“In each Servant there should be a love for her Habit, it should be like her skin, so that united to the Incarnate Word, who united Heaven and Earth, she may flower into all kinds of good works and be for all the good scent of Christ (2 Cor 2:15).”
(Fr. Buela, IVE, Las Servidoras, Tomo I).
The Blue and Grey Habit
The habit of the Servants includes:
- a grey tunic
- a blue scapular
- a blue veil for professed sisters
- a white veil for novice sisters
- the cross of Matará
- a wedding ring for the perpetually professed
Our habit with these colors represents the mystery of the Incarnation: the blue represents the Divinity of Christ and the grey represents His Humanity.
“…In that way the blue scapular, which represents the Divine Word, put over the grey habit, which symbolizes the humanity, is an eloquent statement about the great mystery of the Incarnation, in which the Word was united with our nature and dressed in our flesh…”
(Fr. Buela, IVE, Las Servidoras, Tomo I).
The religious of the Byzantine rite receive the black habit.
In embracing the Greek-Byzantine rite, our Institute was enriched with what is proper to the Eastern Church, the other “lung of the Catholic Church.” In order to respect the rite, which suffers many threats because of the “Latinization” that is penetrating ___ in Ukraine, it is necessary to show our adhesion to this Catholic rite, and in order to inculturate ourselves, it is more fitting to wear the black habit [1], since according to the Eastern monastic tradition, “clothing must be black, poor, prolija and clean.” [2]
Moreover, it is important that the religious be recognized as such in the mission environment. “Clothing must be according to each person’s style of life; …just as a uniform has something proper to a soldier, or something proper to a senator, …so should a religious be recognized at first glance.” [3] Therefore the use of the black habit is a more effective way to testify to the consecrated life in a society of oriental tradition.
[1] Cfr. Carta Circular de la Madre María de Anima Christi, 9 de octubre 1998.
[2] Regla de San Teodosio Pecherskyj, Nuestra tradición cristiana, iulian Katrij, Orden de San Basilio Magno
[3] Patrología graeca (París). Il Monachesimo, Tomas Spidlik, pag. 73, Lipa Edizione, 2007, Roma.