I have visited the Poor Clare Colettines in Cleveland, OH, twice and have been writing them for the past 4 yrs or so and still am is most beloved order to me where I am discerning between this and another. Their yr old or so website is http://www.poorclarecolettines-cleveland.org/ .

At this link, http://cmykstudios.com/poorclares/index.htm , are 40 or so pictures of these Cleveland PCCs that were taken years ago by a professional photographer for a website back then - but wasn't done.

This is the first monastery of PCCs in the US and they are very traditional and follow strictly the rule written by St. Clare and reformed by St. Colette of Corbie. They go barefoot (except in the garden/outside), have perpetual fast and abstinence, get up at midnight for the Office of Readings and have perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament day and night and exposed in their public chapel after the morning mass til 6-7 pm in the evening.

They are the most joyful, holy, peaceful, warm and loving group of sisters. Their website has more info on them. One of their sisters, who was Abbess once, Sr. Mary St. Paul, PCC wrote a wonderful, beautiful book on St. Clare called "Clothed with Gladness" - which I have and out of all the books I have on St. Clare, this is very special and well written. It is available at Amazon at this link: http://www.amazon.com/Clothed-Gladness-Sto...2300&sr=1-1

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Thank you for this beautiful post!

These pictures are wonderful! Thank you for posting them!

Thanks for posting this! I like their site.

Amazing Beautiful pictures that capture the spirit of this Order. I was deeply Moved. Thanks!
Nancy

Great pictures! Thanks for the post.

how beautiful!

are they doing a morning wakeup here?

Praised be Jesus Christ! Just bumping an old thread These Poor Clares are so beautiful!

Wow! These pictures are so beautiful!

I remember these pictures; they aRE beautiful. They are how I first got interested in these Poor Clares! I love the one (No. 8) taken from above of a sister praying the Divine Office, possibly, or another prayer book. SUCh a pretty shot! And the pictures are all reflective of their silence and contemplation, and then there's the few at the end of a couple nuns laughing/smiling. Love that.

I love these pictures...when I yearn to be with the Poor Clares, I look at these pictures and they give me comfort.

I have not discerned with the Cleveland Poor Clares, but with the Rockford Poor Clares and I can say that they are truly joyful sisters. I look forward to the day that I will enter.

Does anyone know why there's one sister in a different habit?

Yes, they are the extern sisters. When I visited them twice, they were so sweet and kind! On my first visit, I stayed in a hotel that was 4 miles from them. Mother Abbess, the Novice Mistress and I talked so long one evening I missed the little shuttle bus to my hotel so one of the externs drove me home. As she learned that my hotel only served Brunch, she stopped at a Wendy's drive-thru and bought me a Mandarin Orange salad! She said she didn't want me to be hungry all night til the next morning - it was about 6:15 pm and the externs had given me lunch back at 12:30 pm!

The Poor Clares are beautiful. Their life is so much inspiring and even the photos are inspiring. Just hearing and seeing how they live their life, you feel that you want to serve the Lord like them.

God bless!

While looking at the "Extern" thread posts, I found this link that Margaret Clare posted in 2007 - http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/?m=200706 on the PCCs of Cleveland and their externs. I had a flood of wonderful memories come to mind when I saw that first picture of the PCC nuns all siting at the parlor grate! I too sat on the visitor side and talked to Mother Abbess, the Novice Mistress and the Council for hours a day for the 2 visits a week each that I made!

And the 3rd picture down is of 2 of their externs, Sr. Therese (they pronounce her name "Ta-reece") on the right who bought me that salad and Sr. St. John on the left who would let me walk thru the private extern quarters (no public allowed) to get to their chapel because of the extreme cold weather - the last time I visited, it was November - which is a real cold month for Cleveland!

Thank you Margaret Clare for posting this link! I hadn't seen it before.

Sorry, I meant to add that Sr. St. John let me go thru their private quarters from the parlor and speaking to the Mother Abbess and Novice Mistress and then go thru their quarters to the chapel instead of having to go outside and walk all around their monastery to get to the other side where the public entrance is. As it was super cold out, they wouldn't hear of me going to the chapel from the outside. They also let me have breakfast and a lunch once in one of their private rooms, it was like a sitting room or something - a beautiful room with a statue of St. Clare, etc.

Ok enough, I will be on this post posting all my incredible memories and moments and bore everyone to tears! lol!

For anyone new to these PCCs, their website is: http://www.poorclarecolettines-cleveland.org/ - though I think I listed it in my first opening post of this thread.

It's neat seeing this chart of the US PCC foundations from Cleveland. The history of the different the monasteries and where they all came from and how they are connected really interests me. I like knowing where all the different Carmels came from too from these foundation charts in the Carmel in the US book.


Also, Mary (LaudemGloriae) has a book up on eBay on the Cleveland PCCs, Into This Land It looks beautiful!

Wow, they're the great-grandmotherhouse of Eindhoven! That monastery really is super-important in my country. And getting vocations, yay

Oh neat! That's the one that has the twin sisters I remember back from this thread, where you did the translating Poor Clares in the Netherlands

Yes Another girl entered after them, I believe. Three sisters under thirty is rare, or outright unique, in the Netherlands.

And... the twins have another sister, who will profess first vows with the SSVM on October 15 Their parents ought to give courses!

Some Poor Clare Colettine article links:

A PCC vocation story of a young college basketball player becomes a PCC: http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/...ies/cs0038.html


This is a wonderful article/letter by a father of a girl who became a Poor Clare Colettine in the then Newport News Poor Clare Colettines that has since moved to Barhamsville, http://www.wf-f.org/03-2-PoorClares.html. The Barhamsville Poor Clare site is at http://www.poor-clares.org/ and they have a wonderful blog at http://pcmonastery.blogspot.com/.


Here's "A Day Within the Walls of Poor Clare Monastery" on the Rockford, IL PCCs at http://www.cloisteredlife.com/poorclares.htm


Here's a link to the Rule of St. Clare - the only rule written by a woman: http://www.stanthonyshrine.org/PoorClares/Rule_St_Clare.pdf


One of 3 PCC orders in Ireland: PCCs of Dublin at http://www.pccdamians.ie/index.htm - open to older women.

This is a part of an article on the Poor Clare Colettine Nuns of Cleveland, OH, - http://www.dispatch.com/live/contentbe/dis...0105-C3-00.html - that the Mother Abbess sent me that she clipped from the newspaper on Sr. Christina. Like I said, it is only a part of the article but it does have the 2 pictures that were published with it.

Mother Abbess let Sr. Christina have the roller blades in the monastery as a form of exercise and entertainment for the other sisters! Sr. Christina had said she knows how to fall so she hasn't gotten hurt yet but it IS more difficult to roller blade in a full habit!

I these articles and links are awesome! Thank you for sharing them!

amazing pictures and articles! i LOVE number eleven in the pictures...