Postulant Enters Novitiate of the Contemplative Nuns of the Order of St. Basil the Great
On February 2, the Feast of the Encounter of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, His Excellency Bishop Paul Chomnycky, OSBM, Eparch of Stamford, celebrated a Divine Liturgy and Basilian monastic Investiture Ceremony at St. Andrew the Apostle Ukrainian Catholic Church in Campbell Hall, NY, at which Postulant Anne Marie Loscocco received the habit of the Contemplative Nuns of the Order of St. Basil the Great.
Concelebrating with Bishop Paul were the Very Rev. Yaroslav Kostyk, Pastor of St. Andrew’s Church, and Rev. John Lundberg of Middletown. Also in attendance were Rev. Robert K. Wilson of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Goshen, NY, and Rev. Robert Moreno, Pastor of Anne Marie’s home parish of St. Basil Ukrainian Catholic Church in Lancaster, NY.
Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great from Philadelphia and New York City joined the Contemplative Nuns in singing the responses for the Divine Liturgy and the Investiture Ceremony. Family members and friends were also among the approximately 50 people who attended.
Candidate Anne Marie Loscocco had entered the Sacred Heart Monastery of the Contemplative Nuns of the Order of St. Basil the Great in Middletown, NY, on the Feast of the Annunciation of the Mother of God, March 25, 2008.
During the Investiture Ceremony, Postulant Anne Marie prostrated on the floor while the Sisters sang the Troparia of St. Basil and St. Macrina, and Kondaks of the Mother of God and the Resurrection. Bishop Paul then questioned Anne Marie about her intentions and blessed the religious garb she was to receive. He gave her the monastic tonsure (cutting the hair in the form of a cross as a token of renunciation of the world), at which time she received the name, Sister Teresa. Bishop Paul then prayed over each item of the religious garb, proclaiming the symbolic meaning of each, before handing it to her: habit (joy and exultation, resisting of temptations), cincture (truth, mortification of the flesh), scapular (incorruptible chastity), cap (helmet of salvation) and veil (humility, obedience), and chotki/rosary (spiritual sword, the word of God).
After Sister Teresa was clothed in the habit, Bishop Paul gave her a candle, admonishing her to be a light to the world by a chaste and virtuous life. This Investiture Ceremony marked Sister Teresa’s entrance into the Novitiate.
Following the Divine Liturgy and Investiture Ceremony, the Pastor of St. Andrew’s, his family and parishioners hosted a reception in the parish hall. Afterwards, friends and family members visited the Contemplative Nuns at Sacred Heart Monastery, and Rev. Robert Moreno celebrated a Panakhyda for Sister Teresa’s parents and for the deceased Nuns of Sacred Heart Monastery.