Nun’s Badge with the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception

Nicolás Rodríguez Juárez

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pictorial medallions like this one were worn by Conceptionist and Jeronymite nuns in Mexico at the time of their profession and on the occasion of important religious feasts. Worn over the heart, the badge was the visible symbol of the nun’s pact with the Virgin Mary, an act that referenced the Song of Solomon (8:6): "put me as a seal upon thy heart." The wearing of such badges by Mexican nuns was a practice that emerged in response to dress restrictions imposed by ecclesiastical authorities. Instructed to wear images of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception on their habits instead of precious adornments that were condemned as contrary to their vows, some nuns responded by wearing large painted badges, often commissioned from leading artists like Nicolás Rodríguez Juárez.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art