Please view: page display, two sided.
This book is full of incredible images and stories! You will want to go back to it over and over. Please enjoy the majesty of Our Lady of Guadalupe!
Our Lady of Guadalupe testifies
that her love persists beyond this life.
Flowers represent the beauty and vibrancy
of her message.
1195 – 1231
“Saint Anthony, please come around, there’s something lost that must be found.”
Doctor of the Church
Feast Day: June 13
Patron of: Lisbon, Portugal, Padua, amputees, barren women, domestic animals, draftees, oppressed people, orphans, paupers, the poor, pregnant women, prisoners, sailors
Invoked for: finding a husband, finding lost articles
Invoked against: debt, shipwreck, starvation
Symbols: baby Jesus, book of Gospels, lily
Wonder and miracles are infused with every story of Saint Anthony. Though he has been dead for almost 800 years, he is still the most popular saint in the world and his statue is found in every Catholic Church. Saint Anthony is best known as the patron saint of lost articles but he is invoked for help in all life situations. In his own day he was called the “Wonder Worker’ and credited with the ability to stop the rain, raise the dead and reattach severed limbs. He was such a charismatic preacher that when a crowd of heretics in Rimini refused to listen to his preaching, the fish raised themselves out of the water to hear him.
Born Fernando de Bulhes in Lisbon, Portugal, he disappointed his noble family by rejecting his luxurious life and joining the Augustinian religious order. A scholar by nature, he read every book in the monastery, devoting his time to contemplative prayer. Eventually, he befriended a group of itinerant Franciscan monks and became fascinated with this new religious order. Much impressed by their dedication to simplicity, poverty and their belief in returning to the original words of Christ, he joined their ranks, changing his name to Anthony in honor of Saint Anthony of the Desert, the patron of their little church. Returning home from a failed missionary venture in Morocco, his ship was blown off course and he wound up in Messina, Sicily. A group of Franciscan friars insisted he go north with them for a great gathering of all Franciscans, with their founder Francis of Assisi.
Anthony remained in Italy and discovered his great gift of preaching when a superior ordered him to speak at an ordination, telling him to say whatever the holy spirit had infused into him. He astonished his audience, not only by his skills as an orator but by the depth of his knowledge. He was sent throughout northern Italy and southern France on evangelical preaching missions which gathered crowds in the tens of thousands. His popularity among the people increased as he used his position to get real changes enacted for their protection. While based in Padua, he observed the crushing power of debt upon the common people. At Anthony’s insistence, the local municipality enacted a law protecting those who could not pay their debts that is still enforced today.
Anthony exhausted himself preaching out in fields and in piazzas as there was not cathedral large enough to hold all who came to hear him. At the age of thirty six, his health began to fail him and a local Count donated a woodland retreat for his recovery. One morning the Count heard the sounds of a baby giggling and he looked out to see Anthony surrounded in light, playing with the baby Jesus. That Christ would choose to appear to one of his saints in such a vulnerable state is a testament to the loving and kind nature of Saint Anthony. Because he is depicted holding a baby, women having trouble conceiving invoke his aid. Being of Portuguese descent, Anthony’s feast day is very auspicious for marriages in Portugal and Brazil and in those cultures, he is known to assist women seeking a husband.
According to legend, Saint Anthony earned the title patron saint of lost articles when a novice borrowed his psalter and failed to return it. Saint Anthony prayed to get it back and the novice was visited by terrifying visions that sent him running back to Anthony with the book. In iconography, Anthony always holds the baby Jesus and a lily for purity. Many times the returned book of the gospels is included.
Novena to Saint Anthony of Padua
Holy Saint Anthony, gentle and powerful in your help, Your love for God and charity for His creatures, made you worthy when on earth, to possess miraculous powers. Miracles waited on your word, which you were always ready to request for those in trouble or anxiety. Encouraged by this thought, I implore you to obtain for me (mention your request here). The answer to my prayer may require a miracle. Even so, you are the saint of miracles. Gentle and loving Saint Anthony, whose heart is ever full of human sympathy, take my petition to the Infant Savior for whom you have such a great love, and the gratitude of my heart will be ever yours.
Amen
It is customary to donate to Saint Anthony’s Bread, a charity started in Saint Anthony’s lifetime, in gratitude to answer novena prayers.
St. Anthony is one of 36 saints you can learn about and pray with on novena app.
Find on the Apple Store
On June 13, Catholics honor the memory of the Franciscan priest St. Anthony of Padua. Although he is popularly invoked today by those who have trouble finding lost objects, he was known in his own day as the “Hammer of Heretics” due to the powerful witness of his life and preaching.
The saint known to the Church as Anthony of Padua was not born in the Italian city of Padua, nor was he originally named Anthony. He was born as Ferdinand in Lisbon, Portugal during 1195, the son of an army officer named Martin and a virtuous woman named Mary. They had Ferdinand educated by a group of priests, and the young man made his own decision to enter religious life at age 15.
Ferdinand initially lived in a monastery of the Augustinian order outside of Lisbon. But he disliked the distraction of constant visits from his friends, and moved to a more remote house of the same order. There, he concentrated on reading the Bible and the Church Fathers, while living a life of asceticism and heartfelt devotion to God.
