Franciscan Sisters Of The Immaculate

[Egidio]

[quote name='Rosa immaculata' timestamp='1352201488' post='2505093']
Hi everybody !
AVE MARIA!

I am very GLAD today and you'll know why: I have sent an email to the Fransiscan Sisters of the Immaculate (the Contemplatives in Citta di Castello, Italy) and they told me (they are so sweet!!!!) that if I want to be a contemplative nun in their Order I will do my postulancy and my novitiate in the apostolic branch (which is very penitential too, and very consecrated to the prayer besides of the apostolate), in order to be prepared to a very austere life in the cloister, and if I have a contemplative vocation (= If I am a disastrous speaker at the TV of the Immaculate or the Radio of the Immaculate ) , I will be sent to a convent in the enclosure AND I WILL DIE WITHIN IT!!!!!!! So one cannot be called to the apostolic life again except because of health problem or "a very special need of the Institue" or of course if finally it is discerned that it is not my vocation; it is the marvellous concept of "the vocation (contemplative) withnin the vocation (to be consecrated to the Immaculate).


[/quote]

AVE MARIA!

This very well might be the case... but ultimately it is up to the Mother General to decide...and she changes every 6 to 12 years.

The point is, that while it may not be common for a sister to exit the contemplative convent once she has entered it, she must never-the-less be prepared to go where ever she is called by the Immaculate.

I know of some friars who have waited many years before they received permission to enter the contemplative house, and then those who have been found not to have that vocation and have re-entered the more active life. The point is that we must be resolved to do whatever God wants.

Obviously I am not a sister so I don't know all the inner workings of the FSI, but the charism is the same, as we have the same founder, and I believe these are his wishes.

I don't want to discourage you, but you should have an idea of what actually happens, as opposed to what [u]could[/u] happen.

I will pray that God will make His holy Will clear to you, and you might have the courage to follow Him.

[font=comic sans ms,cursive][size=5][color=#000080]AVE MARIA!![/color][/size][/font]

[Rosa immaculata]

Ave Maria!

Thank you Edigio for your precisions! You are right, the most important thing is the Will of God and His Holy Mother! Indeed, the contemplative sisters told me that we can enter the cloister only with the permission of our Mother General and our spiritual director, and if we are not called to the cloister, we come back to the apostolic life (for the greatest joy of the other contemplative sisters!! aha!)...
I hope that friars will have more contemplative houses for the future!, ..... and sisters of course !!

I have a long way to do to completly accept the Will of the Immaculate (even if finally I am called to another order), but God knows what to do and above all when He will do it! The sisters where I go to do a retreat told me that during it there will be a votive mass of the Immaculate Conception (special to their convent)! I was so glad and I said to myself that the Immaculate wants really look after me !
I pray for you the Immaculate, and thank you for your prayers: I need them very much!

Ave Maria

[organwerke]

Daer Rosa Immaculata, I am happy for you. For the very very little I know, if you really feel called to contemplative life, it is very probable that your spiritual director will understand and agree with this, and, so, I think it is very likely that you will arrive to the cloister some day. I know for example of a relative of a SSVM (a Servidora) who entered the active brach of the Franciscans of the Immaculate and stayed there a few years and then entered the cloister and now it is 18 years that she is in the cloister.
What I find strange is that a cloistered sister may be asked to return to the active branch, because usually it is really part of a cloistered vocation that a sister never goes back in the world.

[Rosa immaculata]

Ave Maria! (Edigio, I heard that you say that in your order in order to see the Immaculate in every person; am I right, or not at all ?)

