TODAY'S TWD: THE URSULINE ORDER

While investigating the site of a vicious rape attack (from which the victim eventually died), NYPD Detective John Amsterdam noted that there had been an order of Ursuline nuns from Ireland cloistered nearby about one hundred years before. (The victim turned out to be a member of that order.)

Here's what Wikipedia had in regards to the Ursulines:

"The Ursulines are a Roman Catholic religious order founded at Brescia, Italy by St. Angela of Merici in November 1535, primarily for the education of girls and the care of the sick and needy. Their patron saint is St. Ursula.

In 1771, the Irish Ursulines were established at Cork by Nano Nagle.

Towards the beginning of the 18th century, the period of its greatest prosperity, the Ursuline order embraced some 20 congregations, with 350 convents and from 15,000 to 20,000 nuns.

The members wore a black dress bound by a leathern girdle, a black sleeveless cloak, and a close-fitting headdress with a white veil and a longer black veil.

Today, while some convents in Europe, Canada, and Cuba continue to observe strict enclosure, most convents have adopted less restrictive forms."

SHOW CITED:
'New Amsterdam' - "Honor"

[Pictured: "The Castle" at the New Rochelle Campus originally an Ursuline School for Girls founded in 1904.]

BCnU!
Toby OB