From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Piece of female headwear
Not to be confused with the cornet, which may be the
hennin
or the
lappet
.
A
cornette
is a piece of female headwear. It is essentially a type of
wimple
consisting of a large, starched piece of white cloth that is folded upward in such a way as to create the resemblance of horns (
French
:
cornes
) on the wearer's head. It remained fashionable for some Parisian ladies around 1800,
[1]
wearing ones made of
muslin
or
gauze
and richly ornamented with
lace
.
Use by the Daughters of Charity
[
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]
The cornette was retained as a distinctive piece of clothing into modern times by the
Daughters of Charity
, a
society of apostolic life
founded by St.
Vincent de Paul
in the mid-17th century.
[2]
The founder wanted to have the sisters of this new type of religious congregation of women, that tended to the sick and poor, and were not required to remain in their cloister, resemble ordinary middle-class women as much as possible in their clothing, including the wearing of the cornette.
After the cornette generally fell into disuse, it became a distinctive feature of the Daughters of Charity, making theirs one of the most widely recognized
religious habits
. Because of the cornette, they were known in Ireland as the "butterfly nuns". In the United States, the Daughters of Charity wore wide, white cornettes for 114 years, from 1850 to 1964. With the
Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican
(Vatican II), the nun's habits were modernized to return to a clothing that better reflected their charitable role, working with the poor and infirm.
[3]
In popular culture
[
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]
The 1967 television series
The Flying Nun
features American actress
Sally Field
as Sister Bertrille, who is able to fly due to her light weight and the heavily starched cornette.
[4]
See also
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
edit
]
- Media related to
cornettes
at Wikimedia Commons