Costume of the Sisters of Charity
:
Miscellaneous.
The Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul, at
the time of their re-establishment in their house, in the _Rue du Vieux
Colombier_, after the Revolution, wore black dresses and caps. On the
fourth Sunday in Advent, 1804, Pope Pius the Seventh visited the community.
He seemed surprised that the Sisters had not resumed the habit of their
order; but he was told that no community had dared to show the religious
habit abroad. He then spoke to the emperor, saying to him that the good
daughters of charity "_looked like widows_." The emperor, at his request,
gave authority to the Sisters to wear their habit, and they resumed it in
the spring of 1805.