that celibacy as a
prerequisite to admission to such orders was required of women before it
was of men; and so in one way the profession of a nun antedates the
corresponding profession of a monk, as the idea of an unmarried life had
already made much progress in the Christian Church among women before it
came into vogue among the men. It may be that the women of that time
were inclined to take literally that chapter in Paul's first Epistle to
the Corinthians wherein it is said: "There is this difference, also,
between a wife and a virgin: the unmarried woman careth for the things
of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit; but she
that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please
her husband;" but, however that may be, these orders of unmarried women
soon became numerous, and severe were the penalties imposed upon all
those who broke the vow of chastity when once it had been made. The
consecration of a nun was a most solemn occasion, and the rites had to
be administered by a bishop, or by one acting under episcopal authority.
The favorite times for the celebration of this ceremony were the great
Church festival days in honor of the Apostles, and at Epiphany and
Easter. When the nuns were consecrated, a fillet was placed in their
hair--a purple ribbon or a slender band of gold--to represent a crown
of victory, and the tresses, which were gathered up and tied together,
showed the difference between this bride of Christ and a bride of earth,
with her hair falling loose about her shoulders after the Roman fashion.
Then over all was placed the long, flowing veil, as a sign that the nun
belonged to Christ alone.

The ordinary rules of conduct which were prescribed for the inmates of
the nunneries resemble in many ways those which were laid down for the
men; and those first followed are ascribed to Scholastica, a sister of
the great Saint Benedict, who established the order of Benedictines at
Monte Cassino about 529; according to popular tradition, this holy woman
was esteemed as the foundress of nunneries in Europe. For the regulation
of the women's orders Saint Augustine formulated twenty-four rules,
which he prescribed should be read every week, and later Saint Benedict
revised them and extended them so that there were finally seventy-two
rules in addition to the Ten Commandments. The nuns were to obey their
superior implicitly, silence and humility were enjoined upon them, head
and e