits. They were such pale lavender that I thought they were white at first.
Well, they have their home and away habits.
Why should that thought occur to you now? As far as I know the Catholic Church has never made race a condition for entry into the monastic orders. Seminaries, like other schools in the US, may have been segregated, but that’s not the same thing as saying black women can’t be nuns.
I had occasion to meet a nun in black this past weekend. She’s a very formidable woman.
reminds me of
what is white black white black white black?
a nun rolling down hill.
I saw a nun wearing a lavender habit earlier this year, and, if I had not been at a Catholic site, would have guessed that she was Amish or something similar. She was working there, so I think it is reasonably safe to assume that she was a Catholic nun.
Hi did you find out about the lavender nun? Helen
Since Antigen hasn’t been around since 2014, you might not get an answer fast.