The following comes from a June 11 story in the San Jose diocese Valley Catholic.
The Sister Disciples of the Divine Master, who operate the Liturgical Apostolate Center in San Jose, announced they will leave the diocese of San Jose at the end of July.
Sister Lucy Mabazz, speaking for the sisters, in a letter to The Valley Catholic, noted, “It is with mixed emotions that Sister Rosaria and I share some news…for a variety of reasons, especially the decreasing number of members, we have decided to close this small community and join our larger communities in California.”
Since 1973, the Congregation has lived at 2076 Lincoln Ave. and operated the religious goods and gifts store selling an array of items especially including liturgical books and vestments, sacred vessels, altar linens, clerical attire, religious art and other religious gifts.
Sister Lucy said, “At present we are two sisters here, but over many years sisters from various nations have formed part of our small community. Our mission has been that of perpetual Eucharistic adoration. We have a particular mission to pray for priests and the media of social communication.
“During our 40 years in this diocese, we have experienced a welcome and kindness from all the clergy with whom we have had the joy of encountering. You have made it possible for our mission to be alive and active…We will always carry in our prayer the San Jose Diocese and its people.”
Sister Lucy especially addressed local priests in her letter “to let you know that in our Liturgical Center we have a number of religious items of interest…chasubles, stoles, books and a variety of religious articles that we would like to offer at a reduced price.
“If you could come to the Liturgical Center during June it would greatly help to reduce our stock. It would also give us the opportunity to say a fond farewell,” Sister Lucy wrote.
Well I wish them well, but this comes as no surprise, post Vatican II sisters have been dwindling ever since. When they tossed their habits into the gutter and started preaching social justice, labyrinths, giant puppets, pushing for female priests, abortion rights, protesting at military bases, what young lady would be attracted to this garbage?? But look at the new crop of sisters in full habit, obedient to Holy Mother Church, acting and looking like nuns should. Case in point, the Nashville Dominicans, Abbey of Regina Laudis, Benedictines of Mary Queen of the Apostles, Dominican Sisters of Ann Arbor, Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, Sisters of Mary Mother of the Church, the list is large and growing all having waiting lists to get into them and all wear FULL HABITS!! This is the future of our good sisters.
Hopefully someone can go over there and supply real vestments not that sort of lavender stuff with flowers they have been peddling over the years.
Let us pray for these wonderful women of faith, who have helped so many — through their intercession, their witness, and their manual labor. They put much care and prayer into the vestments they make, and I know countless seminarians and priests who have driven all the way to San Jose to ask for their help in getting an alb made, etc.
Sorry to read that their numbers are dwindling… :-(
Why then is the Lord calling an end to their ‘Charism’ ?
Another tragedy of V2 – The Sisters have left our schools, social service and counseling of individuals in need – Many of the orders are no more and several have combined to take care of their elderly and ill – The women who dedicated their lives to others are Saints and the Vatican/Bishops are out to get them – How is this explained to our children and individuals of other faiths? –
Could these orders say that they have retained the Charisms they received? I bet you no. Most of them live life the way they want to.
They are leaping what they sowed.
Yes I too noticed the Novus Ordo vestments in the photo, nothing like a nice fiddleback instead.
What you call “Novus Ordo” shapes are actually MORE ancient that your “nice fiddleback” as you can read in any history of the chasuble:
https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2008/02/styles-and-tradition-in-chasuble-of.html
@Janek
The Sister Disciples are a habited moderately conservative order with a great devotion to Eucharistic Adoration. It is sad to see them leave Northern California and I echo Peter’s lament about them leaving.
@BK
“that sort of lavender stuff with flowers they have been peddling over the years.”
Huh?
Their albs are outstanding, they last forever (usually we priests outgrow them), stay pressed, and are easy to clean, which is why most of the St. Pat’s guys buy them. The chasubles are more contemporary and/or plain (not as bad as Chagall) which are not my style, although I have a beautiful Advent violet chasuble from them. Lavender stuff with flowers? Have to admit I haven’t seen it among their wares.
Are you sure that picture is from the San Jose store?
Uh, people, I hate to break it to you, but these are not liberal, bra-burning American Sisters.
These are elderly Italian Nuns, in habit, who are very devout and humble and hard-working.
Even if I did not know them personally, I would have been able to GUESS this from the article, which talks about their Eucharistic Adoration and such.
Gee whiz, it’s amazing how people assume these women are crazed liberals just because they live in California…
…and if you don’t see fiddleback chasubles in the picture, it’s because no one was buying such items for along time, and the old Nuns had to make a living.
I have no intention of questioning their personal piety and holiness, however those vestments they sell need to go.
FROM ‘RORATE COELI’ ON THE HISTORY OF THE CHASUBLE…
Saint Charles Borromeo laid down regulations about the dimensions of vestments for the Sacred Liturgy because, it would seem, he was concerned that the form of the vestments, which had been handed down for centuries, was being cast aside in favour of something convenient and “fashionable”. The chasuble, derived from the Latin word for “a little house” had been for centuries an ample garment. In the 15th and 16th centuries, there had been significant divergence from this Tradition, however, resulting in a form of chasuble that wasn’t ample, but cut right back so that it comprised a sort of narrow pendant, front and back, on the wearer. We know this form of chasuble as the “Roman” or “fiddleback” chasuble, and some claim that this is the form of the chasuble that is truly “traditional”. But Borromeo didn’t think that: he thought it represented a break with Tradition. And he specified the minimum size to which he expected chasubles to conform. They were to be at least 51 inches (130cm) wide and, at the back, they were to reach down almost to the heels of the wearer.
So, why was the chasuble drastically modified? Let’s answer that question by first tracing the origin and early development of this garment.
The ancestor of the chasuble is a Roman garment called the paenula. It was a semi-circular cloak, sewn together down the front and completely covering the arms. It was a garment for everyday wear by the lower classes, but was also worn by the upper classes and by women for travel and in bad weather. From the 5th century, a garment of similar shape but made in richer material was adopted by the Roman upper classes for ceremonial wear and this planeta was the immediate ancestor of our chasuble. Then, from the 9th century, a third name was given to a cloak which was still in the shape of the early paenula, and like it was a protective outer garment for the poor: casula (Latin for “little house”). For a time, the secular and liturgical use of these three similar garments continued side by side. It was the shape of these garments, rather than their use which came to be associated with the liturgical chasuble.
IN OTHER WORDS, THE CHASUBLES YOU SEE IN THIS PICTURE ARE PROBABLY CLOSER TO THE ‘ORIGINAL’ SHAPE THAN THE FIDDLEBACKS WHICH CAME INTO USE LATER…
The problem is not their shape, the problem is the flowers trees and the likes on them.
What of the Cross, or our Lady , perhaps an image of our Lord, to begin with? After all Mass is not a celebration of trees.