Sister Orgia’s habit

The order of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence was created by a group of gay activists in San Francisco in 1979, at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. Since then, other convents have opened in the United States, Australia and Europe. In France, the Paris Convent was founded by four “Founding Sisters” on 11 September 1990. Since 19 February 1991, the Convent has been official recognized as a not-for-profit organization. Everywhere they exist, the Sisters vow to help their communities and society as a whole, to fight exclusion, to advocate for peace and non-violence, and to combat AIDS by gathering funds for the ill and for prevention purposes.

Sister Orgia’s habit, in the colours of the Olympique de Marseille football club, expresses the order’s motto, “preach joy”. The Sisters are intentionally visible and provocative in the iconoclastic cross-dressing in theatricalized Catholic nun’s habits. They believe that shock value can make people think, change their practices and reject hatred and guilt.