Last winter, we had the pleasure of visiting the Poor Clare Colettine Monastery in Rockford, Illinois, where we enjoyed a nice long visit with Mother Dominica. This recent article in the Rockford Catholic newspaper brought back happy memories of the grill and the incredibly nice, yet inexpensive candles available in their modest gift shop.

On August 11, the Feast Day of St. Clare, Bishop David Malloy celebrated Mass with the nuns and gathered guests. He said that the relationship between St. Francis and St. Clare was a “unique sharing of the gift of grace.”

The bishop said that we can’t talk about Clare without talking about poverty. It warns us against believing that wealth “is of our own doing, of our own making” instead of being a gift from God to be used to live justly, in service to the poor.

He said it was rather intimidating “to talk about Clare in front of the experts.” But after Mass, they gave him a thumbs-up from behind the grill when they said his choice of a particular St. Clare biographer was the best one to draw from for his homily.

The Poor Clares of Corpus Christi Monastery are a vibrant IRL Affiliate Community. They begin their day at 12:30 a.m. (!) when the a sister knocks on each cell door to summon the sisters to prayer. The nuns, clothed in the religious habit adapted for the night, rise in silence like the wise Virgins ready and waiting for the call: “The Bridegroom is here, come out to meet Him!”

If you want to really know what one day in their monastery is like, in detail, visit our website: cloisteredlife.com!!

The Poor Clare Colettine Nuns in Rockford are featured in a new book called: Dedicated to God: An Oral History of Cloistered Nuns. A part of the Oxford Oral History Series, the author Abbie Reese was given permission to spend time over the course of 6 years with the nuns. She wanted to get a first hand glimpse into what goes on behind the mysterious walls.

By the looks of the chapter headings, the story of individual nuns is told. From the excerpts I read, it is a fascinating and frank glimpse into the lives, past and present, of the nuns.

The Poor Clares are an IRL Affiliate Community founded in 1916. According to an article about the book in a Rockford newspaper, there are 22 nuns in the monastery (ranging from age 20 to 81), 50 Poor Clare monasteries in the U.S., and 1,221 monasteries worldwide with a total of 14,000 Poor Clare nuns. Pope John Paul II said that their life “appears as the most radical way of living the Gospel on earth, a way which may be called divine.”

Mother Maria Dominica thought that this unprecedented access was “valuable because it gave flesh to the life.” She said, “We live a hidden life. We’re not used to publicity. But we’re human beings, like everyone else.”