's veil. The scene was
very solemn. The nuns sat in their carved stalls within the grating
whose black bars divided them from the "bride" and her friends in the
ante-chapel: the chant of psalms and versicles came down from a hidden
gallery, and the priest in rich vestments stood at the foot of the
altar within the railing. The service went on in the midst of a
palpable hush; the very air seemed hardly to vibrate; the bride,
attended by her two angiolini, left her gorgeous kneeling-chair and
advanced to the open door in the grating, where the priest met her.
Question and answer were interchanged in Italian, and the young girl
vowed that of her own free will she left the world and joined the
order of St. Dominic. Prayers in Latin followed, then again a chanted
psalm, and Mademoiselle G---- was led away through the iron-grated
door, which was then closed. It was not long ere she reappeared in
the long close tunic of white serge, her head covered with a temporary
veil of coarse linen and her feet shod in sandals. A procession of
nuns, each bearing a lighted taper, escorted her to the foot of the
altar (everything was visible through the grating), and she knelt
before the officiating priest. A white woolen veil was handed to
him, which he blessed with holy water, the sign of the cross and the
prescribed ejaculations accompanying these rites: he then laid it
on her head as a "symbol of the virgin modesty" to which she was now
pledged. Two nuns were at hand to pin it into the right folds while a
silver ring was being blessed in the same manner as the veil. This
was placed on the ring-finger of the left hand as a "symbol of the
intimate union and espousal with Christ" signified by her renunciation
of the world. The scapular of white serge, similarly blessed, was
then laid upon her shoulders as a type of the "yoke of obedience and
sacrifice;" and lastly, the black cloak, signifying charity, covering
and enveloping the whole person. Then in a loud, firm voice, instinct
with passion and resolve, she read, standing, the formal declaration
of her religious vows. When this was over the mother-superior led
the novice, now Sister Maria Colomba, to a small table on which lay
a bridal wreath of white roses and a crown of thorns. She asked her
solemnly which was her choice in life, and the novice took up the
crown of thorns and placed it on her head. This typical ceremony I
never saw performed in any other order. Shortly after the crown of