Community Profile

Poor Clare Colettine Nuns, Corpus Christi Monastery Rev. Mother Abbess 2111 S Main St Rockford, IL 61102-3591 815-963-7343 www.rockfordpoorclares.org

Community Information

No. in community (professed members) 20 Year founded 1916 Generalate/ motherhouse Autonomous Province/federation Autonomous Represented in US (Arch)dioceses Rockford, IL

About Us

Mission statement/description The Poor Clare Colettine Nuns of Corpus Christi Monastery in Rockford, Illinois, follow a tradition of eight centuries of enclosed monastic life of prayer and penance for the love of God and the salvation of souls. The gift of their lives in the radical following of the Gospel is expressed in complete renunciation in a cloistered community united in ideals and charity nurtured by a family spirit. In the monastery, the nuns' entire lives are centered around the Eucharist privately exposed on the cloister altar. In offering their praises to God in the Liturgy of the Hours and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the nuns stand in the name of the Church, so that the whole course of the worlds day and night is being consecrated to God. Their monastic family fosters a true and tender devotion to Mary, and loyalty and obedience to the Vicar of Christ and Holy Mother Church. The community is composed of both cloistered nuns and extern sisters. Qualifications for entry A wholehearted desire to follow the Poor Christ unreservedly according to the demands of the Gospel in a hidden life of prayer and penance; a teachable heart and readiness to learn; a high school diploma; normal health of mind and body and good emotional and psychological stability; a willingness to leave all to respond to God's call. Formation program The period of formation preceding final solemn vows typically lasts six years. It is comprised of three stages: one year of postulancy, two years of noviceship, and three years of temporary vows. During this time care is taken to form the whole person in faith and the contemplative life in the cloister according to the Poor Clare charism. Age range/limit 18-40 Consider belated vocations? No Belated/late vocations explanation Belated vocations are rarely considered.