Eight years later, in 1220, Ferdinand learned the news about five Franciscan friars who had recently died for their faith in Morocco. When their bodies were brought to Portugal for veneration, Ferdinand developed a passionate desire to imitate their commitment to the Gospel. When a group of Franciscans visited his monastery, Ferdinand told them he wanted to adopt their poor and humble way of life.
Some of the Augustinian monks criticized and mocked Ferdinand’s interest in the Franciscans, which had been established only recently, in 1209. But prayer confirmed his desire to follow the example of St. Francis, who was still living at the time.
He eventually obtained permission to leave the Augustinians and join a small Franciscan monastery in 1221. At that time he took the name Anthony, after the fourth-century desert monk St. Anthony of Egypt.
Anthony wanted to imitate the Franciscan martyrs who had died trying to convert the Muslims of Morocco. He traveled on a ship to Africa for this purpose, but became seriously ill and could not carry out his intention. The ship that was supposed to take him to Spain for treatment was blown off course, and ended up in Italy.
Through this series of mishaps, Anthony ended up near Assisi, where St. Francis was holding a major meeting for the members of his order. Despite his poor health, Anthony resolved to stay in Italy in order to be closer to St. Francis himself. He deliberately concealed his deep knowledge of theology and Scripture, and offered to serve in the kitchen among the brothers.
At the time, no one realized that the future “Hammer of Heretics” was anything other than a kitchen assistant and obedient Franciscan priest. Around 1224, however, Anthony was forced to deliver an improvised speech before an assembly of Dominicans and Franciscans, none of whom had prepared any remarks.
His eloquence stunned the crowd, and St. Francis himself soon learned what kind of man the dishwashing priest really was. In 1224 he gave Anthony permission to teach theology in the Franciscan order – “provided, however, that as the Rule prescribes, the spirit of prayer and devotion may not be extinguished.”
Anthony taught theology in several French and Italian cities, while strictly following his Franciscan vows and preaching regularly to the people. Later, he dedicated himself entirely to the work of preaching as a missionary in France, Italy and Spain, teaching an authentic love for God to many people – whether peasants or princes – who had fallen away from Catholic faith and morality.
Known for his bold preaching and austere lifestyle, Anthony also had a reputation as a worker of miracles, which often came about in the course of his disputes with heretics.
His biographers mention a horse, which refused to eat for three days, and accepted food only after it had placed itself in adoration before the Eucharist that Anthony brought in his hands. Another miracle involved a poisoned meal, which Anthony ate without any harm after making the sign of the Cross over it. And a final often recounted miracle of St. Anthony’s involved a group of fish, who rose out of the sea to hear his preaching when heretical residents of a city refused to listen.
After Lent in 1231, Anthony’s health was in decline. Following the example of his patron – the earlier St. Anthony, who had lived as a hermit – he retreated to a remote location, taking two companions to help him. When his worsening health forced him to be carried back to the Franciscan monastery in Padua, crowds of people converged on the group in hopes of paying their homage to the holy priest.
The commotion surrounding his transport forced his attendants to stop short of their destination. After receiving the last rites, Anthony prayed the Church’s seven traditional penitential psalms, sung a hymn to the Virgin Mary, and died on June 13 at the age of 36.
St. Anthony’s well-established holiness, combined with the many miracles he had worked during his lifetime, moved Pope Gregory IX – who knew the saint personally – to canonize him one year after his death.
“St. Anthony, residing now in heaven, is honored on earth by many miracles daily seen at his tomb, of which we are certified by authentic writings,” proclaimed the 13th-century Pope.
A poem celebrating devotion to St. Anthony
a barefoot contessa walking down Mulberry Street
wearing the robe of Saint Anthony
the brown of the robe, two shades darker then her brown sicilian skin
a white thick rope around her waist, knotted at the end,
a rosary draped around her hands, the cross hanging at the end
she was one of many, in this sea of brown,
lips moving with silent prayers
and how they formed me
she had green eyes, what visions were forming?
and how they formed me
in silence, not a word spoken
her stories were ancient, stone slabs and sand
celebrating with two lilies in a vase, a reminder
and how they formed me
she was unlike her sisters, they had voices, loud voices
my mother, my aunt, my other aunt
they had modern stories, cigarettes and cat-eye glasses
dresses made to order, nightclubs and frank sinatra
husbands that stayed out all night
and how they formed me
these are my memories along with my dreams
celebrating with two lilies
lots of laughter
and how they formed me
copyright:dipasqua
The Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (also known as “Trappists”) is a Roman Catholic contemplative religious order, consisting of monasteries of monks and monasteries of nuns. We are part of the larger Cistercian family which traces its origin to 1098. As Cistercians we follow the Rule of St Benedict, and so are part of the Benedictine family as well. Our lives are dedicated to seeking union with God, through Jesus Christ, in a community of sisters or brothers.
Jesus in the desert
The concept of monasticism is ancient and is found in many religions and philosophies. In the centuries immediately before Christ, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism all developed alternative styles of life which involved renouncing the world in some ways, in order to seek liberation or purification or union with God, sometimes as a solitary ascetic, sometimes in community.