Dear Organwerke! Thank you for your support and sharing this beautiful story which encourages me! I really think that the FSI and their spritual directors (Friars FFI I think) are very good discerners of vocations in general and of contemplative vocations too; the contemplatives sisters of this order told me that normally they DIE in the cloister but their life is very austere, so a transition has beed judged necessary by Ff S. M. Manelli; they only come back to the apostolic life if they have healthy problems, or if it is not their vocation, or a very very special circumstance decided by the Mother General ... Besides, they have an habit a bit different: they wear the giumpe and a veil with a different form, which means the specificity of contemplative life (I know that certain contemplative nuns don't wear the giumpe, and I don't criticize them at all !!);
but as Edigio says, God decides... and I have to be prepared in general to do what He plans for me, and it is necessary for every discerner...
Be sure they do not steal to the Immaculate a contemplative nun if she is really called to the cloister...
When I knew this order, I was fascinated by their habit, and I said to myself more and more that this habit is beautiful because it perfectly reflects their consecration without limits to the Immaculate... and thanks to time and prayer, this attraction (I don't know if it is the right word) deepens, I love their Marian life and their life of poverty and penance because they just LOVE Jesus crucified and they want to live entirely with Mary, share His Joys and His Sufferings (I love more and more saying the rosary; some monthes ago, I did not say it, or I said only a dozen; now, I don't count the dozens, because it is for the Immaculate...)! But I have really hard work to do (rather the Immaculate, aha!)
Do you know in what convent this sister is living in now?

I pray for you!

[organwerke]

No, I don't know, but if you want I may ask. Anyway I know for sure she is in Italy, as she is Italian as her sister sister (Servidora) and as me!

[Rosa immaculata]

Thank you organwerke but don't worry, it is not necessary at all, it was just like that! What a beautiful family: two sisters! I find the Order of Servidoras very fervous and observant; when I was in the baslic St Peter in Rome, I went to the perpetual adoration and there were two Servidoras, they were in a deep contemplation...
Please, FSI and Servidoras, come in France, we need you and very few people know you!

[organwerke]

The Servidoras are already in France, in Toulon and Lion.
As a "french lover" I think that in France too there are very good and traditional orders: the community of saint John, the monastic fraternity of jerusalem, the institue du bon pastuer and the community of saint martin (for men), not to mention all the benedectine abbeys (my favourite spirituality besides the servidoras) and many, many others!!

Edited November 7, 2012 by organwerke

[Rosa immaculata]

Yes of course, we have very beautiful Orders and communities; I know well the Monastic Fraternity of Jerusalem in Paris and the Benedicttines of Solesmes + Barrou are marvellous (I will do my retreat in the Abbey of Argentan! Very excited!). I did not know that the Servidoras are in France, thank you for the info!

[Chiquitunga]

[quote name='Rosa immaculata' timestamp='1352226138' post='2505202']
Dear Chiquitunga,

Don't worry, I will answer to your PM!! It is a great great news!! I don't know though if I will be allowed to choose the contemplative house (I think there is the criteria of the remaining places ); I know that in the four contemplative monasteries the nationalities are very various... but for the moment, I am so glad to know that I will die within the enclosure if I a called here!!

[b]I know the Contemplative (as well as the apostolic) nuns of this Order profess Solemn vows (but I will read again what you said about the Solemn vows in general), but not the one of Enclosure, probably because this branch did not exist at the beginning of the Order[/b]... but the enclosure is as strict as in Carmel (where there are Solemn vows, but not a special one for enclosure... I don't know if I a very clear ...)[/quote]

[font=times new roman,times,serif][color=#ADD8E6][i][size=5]Ave Maria[/size][/i][/color][/font] Rosa Immaculata! I was away for a while and just checked back to this thread right now.

Yes, I think you may be right that both the apostolic and contemplative FI Sisters actually do profess Solemn Vows (as the Friars do too) as they are part of the First Order of St. Francis (rare for women, but I think I heard this before... maybe Egidio can correct us here )

The Papally enclosed Poor Clares of the Immaculate though do also profess Solemn Vows, I am pretty sure, as they were actual Poor Clare Nuns originally (Urbanist Poor Clares). I heard this from an FI priest, but maybe Egidio can help us here too. Then they adopted the FI spirituality/Marian Vow/etc., but they did not loose their status of being Poor Clare Nuns under Solemn Vows, I'm pretty sure.

Maybe you could write them too just to ask though ... and also to ask about the EF Mass... perhaps one of them is even changing to that now as we talk about them here!! You never know. I would write them to see....

Whatever is God's will though! Prayers for your vocation! All branches of this Order are[color=#add8e6][i] [font=times new roman,times,serif][size=5][b]so beautiful [/b][/size][/font][/i][/color]wherever you're called... I love them very much too! (sometimes even more than Carmel I think, lol ) .. aaahhhhh!!! they are tied!

Edited November 22, 2012 by Chiquitunga

[Rosa immaculata]

Hi Chiquitunga!

