New Sisters Marie

You may notice that many Catholic sisters and nuns have the name “Mary” included in some form in their religious name. In a recent edition of our IHM Archives News (May 2010), our intrepid archivist Donna Westley looked at this custom in the IHM tradition. (Today we use our baptismal names as our religious names so “Mary” or its derivations are present only if it was originally part of one’s baptismal name). Here’s some of that article along with additional details I gleaned from my email conversation with Donna.Why take on a religious name? A new name in religion signified a commitment to a new way of life.

New Sisters Marie Youtube

For more info, check out the article in our resource section,Why the name “Mary”? Our IHM Congregation has a special devotion to Mary which has manifest itself in various ways throughout our history up to today.

New Sisters Marie Dresses

New Sisters Marie Youtube

Co-founder Father Louis Florent Gillet, CSsR wrote about our special relationship with Mary in the original IHM Rule of Life: “The principal Patroness of the Institute will be the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Immaculate, whose feast is celebrated the eighth of December.” The dogma of the had just been issued in 1854, just 9 years after our congregation’s founding.The earliest commentary on the constitutions and customs that Donna found was written by Mother Gertrude Gerretsen (1864-1869). She writes:“Devotion to the Mother of God has always been dear to religious persons. My Community offered us the option of taking a religious name if we wanted to. My baptismal name is Robyn Margaret (called Robyn) and I use my secular name for work (I’m a solitary “in the world”). I prayed long and hard about whether I’d take another name in the Community of Solitude, and then I remembered how much Therese of Lisieux has inspired me. Her Little Way constantly challenges me to be more deeply open to the God who wrote the world, and so I asked if I could take the name Therese.

Happily the Community said yes so here I am! I am seriously considering adding Therese to my formal registered name so it becomes part of my legal name.I also discovered that Terese (without the h) was the confirmation name of my sister-in-law who died four years ago, which makes it extra special.