Early Christian monasticism drew its inspiration from the examples of the Prophet Elijah and John the Baptist, who both lived alone in the desert, and above all from the story of Jesus’ time in solitary struggle with Satan in the desert, before his public ministry. Beginning with the Exodus and all through the Old Testament times, the desert was regarded as a place of spiritual renewal and a return to God. Although there were ascetics, especially women ascetics, among the first generations of Christians, they generally lived in the towns and cities.
St John the Baptist
St. Anthony the Great (ca. 251-356) was the first well-known Christian to withdraw to the desert. According to the Life of Anthony written by St Athanasius in the mid fourth century, Anthony retreated to the wastelands of Egypt to lead an intensely ascetic life with the sole purpose of pursuing God in solitary prayer. He remained alone until his holiness and evident wholesomeness attracted a growing circle of followers. So deep was his influence that he is considered the father, not only of the movement of Desert Fathers and Mothers of fourth – fifth century Egypt, but also the father of the entire Christian monastic family.
St Anthony
While the earliest Desert Fathers lived as hermits, they were rarely completely isolated, but often lived in proximity to one another, and soon loose-knit communities began to form in such places as the Desert of Nitria and the Desert of Skete. The progression from hermit (“anchorite”) to monk (“cenobite”) living in community under one abbot, came quickly, when in 346 St Pachomius established in Egypt the first cenobitic Christian monastery.
Mary of Egypt
The Eastern monastic teachings were brought to the western church by Saint John Cassian (ca. 360 – ca. 435). As a young adult, he and his friend Germanus entered a monastery in Palestine but then journeyed to Egypt to visit the eremitic groups in Nitria. Many years later, Cassian founded a monastery of monks and probably also one of nuns near Marseilles, and partly to counter what he felt were the abuses he found in Western monasticism, he wrote two long works, the Institutes and Conferences. In these books he not only transmitted his Egyptian experience (they are perhaps the oldest written record of the thought of the Desert Fathers), but he also gave Christian monasticism a profound evangelical and theological basis.
Cassian’s influence was enormous and lasted for centuries – even the smallest monastic library in Europe’s Dark Ages would have its copy of Cassian. Furthermore, St. Benedict incorporated Cassian’s thought into his monastic Rule, and recommended that his monks read Cassian’s works. Since the Rule of St Benedict is still used by Benedictine, Cistercian, and Trappist monastics, the thought of John Cassian, and the desert tradition behind him, still guides the spiritual lives of thousands of men and women in the Catholic Church.
The fear of the Lord is our cross. Just as someone who is crucified no longer has the power of moving or turning his limbs in any direction as he pleases, so we also ought to fasten our wishes and desires, not in accordance with what is pleasant and delightful to us now, but in accordance with the law of the Lord, where it hems us in. Being fastened to the wood of the cross means: no longer considering things present; not thinking about one’s preferences; not being disturbed by anxiety and care for the future; not being aroused by any desire to possess, nor inflamed by any pride or strife or rivalry; not grieving at present injuries, and not calling past injuries to mind; and while still breathing and in the present body, considering oneself dead to all earthly things, and sending the thoughts of one’s heart on ahead to that place where, one does not doubt, one will soon arrive…
John Cassian, Institutes, Book IV ch.35
https://ocso.org
One person on earth for one forgotten soul in purgatory!
Lets remember!
O merciful God, take pity on those souls who have no particular friends and intercessors to recommend them to Thee, who, either through the negligence of those that are alive, or through length of time are forgotten by their friends and by all.
Spare them, O Lord, and remember Thine own mercy, when others forget to appeal to it. Let not the souls which Thou has created be parted from Thee, their Creator. They are Thy work, and though they have sinned, they have been redeemed by Thee.
Vouchsafe, therefore, to look upon them and to deliver them from the intolerable pain of absence from Thee; the light and love of all Thy creatures. Oh! place them in the number of Thy blessed Saints and citizens through Jesus Christ their Savior. Amen.
In this fascinating, candid interview, Sister Mary Catharine, OP, takes Regina Magazine on an intimate journey through the life of a thriving cloistered community of Dominican nuns.
Our Monastery of our Lady of the Rosary is in Summit, New Jersey, a bedroom community of New York City and a quick 52 minute train ride from the city.
Summit is a very Catholic city with a small town feel. We began our monastery 94 years ago in 1919. Summit was considered a healthy place to live away from New York. It was touted as the “Denver of the East” for its high altitude!
The Nuns of the Order of Preachers were founded by St. Dominic and his bishop, Bishop Diego in 1206, ten years before the friars. So, we are their elder sisters!
Actually, St. Dominic never planned to found anything. Stunned by the Albigensian heresy rampant in southern France he began preaching to bring the people back to the truth.
The Albigensian hersey was based on a dualist god: the god of spirit (the “good” god) and the god matter (the “evil” god). Because of their austere way of life the heretics attracted many people. Converting these people back to the Catholic Faith was not easy.
A group of women, used to living the austere life of the heretics, converted to the Faith through the preaching of St. Dominic. A man of great compassion, St. Dominic saw that he now needed to take care of their physical needs.
Many of these women were disowned by their heretic families and had no place to live. So, he gathered them together at a little abandoned church, Notre Dame du Prouilhe and gave them a habit, rule of life, etc. They were desperately poor and St. Dominic would beg for them.
