Tag Archives: Dominican

Dominican Nuns of the Monastery of the Angels to Merge With Menlo Park Dominicans

RNS photo by Alejandra Molina

Press release:

The Dominican Nuns of the Monastery of the Angels in Los Angeles, CA, have  announced that the Holy See officially approved the suppression of their monastery, and the sisters’ subsequent request to merge with the Dominican Nuns at Corpus Christi Monastery, Menlo Park, CA. The nuns requiring assisted living and skilled care have chosen to reside in the Los Angeles area.

This bitter-sweet announcement formally confirms what had already been reported and comes from the remaining nuns who have devoutly lived a life of work, prayer, and contemplation at the Monastery of the Angels, established in the Hollywood Hills nearly 100 years ago. With this announcement, doors have been opened to explore new works of collaboration that will continue the sisters’ spiritual ministry of prayer. It will be a new outreach to the loving faithful who cherish this peace-filled oasis of holy ground.

The Dominican Order continues to aggressively explore opportunities for preserving the monastery property. Currently, the chapel remains open with daily Mass at 7:00 a.m. Prayer groups will continue their scheduled activities.

“Monastery Goodies” will remain in full operation and is a source of support for the elderly nuns requiring assisted living. Pumpkin Bread and Candy remain available through the monastery Gift Shop or online at MonasteryGoodies.com.

 

St. Catherine of Siena: Messenger of Mercy

Siena Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Catherine of Siena which is particularly significant during this Year of Mercy and 800th Jubilee of the Foundation of the Dominican Order. St. Catherine led an extraordinary life as an advisor to the Holy See, Dominican tertiary, and witness to God’s merciful love.

Catherine Benincasa was born on the feast of the Annunciation in 1347 and quickly grew to have a deep spiritual life first having an apparition of Christ at the young age of 6. After some hesitation from her family, St. Catherine obtained permission to become a Dominican tertiary and experienced a “mystical marriage” with Christ at the age of 21. Following the momentous occasion, she performed works of mercy including visiting the imprisoned whom she hoped would turn to God and nursing the sick even volunteering to care for those afflicted with the most terrible diseases.

St. Catherine soon became renowned throughout Italy for her sanctity and wisdom. During her life, she strove to maintain peace throughout Italy by negotiating peace terms between cities and preaching a crusade in hopes of unifying the Christendom to retake the Holy Land. St. Catherine’s wisdom caused popes to take her counsel as she was influential in convincing Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome and even moved to Rome herself at the request of Pope Urban VI during the Great Schism that occurred in 1378. Her wisdom and profound spiritual insights are also apparent in her writings which led her to be proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI.

8900060944_b1782bb7c7_oThe feast of the renowned Dominican saint corresponds this year with the 8th Triennial General Assembly of the Dominican Sisters International who are currently meeting in Rome to pray, reflect and discuss the future of their preaching mission. The IRL has many Dominican affiliates including the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne who were founded by the youngest child of author Nathaniel Hawthorne, Rose. For more information on affiliate Dominican communities please visit the IRL website.

A Vision & a Dominican Community in the Heart of the South

A beautiful description of the life of a cloistered community of nuns, actually one of the newest IRL Affiliate Communities, can be found in the The Clanton Advertiser (2/27/12).

The Dominican Monastery of St. Jude in Marbury, Alabama, was founded in 1944 after Mother Mary of Jesus, a Dominican sister in Maryland, saw a vision of “a crowd of angry black people with clubs in hand engaged in a violent struggle.” She also saw St. Martin de Porres who “passed among them. The crowd quieted. The clubs were replaced with rosaries. Martin pointed to a monastery on a hill. There she saw Dominican sisters of all races praying with arms outstretched…She felt God was indicating his desire that there should be an interracial community where any young woman who wished to live the cloistered, contemplative life would be welcome.”

The 5 sisters and 1 novice have given their whole lives to God and his people.  May God bless all of the cloistered nuns who pray for us and our world.