Laying 'Good Strong Foundations

The two formal stages of training, the postulancy and the novitiate, prepared women for the spiritual, vocational and communal aspects of religious life. Novitiate training in church history, doctrine and theology as well as her formal vocational training indicated that the novice was meant to be an educated and effective evangeliser of her faith. Ritual was an important part of convent life, especially as women moved from lay to religious life. Ceremonies, processions and devotions were rich in symbolism and emphasised the sacredness of the life being entered into. It was through the successful negotiation of the postulancy and novitiate that Catholic women religious demonstrated their power, although paradoxically it was obedience and docility that formed the basis of this power

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