From the very beginning these first moniales were associated with the Order through their prayer and penance. In fact, the first monastery itself was called “the Holy Preaching” which is a powerful testimony to the witness of monastic-cloistered life.
The early nuns were called the Sister Preacheresses although they were cloistered and never went out to preach! The vocation of a Nun of the Order of Preachers is unique because we are fully monastic and contemplative but part of an evangelical and apostolic Order. One has to have a deeply apostolic heart yet find its expression not in the apostolate but in a life of hidden prayer.
For the first 10 years St. Dominic preached almost entirely alone in southern France. He had companions for a while but then they left. I’m sure he received great comfort in having the monastery as his “home base.”
St. Dominic would preach all day and pray all night. We know from the testimonies of the early friars that he wasn’t a quiet person when he prayed! He would groan and shed copious tears. He would cry out, “O Lord, what will become of sinners!”
His life of prayer and preaching is lived out in the Order by the Friars and Nuns in a complementary way: the friars go out to preach while the nuns carry within the innermost sanctuary of their compassion all sinners, the downtrodden and the afflicted. Like Esther, they go before the King pleading for the salvation of all. Like Moses, they raise their arms in prayer while the battle rages below.
What is commonly not known is that the friars and the nuns are united not just spiritually but juridically through our profession of obedience to the Master of the Order. Together we form the Order of Preachers. We have distinct but complimentary ways of expressing the Order’s mission to “preach for the salvation of souls”.
To answer this question fully would take several books and at the same time it can’t really be expressed!
I think the first word that comes to mind is JOY. Not that there aren’t hardships as in any vocation but through it all there is a deep abiding joy because I am totally consecrated to God to love and praise Him. The contemplative vocation is a gift beyond words and one for which I will be thanking God for all eternity!
For Dominican contemplative nuns the Word of God is primary. Our constitutions state that the monastery is to be a place where “the Word of God can dwell abundantly in the monastery.”
So, first we ponder the word through lectio divina and through theological study, we sing Mass and the entire Divine Office; we listen to God’s Word as it is expressed through our sisters.
Our manner of government is ordered so that our fraternal life can be “one mind and heart in God”. This means we come together as a chapter to discuss things so we can make a decision that is truly centered in God and not just what I want. This isn’t always easy. It requires that we listen to our sisters and that we be willing to be changed. We have to allow grace to be operative in us. The goal is not majority rule but consensus.
Our life is intensely liturgical. Holy Mass and the Office shape our day. Everything else is fitted in around it. So, with liturgical prayer, private prayer and our privileged hours of the “adoring Rosary, which is praying the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the monstrance we have about 5 to 6 hours of prayer each day.
Our work is simple, like that of Our Lady at Nazareth. We do the cooking, cleaning, sacristy, laundry, answer the mail, pay the bills, the garden, soap department, etc. Young women are always surprised at how full our days are. You go to bed tired at night!
During recreation times we like to just be together to talk, play games, go for a walk. There is a lot of laughter. Someone once said that our recreations are “high energy!”
The cloister frees us immensely! One of the biggest fears in those discerning a contemplative vocation is that the cloister is seen as squashing freedom but it is just the opposite.
The cloister broadens us. It frees us from so many cares and concerns, even something as simple as not minding a stain on my scapular! This freedom isn’t from things so much as for something, really for Someone!
The enclosure is the ‘Garden Enclosed’ of the Song of Songs. Our life is entirely centered on Christ our Spouse alone. Papal enclosure is a great gift of the Church that allows us to live our contemplative life well.
When I have to leave the enclosure for something necessary I am always so glad to be back. The world is so noisy, both audibly and visually. I really don’t understand how people stay sane!
I entered long after the upheavals of the 60’s but I have never heard either the nuns or the friars even question whether we should give up the habit. The habit is our Blessed Mother’s gift to us and we treasure it dearly.
Actually Dominicans consider only the scapular as the habit and is the only part blessed. Well, the cloistered nuns also have their veil blessed during a beautiful part of the Solemn Profession rite called the Blessing and Imposition of the Veil. The veil is blessed and then the prioress solemnly veils the newly professed. It’s very beautiful.
Every nun in the world wears the habit! There might be slight variations of hem height, sleeve width, veil style but we all wear the habit. Get a group of nuns together at a meeting and eventually we’ll be asking each other the important question: “Where do you get your fabric from?” The habit is a non-issue.
I think our Order’s stability comes first from a tremendous gift of God. We are nearly 800 years old and we have never had a division. We’ve come close but it hasn’t happened. There is only one Order of Preachers. One constitution for the friars: one constitution for the nuns.
Do you realize what a gift of God’s love this is? In his address to the Poor Clare nuns at Assisi, Pope Francis emphasized that the devil wants to destroy a community by causing division. The Order of Preachers from the very beginning has had a great devotion to our Lady and I think it is her protection that has kept us united.
Although St. Dominic died just five years after the Order was founded he left us with such a remarkable charism and form of government that it has shaped the Order these 800 years. Our manner of government is crucial to our stability. And most of all the preaching mission of the Order is perennial for each generation and time. One of the wonderful things about being such an old Order is that we’ve made every mistake in the book but we trust in God’s mercy and that of our sisters and brothers.
In the past eight years we’ve had twelve postulants enter and seven have persevered so far. This is such a blessing. Our young sisters come from several countries and all over the USA. Each sister is so different!
