More than a dozen cloistered nuns are experiencing their first Easter in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, just six months after relocating their Dominican Monastery of Mary the Queen from Elmira N.Y., to an area of Sacred Heart Convent, the long-time home of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield.
Currently there are 14 cloistered nuns in Springfield, with 12 residing temporarily at the retreat house (Siena Hall) of the Springfield Dominican Sisters and two of the elderly nuns who reside in the sisters' infirmary (Regina Coeli) in Sacred Heart Convent. The nuns are led by their prioress, Sister Miriam Scheel, OP, and by sub-prioress Sister David Marie Beikirch, OP.
Bishop Thomas John Paprocki recently visited with the nuns and said he welcomes them, noting that they are "the only cloistered community of nuns in our diocese."
"Although it has only been six months since we moved to Springfield, we had been engaging the Springfield sisters in conversations about the move for the past two years," says Sister Anna Marie Pierre, OP, who is vocations directress for the nuns. "Our monastery in Elmira was located in the beautiful foot hills of Central New York, but we were isolated from the rest of the Dominican family. We determined that at this time in our history it was essential to relocate and be within close proximity to the sisters and friars and create a new synergy within the Dominican family."
It's important to know that St. Dominic founded the nuns in 1206, says Sister Anna Marie. "As Dominican life spread throughout the world the nuns founded monasteries in all the major countries of the world. For example, our monastery in Elmira was founded in 1944 by eight nuns from the monastery of Buffalo, N.Y."
Some people might naturally wonder about life in a monastery. "As nuns of the Order of Preachers it is above all by our life in community rooted in God's love for us that we become 'a living example of that reconciliation of all things in Christ,'" says Sister Anna Marie, quoting the Constitutions of the Nuns. "Our call to communion involves a constant struggle for reconciliation. Each day we experience our own need, our own weakness, woundedness and sin.
"By striving continually to become a loving communion of persons, one that listens and surrenders to the Spirit of God abiding in our midst, we become that 'word' of reconciliation which our brothers and sisters in the active ministry preach," says Sister Anna Marie. The nuns are united with a unity that "transcends the limits of the monastery and attains its fullness in communion with the Dominican Order and the whole Church of Christ." (Constitutions of the Nuns)
Sister Anna Marie explains that the Eucharist and the Divine Office are at the heart of the nuns' monastic life of study, contemplation, work and the evangelical councils. "Our main focus is prayer," she says. "We chant the full Divine Office seven times daily in our chapel." Praying like this fulfills "what the psalmist has said: 'Seven times a day I will praise Thee.'"
The nuns attend daily Mass with their Springfield sisters at their motherhouse chapel. Since the monastery in Springfield doesn't have "extern nuns" who would ordinarily go out to buy groceries or pick up supplies, the nuns go out into the community to shop and also for doctor and dental appointments. Otherwise, for now they remain at Siena Hall or at Regina Coeli.
When the nuns do purchase a parcel of the Dominican Sisters' 111 acres of land at Jubilee Farm, they will build a monastery and live there. "We were hoping that in two or three years we will be able to build our monastery," Sister Anna Marie says. "However, that dream can only materialize if or when we are able to raise enough funds for the project.
"We are also hoping to attract young women to our Dominican contemplative monastic life and would therefore need to provide them with a monastic environment," she says. "Our plan is to become an oasis in the 'spiritual desert' of the lives of people both young and old who are searching for some experience of God. Our monastery and its environs will be a place of solitude where others can come and share in our daily Eucharistic liturgy, Divine Office, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Lectio Divina."
Sister Anna Marie explains that most of the nuns who are currently in the monastery entered as teenagers. "However, today more and more women enter later in life," she says. "Our monastery's entry age is between 20-39 years old." The nuns sometimes hold "come and see weekends" and invite interested women to attend liturgical prayer with them.
When the future monastery is complete, the nuns also hope to provide accommodations to visitors — although not in their enclosure — allowing them space to experience monastic life as a retreat. "At present, some Springfield sisters run a retreat center for ecology and spirituality at the (Jubilee) farm where they live and garden on a portion of the property with their lamas, alpacas, cats and chickens," she says.
"Right now we are asking for support and prayer as we begin fundraising for the building of our new monastery on Jubilee Farm," Sister Anna Marie concludes, inviting Catholic Times readers and others to visit the website (which at press time was "under construction") www.domsfnuns.org.
Contributions to help the nuns build their new monastery can be sent to: Monastery of Mary the Queen, 1237 West Monroe St., Springfield, IL 62704.