Australian Dress Register

This assembly of garments constitutes the basic elements of the religious habit of the Sisters of Mercy.  The Mercy habit was designed by the Foundress of the Sisters of Mercy, the Venerable Mother Catherine McAuley, in Dublin in 1831, and, with possibly only minor and inconspicuous alterations, was worn by all Sisters of Mercy until the middle of the twentieth century. The habit then began to be simplified and was finally discarded in favour of modern garb more suited to the Sisters’ immersion in society in the spirit of their Foundress. 

The habit consisted of two white helmet and breastplate garments covered with a black veil; a black, long-sleeved, close-pleated dress with a train; a black belt or cincture at the waist from which hung a set of black rosary beads ending in an ebony and ivory cross; and a wood and metal crucifix inserted into the belt in the centre front.

This habit of the Sister of Mercy is historically very significant as it was worn by around twenty-five thousand women at the time the order was flourishing, particularly in English-speaking countries. It carried a spiritual significance, indicating that the wearer had made a special consecration of her life to God and the service of others.

This sample of the habit is particularly significant as it is made up of individual authentic parts that once belonged to Sisters of Mercy. Samples of all pieces of the habit are now quite rare. The dress with its train is the only one in the museum collection of the Sisters of Mercy in Singleton.  

Author: Sister Monica Sinclair, Curator Museum at the Convent of Mercy, 31.10.2014.

This religious habit can be considered an ensemble of four parts: the dress, the veil, the headdress and the cincture with beads and crucifix.

The dress is a black long-sleeved garment, pleated front and back on a fully-lined yoke.  It is gathered on to a waistband on the inside, and the bottom of the garment, with its wide false hem is extended seamlessly at the back into a train.  The garment is split down the front to below the waist, and fastened with hooks and eyes.  An extra piece of material sewn to the inner right side of the split prevents the front of the garment from gaping open.  A large hook and eye at the back can hold up the train. 

The veil is a rectangular piece of black material with a wide hem on the two longer sides and a selvedge on the two shorter sides.  A piece of stiffened board is inserted centrally into one of the wide-hemmed ends to keep the veil back from the face.  The veil is folded to create two pleats that are held with two safety pins and fall neatly down the wearer’s back.

The headdress consists of three pieces of white material, partly starched to stiffen them: a linen coif in the shape of a “helmet” tied at the back from the neck and from just behind the ears; a pique dimity pinned in place to cover the forehead; a linen guimp which covers the upper breast and shoulders and is tied at the back of the neck and fastened with a safety pin at the middle of the back. 

The cincture with beads and crucifix.  A belt of black leather, the cincture, goes around the waist and is fastened at the back with a buckle.  Inserted into the right side of the cincture is a large black plastic ring through which is threaded a large set of black rosary beads on a metal chain, ending in a black and white ebony and ivory cross.  In the centre of the cincture on the wrong side a square piece of leather is sewn vertically at the edges forming an open pouch through which is inserted a metal and wooden crucifix, also held in place by a black cord which normally goes around the wearer’s neck.