Our Sr. Mary Magdalene of the Immaculate Conception, O.P. is a native of Kansas and in college was part of the party scene. One night she lay in bed and realized that if she continued along this path she would die. It was a moment of grace when she says she was given the opportunity to choose. Gradually, she began attending Mass at the Newman Center at college that had a holy and dynamic priest.
One day she told him she thought she had a religious vocation; an idea that terrified her. At his suggestion she visited a Carmelite monastery nearby to experience cloistered life which she didn’t even know existed. At the end of her weekend she said, “These nuns are crazy and I think I might be as crazy as they are!”
She began a 54 day rosary novena and made the total consecration to Our Lady according to St. Louis de Monfort which was a source of great grace as well. She wrote to many monasteries and became attracted to the Dominican charism. About the same time the Newman Center at college received the total 10 tickets for the state of Kansas for the Papal Mass of Pope Emeritus Benedict at Yankee Stadium, NYC. This was in 2008. Because this was considered the official Mass of the Holy Father’s visit to the United States every diocese in the country received a certain number of tickets. As you can imagine the further west, the fewer tickets!
She wrote to our monastery asking if she could visit and in her less than 24 hour visit and on the 57th Day of her Rosary Novena she knew that this was the place God was calling her. She is now preparing for Solemn Profession next year.
We are mendicant and dependent on Divine Providence. God always provides and we have many wonderful friends and benefactors. Whenever there is a needed repair the Lord provides with unexpected resources and it can be done! God is so good to His spouses!
We also have a small business selling the soaps, creams, lip balms, room sprays, candles, woodcraft we make and books we publish. Mostly this is through the internet and the monastery’s tiny gift shop although we have some wholesale customers as well, mostly Catholic gift shops, retreat centers, etc.
We have a guild of about 70 volunteers who help us by serving as receptionist, drivers, etc. and every year we make a little Christmas gift for them. For some reason, lost in time, it’s the novice mistress’s responsibility to take care of this and someone suggested soap to me. Seven years ago, one Sunday afternoon in August I spent time searching the internet about how to make soap and learned a lot!
At about the same time our daily offerings were really down—sometimes receiving no more than $5 a day—and we had just received 4 postulants so our healthcare insurance really went up! We began selling our soap in the gift shop. We were going to have only 5 varieties. That lasted about 6 weeks. We now make hand crème and lip balms using our own formula, room sprays and now candles.
We are a relatively young community. I think our average age is about 47, so that means we have a large healthcare insurance expense. Since, unlike the active sisters, we don’t teach or bring in a paycheck, the small income from our Seignadou Soaps has proved to be very helpful toward meeting those costs.
Right now the novitiate sisters are assigned the work of the soap room. When a postulant enters she gradually learns all aspects of it. Although there may be sisters who are more “expert” than others, tomorrow another may be given the assignment of learning the craft while the “expert” is assigned to another job in the monastery.
It works out well because the soap room is only busy at certain times of the year. The sisters in the novitiate have formation classes and that is the priority.
People from all walks of life come to our chapel. The doors are open from 6AM, when we pray Lauds, until about 7PM at night and everyone is welcome. All day people come to be with our Lord. Some are regulars who come daily and spend hours. We have several “rosary groups” who use our chapel on certain days. For example, we have mother-daughter group that prays the Rosary every 1st Thursday of the month. Other groups schedule a time to visit our chapel.
Some people come to our monastery to purchase our Seignadou Soap products and find that we have a chapel open all day long. Amazed, they ask, “You mean I can come and pray here?” We never thought of soap as a means of evangelization!
We’re not only a monastery but a shrine, the first shrine in the USA to our Lady of the Rosary. But we’re not a touristy type shrine. The focus is on spending time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, which is exposed every day and three nights a week.
We also have a replica of the Shroud of Turin that dates back to 1624. It was commissioned by the Duchess Maria Magdalena, the wife of Cosmo di Medici. It was laid on the real Shroud and the story goes that the stain on our shroud copy appeared when it was lifted up from the Shroud.
In 1988 a team of scientists did a “dry run” on our shroud copy in preparation for their testing on the real Shroud and they did some tests of the side wound stain on our copy. They said that the DNA was the same on both. Our shroud copy in our chapel is the source of much devotion for many people who visit and that is even more important.
Our liturgy draws people to our monastery. It’s not unusual for someone to call up to ask the times for when “the nuns do the singing”. Often someone else has told them about the beauty of our chant.
We have a dear friend who is Jewish and an artist. One evening she was worried about some family problems. She decided to visit the chapel on the advice of a Catholic friend. She heard us singing Vespers behind the grille and was so taken by the beauty of the chanting that she contacted us and eventually did a trilogy of books featuring the monastery as seen through her artwork.
Often, at Rosary and Sext at 11:30 PM or Office of Readings and None at 3:00 PM, it’s not unusual to see 10-15 people in the extern chapel. We’re happy they join us for the Office as we believe that this is the most important gift we can give to people—the opportunity to simply BE with Jesus who is here for us 24/7!
Our monastery is situated on a hill in a city called Summit. Like our father, St. Dominic we are meant to radiate the light of Christ. Not in words but in with our life. Eight hundred years later, we are still Sister Preacheresses, still a Holy Preaching!