Thank you for your answer! I will write to the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate (apostolic) the next week, after my retreat, except if God has other plans:), and I will ask them questions etc; I will simply present my "case" (attracted by contemplative life) and I will see what they will say (very kindly, I am sure!), and surely I will write to the Poor Clares of the Immaculate later, because it is very hard to discern between them and the contemplative Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate, even if I know their exterior differences (the second are in the first Order of St Francis as you said...).
I will tell you when I will have an answer; one thing is sure: I will do a retreat with the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate (I hope I will be allowed to do it in England, I don't know if we are obliged to go for the first retreats of discernment to the novitiate in Italy...).

Thank you so much for your prayers, and definitely yes, this Order is[color=#0000ff] [b]marvellous[/b][/color], I think I am called to [color=#0000ff]a very Marian life,[/color] and Franciscan, and this Order is a treasure! But like you I love the Carmel (but I think I am not called here)...

Courage to all the discerners!

[petitpèlerin]

Salut, Rosa immaculata! Je suis étudiante américaine en France et j’essaye d’apprendre votre très belle langue. Et j’essaye de faire pas trop d’attention at vos très beaus frères (de St Jean) qui habitent à côté. Vraiment, vous écrivez très, très bien l’anglais: beaucoup mieux que les américains parlent français. Vous êtes sûr que vous voulez entrer dans une communauté française? Avec votre bon usage de l’anglais, vous n’êtes pas limitée.

Have you considered la Communauté St Jean? They are profoundly Marian and I’ve been learning lately that, while they were founded by a Dominican, their spirituality is in many ways very Franciscan. I have friends in the community who are Franciscans at heart, and the more I get to know the community, the more time I spend with them and see what they're really all about, the more I see Franciscanism in it. I’m Franciscan myself and I could only ever consider a Franciscan spirituality, and as of recently I am considering the Community of St John.

Also, they take care that all their masses are celebrated reverently, and they occasionally celebrate it in Latin. (There was a Latin mass here last week.)

Edited November 23, 2012 by petitpèlerin

[Chiquitunga]

Ave Maria!

That's wonderful Rosa Immaculata how you're going to write both and will go on retreat somewhere with them soon...... very exciting indeed!

[quote name='Chiquitunga' timestamp='1353604543' post='2514786']Whatever is God's will though! Prayers for your vocation! All branches of this Order are[color=#add8e6][i] [font=times new roman,times,serif][size=5][b]so beautiful [/b][/size][/font][/i][/color]wherever you're called... I love them very much too! (sometimes even more than Carmel I think, lol ) .. aaahhhhh!!! they are tied!
[/quote]

I'm being technical[color=#282828][font=Open Sans', sans-serif] [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=Open Sans', sans-serif][img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/blush.gif[/img] (<-- had to search to find this old emoticon again :j) but I wanted to correct myself here ... the Franciscans of the Immaculate are a Religious Institute of Pontifical Right within the Order of St. Francis/First Order .. the Poor Clares are of course in the Second Order. So the FI are not an "Order" in themselves, which it sounds like I'm saying above .. they are [i]part[/i] of the Order and profess Solemn Vows (including the apostolic Sisters I[i] think[/i]) [/font][/color]

[Rosa immaculata]

Thank you Chiquitunga for your support, and your precisions! You are totally right!! At the Slemn Vows, the Franciscans Sisters of the Immaculate (as Poor Clares) wear a crown of thorns, I really love this total identification with the Crucified Love!

Petitpèlerin, your French is very good too, courage, I know it is very difficult to learn our language, but you are doing well and you will continue to improve! Thank you for your encouragements, I hope the Sisters will understand my letter in english; the real problem is when I SPEAK (or try to do it with the accent ) and when I listen to people speaking: sometimes I don't understand them at all because I haven't got used to listen to English people often yet ; how it will be with Italian?
I know the Community of St Jean, and I hope you will enter it if it is God's Will! But I am not attracted to it (at least now, I don't know the future...); but I really like the accent on contemplation in their charism, as the FSI; I am in absolute love with the total identification to the Immaculate... Thank you for the info about the EF and their Franciscan spirituality: very good point for them!
I suppose you will enter in the USA since they just have a new novitiate there... Prayers for you and all the discerners!!

