Marie Virginia Noncent

Photograph of woman in white formal clothes with hat, above and below are white text, all on blue patterned background.

Bereavement can take many forms, one of which is celebrating the life of the deceased. This bereavement artifact celebrates the life of Marie Virginia Noncent (1940-2010). She was a wife of a bishop and a member of the First Haitian Church of God in Trenton, New Jersey. 

The tradition of bereavement wearables dates back to 1498 with Anne of Brittany donning black after the death of Charles VIII of France. Queen Victoria of England ordered all her people to wear black while she wore a bereavement button of carved black jet in honor of her deceased husband King Albert in the early 19th century. In 1861, this act is the first depicted mourning button. These traditions created a trend throughout the British Empire still in use today of honoring loved ones through mourning buttons. Today, these items are typically pinback buttons with a photo of the deceased, their birth and death dates, and often a phrase indicating rest in peace.