From Regina Magazine, November 24, 2013Previous
The mysterious world of being a Poor Clare. Contemplative nuns who live a life of prayer, community and joy.
The first thing you need to know is that a Poor Clare is a nun – meaning that she lives in one monastery (usually) for her whole life. She takes solemn vows that can only be dispensed by Rome. BUT the second thing you have to know – is that a Poor Clare Nun is not a Benedictine, Dominican, Visitation or Carmelite nun. She is a Poor Clare nun.There is a world of difference between these other beautiful orders and Poor Clares. NO, not all nuns are alike.
Each Poor Clare community is autonomous. Not all Poor Clares dress alike, work alike or keep the same daily schedule. If you go from monastery to monastery you will feel the spirit of Joy and Communal gifting of each other – you will experience the warm bond of Joy, Simplicity and happiness of being a Franciscan. BUT you will always notice a difference and know you are in a different monastery. Poor Clares Monasteries are individual and unique as is each sister in them. So please… in your journey of exploring the joyful world of Poor Clares – there is no “template” for what a Poor Clare should look like, sound like and be like. Because there are no two alike.. and that is how the Holy Spirit works.
The Poor Clare Sisters number over 20,000 sisters throughout the world in 16 federations and in over 70 countries. Most monasteries have from four to thirteen members. Some have larger communities but the Poor Clare charism is one of family and St. Clare guided us that small communites were much better to keep this family spirit than larger ones. So when a community gets to a certain number we usually start new ones rather than just keep getting bigger. Just one of the differences you will see as you walk with us.
Blessings of Peace and All Good
http://poorclare.org/blog/?page_id=36
From Italy to the United States
Countess Anna Bentivoglio was a climber! From the age of five when she climbed onto a ledge in great St. Peter’s in Rome (to the horror of Count and Lady Bentivoglio!), to later life. This was the aim of her life – to climb – she would do so physically and spiritually.
Her yearning for religious life began when she followed her sister, Constance, into the Poor Clares. She longed for more austerity and asked for special penances. Then Pope Pius IX commissioned the two Bentivoglio sisters – Mother Magdalen and her sister Constance – to go to America. They first moved to Marseilles, France, were incorporated into the Poor Clares of the Primitive Rule, then on to the “New World”, arriving on Columbus Day, October 12, 1875. The first established monastery of the Order of Saint Clare was in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1878.
Following her example, today’s Poor Clares endeavor to follow this spiritual climber as they live out their daily life in simplicity and joy.
Our life is structured around an horarium, a rhythm of prayer throughout the day. The specific times of prayer are marked by the ringing of the bells, which symbolize the voice of God calling us to prayer. The Divine Office (also known as the Liturgy of the Hours), the Mass and the Eucharistic Adoration are the main framework around which our life of prayer revolves. It also includes manual labor, duties and community recreation which give balance to our times of prayer. In this rhythmic exchange of prayer, labor, and rest, we are liberated from the distractions of the world, free to dedicate our entire selves to living the Eucharistic Mystery.
We daily devote ourselves wholly to God alone:
This is our cherished gift and call from our gracious God for which we are deeply grateful.
5:15 AM
Wake up—Rise and Shine!
6:00 AM
Meditation
6:30 AM
Morning Prayer followed by Mid-Morning Prayer
Breakfast
Work
9:00 AM
The Holy Sacrifice of Mass—Prayer of Thanksgiving is made privately
Office of Readings—On Sundays we move this to 11:30 and combine it with Mid-Day Prayer
10:15 AM
Work for fully Professed Sisters
Class and/or Work for Formation Sisters
11:45 AM
Mid-Day Prayer
12:00 PM
Dinner in Silence followed by dishes
Recreation at table on Sundays and Thursdays
Free time or Work
3:00 PM
Mid-Afternoon Prayer followed by Divine Mercy Chaplet Work for fully Professed Sisters
Class and/or Work for Formation Sisters
4:30 PM
Evening Prayer followed by Communal Rosary—this becomes our Holy Hour for vocations for our Monastery on Fridays throughout the year and on Sundays in Lent and Advent
5:30-6:45 pm
Supper in Silence followed by Dishes with Community
Recreation on Mondays and Tuesdays
Ongoing Formation for the solemnly Professed Sisters on Thursdays; Otherwise directly to Night Prayer
6:45 pm
Night Prayer followed by personal time. On Sundays we have an optional movie recreation following this
On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have our nocturnal adoration
9:30 pm
Be in your rooms
10:00 pm
Grand Silence and lights out—Good night sleepyheads!
*Each Sister is privileged to have one hour of adoration a day, an hour of nocturnal adoration twice a week, and adoration during a meal time each week.
St. Benedict featured in the book!
Traditionally, AD 529 is considered to be the year in which St Benedict founded the monastery at Montecassino. He died and was buried there around 547. Some decades later, the monastery was destroyed and not rebuilt for a long time. The monastic community and the living tradition of Benedict seemed to have disappeared.
