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. For more info, check out our earlier blog post responding to Lou’s question What is the reasoning behind a nun or sister choosing a religious name?

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. 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 Immaculate Conception 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. But as this congregation is immediately under her protection and as she is (under God) its principal protectress, the sisters shall always have the warmest and most affectionate devotion to her; regarding her in a special manner as their Mother and the great model they are obliged to imitate, that by her intercession and under her powerful protection they may be enabled to fulfill the obligations of this holy Institute and implant Jesus Christ in the hearts of the children they are charged to instruct.”

Mother Gertrude goes on in detail about specific devotions: rosary, novenas, celebration of feasts, the month of May, etc.

What was the Sister Mary custom with IHM Sisters? The name of Mary, although not always spoken or written at the beginning of our religious names, was always formally there until 1920.

Indeed, a page in co-founder Mother Theresa Maxis Duchemin’s Notes Regarding the Foundation supports the longstanding nature of this practice. Referring to receptions and professions, she says.

“I will now give the religious names of those 12 Sisters: Igidius, Johanna, Gerard, Liguori, Agnes, Anthony, Ignatius, Xavier, Stanislas, Colette, Gertrude, Clara, it is not necessary to say that every one had the name of Mary preceding the other name as it is customary with us.”

Looking over the religious names of members in our IHM congregation from the beginnings in 1845 and up to the 1920s, it appears the majority of sisters had a single name, preceded by Mary, Maria, Marie, or just the letter “M.”

In 1920, Sister Margaret Mary (Anna) Look was the first Monroe IHM to have a name that did not have “Mary” at the beginning. In a letter written to archivist Celeste Rabaut, IHM, on November 9, 1984, Margaret Mary explained, “St. Margaret Mary was canonized in May 1920. I was received into the community July 22, 1920, and given the name Sister Margaret Mary—coveted by many previously but not given out because ‘Mary’ preceded all names up to that time.”

After Margaret Mary, others began to have Mary, Marie, or Maria as the second part of their name.  We also began to see Latin names like Cor Mariae, Beata Maria, Maria Pacis as well as titles like Marie de Lourdes and Mary de Montfort, Marie Rosary and Mary Immaculate given as religious names.

In the Marian year (1954) almost all the postulants received were given a name with Mary, Marie, or a title of Mary — not just that initial “M.

If you have a Mary naming custom in your community or personally, let us know!

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AS019 Ask Sister podcast recorded live on March 26, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Topics include: celibacy, discerning the will of God, choosing a religious name, convent decor, family responsibilities, and more.

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Ask Sister podcast is a live podcast where you have the opportunity to engage with us and ask questions about nuns, prayer, religious life, or pretty much anything in between!

Here are some of the questions we addressed in this Ask Sister podcast:

• How can I know if wanting to become a nun is God’s will or my own will?
• What is the historical reasons sisters received a religious name? What is the practice today?
• How do I deal with family responsibilities if I become a sister?
• Are nuns allowed to do fun things or to chose a profession?
• What is the difference between chastity and celibacy? How does one prepare for a vow of celibacy?
• What do convents look like on the inside?

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Question from Lou …

what is the reasoning behind a nun or sister choosing a religious name? where does the significance come from? how is a religious name determined? thanks, lou

In the Catholic tradition as well as in many other religious traditions and cultural traditions, the taking on of a new name is symbolic of entering into a new place in one’s life. In Scripture, there are many times when a person takes a new name. For example, Abram was given the name Abraham and Sarai the name Sarah (Genesis 17) to indicate that God had called them to a new place in their relationship with God and in their role in human history. Jesus called Simon to follow him and gave him a new name: Cephas which translates to Peter (John 1:42).

Taking on a new name is also common in our Catholic sacramental tradition. When a person is baptized or confirmed, she or he takes on a new name symbolizing the new life they have entered into.

Many religious communities required and continue to require new entrants to take a new name as a sign of their new life as a religious. Other communities allow a person to keep their baptismal name since our vocation is intimately linked to our baptismal call.

From what I’ve heard from my community and others (my religious name is my baptismal name), a religious name was assigned in a variety of ways. Some new sisters were allowed to suggest their name preference but it was ultimately up to the Superior of the community or another leader to decide upon the name. The name typically had to be a saint’s name or a title of Mary or Christ. Sisters might suggest as their preference a favorite saint or the saint that their parish was named after or the name of a parent (if it were also a saint’s name). In other cases, sisters were simply assigned a name — sometimes it was the name of a sister who had died in the congregation. For congregations like mine, the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, it was common that all the names include “Mary” as the first part of the name in honor of our namesake.

I’d love to hear from other Sisters and religious, especially those who experienced the name change tradition.