Franciscan Sisters Of The Immaculate

[the171]

FRANÇAIS! Oui!!!!!!!!!!!! Bienvenue, Rosa Immaculata!

[Rosa immaculata]

Thank you the 171! Je suis contente qu'il y ait d'autres Français sur ce forum! Dieu te bénisse!
Bon, now I am going to bed lol!
Ten Hail Mary for all the discerners!

[Rosa immaculata]

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).

But don't worry Edigio, they said to me that this information is very unknown, and you are so numerous in the Order! (aha!!). I pray for you!

So if someones is like me interested, this is a capital information, and I am so glad, after several days of worrying!

Prayers for all you ! If I have some infos, I will give them to you, I will write to the apostolic branch, but I think later, I need to deepen the vocation in itself and its commitments, and after, I will see what God is planning for me! Rejoice in the Lord our only Joy!

PS If someone need translations in French, I can help him (but I know there are other French phatmassers!).

[Chiquitunga]

Whoa, that's really great news, Rosa!!! Thanks for sharing that. It's so neat that they have a contemplative house in [color=#282828][font=Open Sans', sans-serif]Citta di Castello, so close to the monastery and shrine of St. Veronica Giuliani!! Do you think you'll write the Sisters in England as well? Would you be able to choose which contemplative house you wanted to go to? I think [/font][/color]Lanherne[color=#282828][font=Open Sans', sans-serif] might be the only one with the EF exclusively.[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=Open Sans', sans-serif]Also, thank you so much again for offering to write that letter in French for me! You probably got my PM anyway [/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=Open Sans', sans-serif]On another subject, I was thinking I'd clarify my other post regarding Solemn Vows. I am pretty sure this is true: (although if Sr. MC reads this, please weigh in!)[/font][/color]

[font=Open Sans, sans-serif][color=#282828]In order to be under Papal Enclosure (which is the strictest and most protective kind of enclosure the Church can give) Solemn Vows are necessary. In order to profess Solemn Vows, a community has to be part of an Order with a capital "O" (e.g. Carmelites, Franciscans, Dominicans, etc.) Solemn Vows are what defines a religious officially as a "Nun"[/color][/font]

[font=Open Sans, sans-serif][color=#282828]But some Nuns in Solemn Vows are not under Papal Enclosure, like some Benedictine Nuns, who have Constitutional Enclosure.[/color][/font]

[Rosa immaculata]

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!! 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... 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 ...).

Yes I will write to the apostolic Sisters but I don't know if I will "choose" those who are in England, because I will probably go to Rome to study archives of the Vatican for my thesis for some days, and I already spent a month for an intership in Rome, so I "know" a little Italy (not Italian!), and I went to the Mass in thier church (Via san Pio X, just next to the Vatican!!). No pb for your letter in French!

I think that all the contemplative Sisters have the EF exclusively (I red it on several forums), but I will ask to the Sisters. Citta di Castello is indeed a very holy place!!!

Prayers for you ! and all the others!

[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!