However, copies of his Rule survived in Roman libraries. Around 594 Pope St Gregory the Great praised this Rule and its author, increasing the popularity of both. Next, the Rule is found in some monasteries in Southern Gaul (modern France) and elsewhere, normally used by the abbot together with rules written by other monastic fathers to help him to guide the community. In the early 8th century, monks from England proudly proclaim that they follow only the Rule of Benedict – the first genuine „Benedictines“. They popularize this rule further through their mission in continental Europe and eventually in 816/17 an important synod declares Benedict’s Rule binding for all monks. Throughout the Carolingian empire which covers modern France, Belgium, Holland Switzerland, Germany, parts of Italy and Austria, hundreds of monasteries of monks and nuns come now under the Rule of Benedict. Simultaneously, the observance of these monasteries is unified, even in areas where the Rule left details to the discretion of the abbot. In the Latin West, religious life is now mostly Benedictine. The monasteries become important centers of religious life, but also of political administration, of economic development and of learning, both theological and secular. Books are written and copied in the scriptoria (writing rooms) of the monasteries, and abbey schools train the clergy and the ruling elite. The monks dedicate themselves mainly to liturgical prayer, whose amount gradually increases. The monasteries own farms and sometimes whole villages, whose peasants sustain the monks with part of their produce. In the ninth century the papacy starts to protect some monasteries from the interference of noblemen and local bishops. Cluny in Burgundy, founded in 910, eventually establishes a huge family of monasteries under one abbot. In the 12th century several hundred houses belonged to it.
The wealth and social role of the monasteries attracts also criticism, and several reform movements try to return to simpler ways of life and a more original understanding of Benedict’s rule. The Cistercians have the greatest impact. Within a short period several hundred monasteries of „white monks“ are founded, established as a clearly defined order with an efficient organization that balances unifying elements like the general chapter of all abbots and clear common principles with local autonomy and supervision through visitations.
In 1215 and in 1336 the papacy attempts to give a similar structure to the remaining „black“ Benedictines, initially with little success. Meanwhile, life in Europe has shifted from the countryside to cities. Newer orders like the Franciscans and the Dominicans respond to the spiritual and intellectual desires of city dwellers. While Benedictines continue to be found all over Europe, they are no longer the main protagonists of religious life.
From the 15th century onwards, monasteries try to protect themselves from the interference of secular or ecclesiastical lords by forming congregations. The most influential of these is the Congregation of Saint Justina in Italy, later called the Cassinese Congregation. It remains for many centuries a model which other Congregations copy. New forms of personal prayer and meditation are now introduced to the life of the monks, to complement the divine office and lectio. A new emphasis on the personal needs of the individual monk also leads to the introduction of cells, replacing the dormitories in use until then.
The so-called reformation in the 16th century turns against religious and monastic life of any kind. Protestant sovereigns use theological justifications to suppress the monasteries and confiscate their property. Some abbots and monks are killed, others simply retire from monastic life, return to their families or accept parishes. In England, Northern Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia monastic life disappears.
In Catholic countries, however, Benedictine monasticism begins to flourish again. Benedictine abbeys are being rebuilt in the splendid baroque style, and many monasteries become centres of scholarship, culture and education. And for the first time Benedictine life goes beyond Europe when the first abbeys of the New World are established in Brazil.
In the 18th century, new philosophical and political trends threaten monasticism. Faith comes under attack, and monasteries are seen as useless places of superstition and backwardness. In the decades after 1760, more than 95% of the monasteries in Europe are suppressed by governments or destroyed in the course of revolutions and wars. Churches are turned into factories, buildings are used as quarries, land and treasures or confiscated, books destroyed or sent to new national libraries.
But monasticism refuses to die. In the mid-19th century, a romantic rediscovery of medieval Christianity and monastic life takes place. In several countries old monasteries are re-founded or new communities created. Monastic life changes: the communities can no longer depend on rich endowments. The monks now work for their upkeep. The abbots have ceased to be lords and live much closer with their brothers. These monasteries fulfil important roles in the church, running major seminaries and schools, sometimes parishes or foreign missions. Because the Benedictines are still without any central organization, Pope Leo XIII establishes a study house in Rome, and in 1893 creates the Benedictine Confederation with an Abbot Primate at its head. Benedictine scholars rediscover the liturgical life of the early church. They influence the Liturgical Movement which prepares the reforms of the Second Vatican Council:
Most communities start singing in the vernacular, no longer in Latin. And the distinction between priests and brothers disappears. Most monasteries continue to attract Christians who want to spend a quiet time in prayer, who seek spiritual advice or who simply want to live alongside the monks for a few days.
In 2018 the Benedictine Confederation numbers around 7500 monks in 400 monasteries, belonging to 19 different Congregations, with regional differences, particular missions or specific spiritual traditions. Some 13000 nuns and sisters also belong to the order. The Benedictines work closely with the Cistercians and the Trappists, orders which also follow St Benedict’s Rule. This rule has proved to be a guide for countless souls during 15 centuries.
OSB.ORG
OSB DOT ORG
Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta 5
00153 Rome
Italy
EDITOR Br. Richard Oliver OSB
Shortly after the western Roman Empire ended in AD 476 with the capture, forced abdication, and death of the teen-aged Emperor Romulus, another Italian teenager was about to give birth to a different sort of “realm” – a spiritual one.