[emmaberry101]

[quote name='Rosa immaculata' timestamp='1353710164' post='2515408']
Thank you Chiquitunga for your support, and your precisions! You are totally right!! [b]At the Solemn Vows, the Franciscans Sisters of the Immaculate (as Poor Clares) wear a crown of thorns, I really love this total identification with the Crucified Love! [/b]
[/quote]

Sorry, Rosa, I know I am not really a participant in this conversation (since when has that ever stopped me? ), but I wanted to take this (edit:) opportunity to post some favorite Solemn Profession crown-of-thorns pictures! You are so right, it is a beautiful show of intimacy with the Crucified Christ:

[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gybQLLi-EJ8/TXi_XSqictI/AAAAAAAAFuw/NYVIP0lLu7c/s320/fran-nuns.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.passionistnuns.org/blog/wp-content/themes/fallseason/images/SRMfpcrownblog.jpg[/img]
[img]http://poorclaresroswell.com/Nunwithcrownofthorns.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.poorclarestmd.org/archives/page177/files/thorns.jpg[/img]
[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jSxR9QXRUq0/UD7DW0RtEZI/AAAAAAAAAQg/TteTi1eVzyk/s1600/Mother+M+Francis,+nun.jpg[/img]

As Pope John Paul the Great said:

[indent=1]"If Catherine of Siena is the saint full of passion for the Blood of Christ, the great St. Teresa is the woman who goes from "mansion" to "mansion" to the threshold of the great King in the interior castle and Therese of the Child Jesus is the one who, in Gospel simplicity, travels the little way, [i][b]Clare is the passionate lover of the Crucified Christ, with whom she wants to identify absolutely...[/b][/i]"[/indent]

[center] [/center]

Edited November 24, 2012 by emmaberry101

[Rosa immaculata]

Thank you so much Emmaberry for these amesome pictures!!! These nuns are all marvellous with the same crown as Christ Himself!! I really love the Cross of the Passionists nuns too! The last picture is (after the FSI, but I am totally biased, aha!) my favourite, it is on my computer, and it reflects the beauty and the joy of this moment which is eternal in reality...
You also reassured me: the crown is pinned to the veil: very good news, because if I will enter and profess vows, I will fear my crown fall down during the ceremony! but I don't know if the FSI do that...glups!
[i][b]Clare is the passionate lover of the Crucified Christ, with whom she wants to identify absolutely...[/b][/i]"
=> what a marvellous thought about St Clare; it is precisely what I love in her and St Francis: they are burning of love which becomes a total identification with the Beloved ... Some persons said to me that these saints are completly mad and silly!! It is horrible, I was really hurt, and I said to them that they were mystics consumed by the Love of Christ and His Holy Passion... but these persons continue to despise the Franciscan Order, that is so sad; and it happened to me several times that when I said that it is my favourite order, some persons didn't understand at all why I liked and admired this order...st Francis and St Clare had the same problem, and it is the case for other orders I think...

[Chiquitunga]

the Religieuses Victimes du Sacré Coeur do this too...........

[img]http://images.onesite.com/mycatholicvillage.com/user/catholique_apostolique/france/aame001008.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa138/kjk76_91/NunsPraying.jpg?t=1182349494[/img]

[url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/81559-victim-nuns-of-the-sacred-heart"]http://www.phatmass....he-sacred-heart[/url]

[Rosa immaculata]

Oh yes Chiquitunga!! Total success in identification with Christ with the Religieuses Victimes du Sacré-Coeur ; I really like the thorns up with the white flowers, and the Cross... I think I saw on another picture, that they wear a cord, as the Franciscans do...

[Rosa immaculata]

Hum, I can't keep adding one more! ; sorry; two, I clicked on another picture for the first but very beautiful too!

[OnlySunshine]

The Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal use the crown of thorns during the ceremony of Perpetual Profession.

[img]http://franciscansisterscfr.com/photos/final_vows/3d.jpg[/img]

[Rosa immaculata]

Ave Maria!

Very beautiful order too: The Franciscans of the Renewal... Thank you Mater for the picture! I really love the gradation in the Franciscan order: crown of flowers to the vesture, and the First vows, and crown of thorns for the Perpetual/Solemn Vows... so bridal and Christic. I hope to see one day a profession of vows... and I know I'll cry!