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Chapter III: The Severed Braid
The Quiet Ceremony of Renunciation
In the following days, Giuseppina spent most of her time with her older sister, who in a few days would leave her father’s house to become the bride of God. The seamstress had come for the final fittings of the gown. Giuseppina handed her the pins one by one, watching every movement. Her sister remained motionless on a small stool while the white veil fell down her back. In a matter of days, it would be replaced by the brown veil of the Carmelites.
Giuseppina looked at her own hands. They were pale and slender, hands that had never touched the earth. She had heard that in the convent the nuns tended a vegetable garden. For a moment she thought of Giovanni and what life with him might be like, while her sister kept her gaze lowered.
When the long-awaited day arrived, Giuseppina’s house was filled with the scent of fresh flowers and fruit. The family had prepared these offerings for the nuns, along with a substantial sum of money. In her room, the mother helped her daughter dress. The two sisters remained close, in silence, their eyes fixed on the future novice. The girl put on the white dress, her gaze fixed on the crucifix she held in her hands, as if the entire world had been reduced to that small object. Her mother combed her dark hair into a long braid and then settled the white…