A youngster named Benedict, born in the city of Nursia in Umbria around AD 480, was sent to Rome for a classical education. He found little in that chaotic place to nurture his growing hunger to know God more intimately, for, in addition to the Empire’s recent ruin, even the Church was divided with various men claiming to be the legitimate Pope.
Benedict shook the dust of Rome off his sandals and headed, like many other seekers of God, into a wilderness place to seek God’s will. Three years of prayerful solitude in a rough cave at Subiaco, southeast of Rome, under the wise guidance of a spiritual father prepared him for his call. The boy had become a hermit.
God’s call often grows and unfolds in our lives, and not always as we would anticipate. Discovered by local shepherds in that desert place, the young hermit interrupted his solitude to answer their request that he teach them the basics of the Christian faith. The hermit had become a teacher.
Other seekers soon flocked to Benedict, asking him to teach them not merely Christian doctrine, but how to live out their Christian lives well. Again, Benedict responded to their request as though it were God’s own voice.
He left his beloved cave and solitude to establish twelve small communities of men wishing to share his life, not as solitary hermits, but as monks living together under his direction and guidance. The shy hermit had himself become a spiritual father (an “Abba” or Abbot).
From that cave, like a spiritual womb, Benedict’s spiritual family grew and spread. First, when Benedict and several of his disciples left Subiaco to establish a single, large community on the mountainous heights overlooking the main Roman highway between Rome and Naples – the famous Abbey of Montecassino.
Like Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rita of Cascia was a wife, mother, widow, and member of a religious community. Her holiness was reflected in each phase of her life.
Born at Roccaporena in central Italy, Rita wanted to become a nun but was pressured at a young age into marrying a harsh and cruel man. During her 18-year marriage, she bore and raised two sons. After her husband was killed in a brawl and her sons had died, Rita tried to join the Augustinian nuns in Cascia. Unsuccessful at first because she was a widow, Rita eventually succeeded.
Over the years, her austerity, prayerfulness, and charity became legendary. When she developed wounds on her forehead, people quickly associated them with the wounds from Christ’s crown of thorns. She meditated frequently on Christ’s passion. Her care for the sick nuns was especially loving. She also counseled lay people who came to her monastery.
Beatified in 1626, Rita was not canonized until 1900. She has acquired the reputation, together with Saint Jude, as a saint of impossible cases. Many people visit her tomb each year.
Like Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rita of Cascia was a wife, mother, widow, and member of a religious community. Her holiness was reflected in each phase of her life.
Born at Roccaporena in central Italy, Rita wanted to become a nun but was pressured at a young age into marrying a harsh and cruel man. During her 18-year marriage, she bore and raised two sons. After her husband was killed in a brawl and her sons had died, Rita tried to join the Augustinian nuns in Cascia. Unsuccessful at first because she was a widow, Rita eventually succeeded.
Over the years, her austerity, prayerfulness, and charity became legendary. When she developed wounds on her forehead, people quickly associated them with the wounds from Christ’s crown of thorns. She meditated frequently on Christ’s passion. Her care for the sick nuns was especially loving. She also counseled lay people who came to her monastery.
Beatified in 1626, Rita was not canonized until 1900. She has acquired the reputation, together with Saint Jude, as a saint of impossible cases. Many people visit her tomb each year.
Reflection
Although we can easily imagine an ideal world in which to live out our baptismal vocation, such a world does not exist. An “If only ….” approach to holiness never quite gets underway, never produces the fruit that God has a right to expect.
Rita became holy because she made choices that reflected her baptism and her growth as a disciple of Jesus. Her overarching, lifelong choice was to cooperate generously with God’s grace, but many small choices were needed to make that happen. Few of those choices were made in ideal circumstances—not even when Rita became an Augustinian nun.
Learn more about St. Rita on Novena app. Available at app store.
In the West, the oldest reference to the cult of Saint Joseph (Ioseph sponsus Mariae) connected with 19 March appears around the year 800 in the north of France. Thereafter, reference to Joseph, the spouse of Mary, becomes more and more frequent from the 9th to the 14th centuries. In the 12th century, the crusaders built a church in his honor at Nazareth. But it was in the 15th century that the cult of Saint Joseph spread due to the influence of Saint Bernadine of Siena, and especially of Jean Gerson (+ 1420), Chancellor of Notre Dame in Paris, who promoted the cause that a feast to Saint Joseph be officially established. There were already some celebrations in Milan in Augustinian circles, and in many places in Germany. It was in 1480, with Pope Sixtus IV’s approval that the feast began to be celebrated on 19 March. It then became obligatory with Pope Gregory XV in 1621. In 1870, Pope Pius IX declared Saint Joseph the Patron of the Universal Church, and Pope Saint John XXIII inserted his name into the Roman Canon of Holy Mass in 1962. More recently, Pope Francis approved seven new invocations in the Litany to Saint Joseph: Guardian of the Redeemer, Servant of Christ, Minister of Salvation, Support in difficulties, Patron of exiles, Patron of the afflicted, and Patron of the poor.
Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer,
Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
To you God entrusted his only Son;
in you Mary placed her trust
with you Christ became man.
Blessed Joseph, to us too,
show yourself a father
and guide us in the path of life.
Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage,
and defend us from every evil. Amen.
Please leave message if you would like a copy of our novena app for iPhone or iPad. History and prayers of 36 saints.
novena.com 