We lives on the outskirts of the novitiate?

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We candidates for the novitiate sae Reverend Mother Abbess only from afar in choir. We were the lowest of the low, living on the outskirts of the novitiate, wearing our black mantillas, waiting with eager anticipation for our reception into the sacred walls of novitiate.
Here I don't quite catch the meaning of "living on the outskirts of the novitiate". What does it mean? Does it means a place to live? Or it is just a metaphor, meaning we may be dismissed any time by the Abbey?
Many thanks!

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@Nancy88,

It's hard to say for sure without more context, but I believe it means that the
residence of the postulants was at the edge of the novitiate grounds.

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@George,

Thank you,George. The whole text is an excerpt from The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. I guess you must have watched the movies named The Sound of Music.
It this part of the novel, the young novitiate was told by a lay sister that the Revernd Mother Abbess wanted to see her. The young novitiate was surprise, and then came the above sentence.
Does that make more sense? Then what is your comprehension of the sentence?

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We lives on the outskirts of the novitiate?

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