Meet "The Pink Sisters"
By Brooke Bobb
The Sister-Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration lead a quiet life. As of 2018, they are 20 in total and are cloistered nuns, meaning they rarely, if ever, leave their church in Philadelphia. They pray separately from the congregation and interact with visitors only in an enclosed garden or from behind a gate indoors.
“Contemplative life requires seclusion to aid us toward interior silence and recollection,” explains Sister Superior Mary Amatrix, who first entered the convent in 1980 in Baguio City in the Philippines and came to the Chapel of Divine Love in Philadelphia in 1985.
There are many cloistered Catholic nuns, but none are quite like the Sister-Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration. Despite their sequestered, serene life, these nuns wear bold pink habits. They are the only convent in the world to do so, and among parishioners they are lovingly known as “The Pink Sisters.”
The order was founded in Steyl, Holland, in 1896 by Saint Arnold Janssen, who chose the color pink for the habits because, in Sister Mary Amatrix’s words, “the rose-colored garment symbolizes the glowing love for the Holy Spirit.” Each community of Pink Sisters has a seamstress who makes the nuns’ habits, which include white scapulars and white veils. According to Sister Mary Amatrix, “we follow the same pattern for every sister’s habit, which has been handed down through the generations.”
Whether it is the making and wearing of the pink habits or preparing for their day with a morning prayer together at 5:15 a.m., the sisters pour their faith into every small detail of their lives. After the morning prayer, they spend time meditating before the day’s Mass at 7:00 a.m. After Mass, they return to their rooms to make their beds.
The bell rings for breakfast, which is usually taken together in silence, save for Sundays. After the meal, the sisters then gather in the choir area again for a midmorning prayer. Then there is lunch and a mid-afternoon prayer, followed by one hour of free time. At 3:00 p.m. they gather for the “Chaplet of Divine Mercy,” a four-part prayer, and at 3:15 p.m., there is a coffee break.
Evening prayer with the people starts at 5:00 p.m., followed by supper at 6:30 p.m., and recreation time together for an hour after supper. 8:00 p.m. marks the nighttime prayer and lights out is at 9:45 p.m. When there is time between prayer, the sisters work in various roles at the convent, whether it is answering the phone or emails in the office, or visiting with high school students who have come to meet them and learn about their life. They do not go out into the community to perform active service as most nuns do, but instead give their service to people through prayer.
Though they don’t say much during their days devoted to God and the Holy Spirit, their bright, striking garments speak volumes about their deep love for the Church and their dedication to healing others through its teachings. As Sister Mary Amatrix says, “Indeed, every distress and hardship in the world finds a vigorous response in our prayer.”
This article was originally published here.
