Hi all!

I called IRL looking for a discussion group centered around people discerning vocations, and I'm really excited to have found the Vocation Station of PhatMass! I saw a thread that someone started, asking about Carmelite monasteries in France. I actually feel the Lord leading me to Italy, and was wondering if anyone knew the following:

Have you ever heard of Monastero San Giuseppe, a Discalced Carmelite monastery in Rome?

Do you know of any Discalced Carmelite monasteries in Italy that are especially vibrant and that receive many new vocations from young people?

Is Carmelite monastic life for women in Italy tending to be more orthodox or liberal---perhaps it just depends on each community? The reason I'm asking, is because someone in the thread about Carmelite life in France wrote in saying that it was more lax there than in America.

Thanks for listening!

God bless,

Margaret

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Hi Margaret! :j Well, I don't know anything about the Carmelites in Italy, but here's a great article on how well religious life is doing in Italy - Nun's the Word. There was a thread on it a few months back, but I can't find it.

There's also the Carthusian Nuns in Italy - Certosa di Vedana & Certosa della Trinita

Some Carthusian sites:

http://www.chartreux.org/

(Click Texts - Photographs, and then Diaporama about Carthusian life - and there's lots of great pictures, besides the other ones of all the houses)

The Charterhouse - A Garden Enclosed


I do hope someone here will know more about the Carmelites in Italy though. All I know on the subject is about St. Teresa Margaret, and that her incorrupt body is in a church in Florence.

God bless you!

~Margaret Clare

I think one of the most famous and active community in Italy is S.Anna monastery in Carpineto Romano, a little town on the hills near rome.
From Carpineto, in the last ten years descended two new communities: Janua Celi monastery (in tuscany), and Mater Carmeli monastery, in northern Italy (Biella, near Turin - remember winter olympics 2006?).
Another famous monastery is Mater Misericordiae (Madre della Misericordia) in Villair de Quart, on the Alps where pope Benedict XVI went for his summer vacations in 2005 & 2006.

If you want more informations in this page (LINK) you can find addresses of all the discalced carmelite monasteries in Italy

I don't know if Carmelite monastic life for women in Italy is more orthodox or liberal than other places;although Italian catholicism is more traditional than in many parts of the world probably, as you said, it just depends on each community.

Hi, Ale,

Oh, wow! Thank you so much for all that great info! Most of what I've been able to find has been from www.google.it, but I never would have found all that you mentioned. I love the cats at Janua Coeli---they're so cute! Pope Benedict XVI actally stayed at Mater Misericordiae? That's so amazing....

I just wish I knew which communities had sisters who spoke English, so that I could write to them. I spoke with a monsignor from CICLSAL (The Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life), and he told me to write to the monastery I mentioned before, Monastero San Giuseppe in Rome. He said that, although the prioress doesn't speak English, some of the sisters do. I guess, until I learn Italian, I'll just have to write in English, and see if they write back in English.

Pax Christi,

Margaret

Here is a listing, some of which have websites...
Monasteri delle monache

And here is a mailing list, but many have websites as well (with some different monasteries)
Discalced monastery listing


God Bless!

No, I've read that in 2007 he will change place, going to "Lorenzago di Cadore" in the Alps beside Venice (Italy).
He will reside there from 9th to 28th of July.



What you said is very relevant; but probably you don't know that every Italian student graduated in high school since the '90s can speak and write in English Language, so I think if you write to a community wich is full of young ladies like Carpineto or Janua Celi, you could easily find an "english-speaking" sister.

Thank you so much for all your help!! I'm assuming that you live in Italy, and it's wonderful to hear the inside information on life there. I looked on the Carpineto website, and I absolutely love it! I especially love the fact that one can test the community out for 10 days to 1 month without officially entering. Is that a common practice in Italian monastic life? I typed all of the FAQs into an online translator, and was (sort of) able to understand what they said.

The community looks so alive and welcoming. The sisters have such a wonderful age range, some are young, some middle-aged, and some elderly---perfect. Also, the monastery, itself, looks beautiful. And what a wonderful view the sisters have from the monastery!

Thanks, also, for the tip on my writing to vibrant communities with young people like Janua Celi and Carpineto.

God bless you!

~Margaret

I think this is kind of obvious....but Margaret are you considering becoming a Sister? lol

I would love to talk to you some time.....so message me and we will talk....I am considering becoming a "Sacred Heart Sister".