Corpus Christi Monastery - Dominican Nuns

[Laudem Gloriae]

Now this site may have been seen many many of you, but I had not seen it until recently as I can find NO way to get to it from what seems to be their main site?

I had seen these Dominican's site - [url="http://www.bronxop.org/index.html"]http://www.bronxop.org/index.html[/url] - which seems to come up near the top during a search for the Dominican nuns in the Bronx and then I found this site -
[url="http://www.bronxop.org/History.html"]http://www.bronxop.org/History.html[/url] - by accident.

At this site - [url="http://www.bronxop.org/index.html"]http://www.bronxop.org/index.html[/url] - if you hit the "HOME" tab, you end up at the other site but I can't find a way to get from that small site to the this great site that lists their life, prayer, work, vocations, etc.

So I just thought I'd list this site in case others like me were clueless to this wonderful site on them. Love their cloisters and monastery. Wish they'd go back to the full veil/head wear as the West Springfield Domincans in MA have done.

[stlmom]

Thanks for posting--I've heard this monastery praised by EWTN's Father Benedict Groeschel several times over the years.

[Luigi]

I've had the same problem getting to the more interesting page, too. They seem to have made two attempts to get on the Internet. I think the very decorous - almost minimalist - page was put up by the Dominican friars on behalf of the sisters. The other page seems to have been put up some years prior to that, and they haven't updated it in a long time. Three of the nuns from this monastery moved to Delaware, apparently at the request of some Dominican friars, to start a new house there, which means that only nine or ten(?) nuns are left in the Bronx monastery.

As I understand it, and I'm not sure where I read this, the Bronx monastery used to be the largest Dominican monastery in the country, with something like 120 or 150 nuns living there. I also think it's in a pretty rough neighborhood, but they nuns have stayed and continue to do their work there.

[TradMom]

+Praised be Jesus Christ!

Thanks for the link, Laudem!

A question for our Dominicans out there. On this page: [url="http://www.bronxop.org/History.html"]http://www.bronxop.org/History.html[/url]
some of the Sisters in front are wearing black scapulars. What is the significance behind that?

Great site. Prayers for vocations!

Pax!

TradMom

[Laudem Gloriae]

I may be wrong but I believe "back in the day" the Dominican nuns had the "lay sister" group and they were distinguished by a black scapular. I remember reading this in various places and in the book I have "Dominican Nuns in their Cloisters" which is pretty old.

But I could be mistaken?

[rosamundi]

[quote name='Laudem Gloriae' post='1802661' date='Mar 10 2009, 07:27 PM']I may be wrong but I believe "back in the day" the Dominican nuns had the "lay sister" group and they were distinguished by a black scapular. I remember reading this in various places and in the book I have "Dominican Nuns in their Cloisters" which is pretty old.

But I could be mistaken?[/quote]

Not mistaken - this is correct. The white veil also denoted a lay sister, I believe.

[heart]

I love those sisters in the Bronx!
they are so sweet and so warm hearted
I missed them so much. I love thier chapel,
just around the whole monastery is so different.
I love the way they chant and how they take turns in playing the Harp
by leading the office. Even the HUge monstrance,
It feels like you are more closer than anywhere else.

[Laudem Gloriae]

I found the main or home page of this website for these Dominican nuns - the site that is the vocations site/on their life, prayer, etc. The home page has a big picture of their big beautiful 16th century monstrance above their choir on it.

[url="http://corpuschristimonastery.org/"]http://corpuschristimonastery.org/[/url]

[Laudem Gloriae]

On this page on the Bronx Dominican nuns, [url="http://corpuschristimonastery.org/prayer.html"]http://corpuschristimonastery.org/prayer.html[/url] , there is a nun in the full habit/veil, is she a member of the community or just visiting does anyone know?

If she is a member, does the Bronx community have the option of a novice taking the modified veil or the full veil and the rest of the headwear (sorry, not sure what Dominican's call it) like Menlo Park Dominicans do? Anyone know?

[alicemary]

No, she must have been visiting them. She is a member of the Monastery of St Jude in Marbury, Ala, I do believe. They wear the old habit.

[Grace06]

[quote name='Luigi' post='1802022' date='Mar 9 2009, 09:45 PM']As I understand it, and I'm not sure where I read this, the Bronx monastery used to be the largest Dominican monastery in the country, with something like 120 or 150 nuns living there. I also think it's in a pretty rough neighborhood, but they nuns have stayed and continue to do their work there.[/quote]

You may be thinking of a monastery in Europe - the Bronx never had that many nuns at one time, nor did any other American Dominican Monastery. I've been blessed to have made several retreats within the enclosure - it is a lovely, traditional monastery on the inside, but from the outside one would not see it's beauty.

It is in a [b]very[/b] rough neighborhood in the Bronx. It is almost like entering a prison with barbed wire above the brick wall and huge metal doors in the driveway. Yet they are a wonderful presence.

As a Community they have withstood extremely difficult times; Very dear women.

Edited March 25, 2009 by Grace06

[Luigi]

"As I understand it, and I'm not sure where I read this, the Bronx monastery used to be the largest Dominican monastery in the country, with something like 120 or 150 nuns living there. I also think it's in a pretty rough neighborhood, but they nuns have stayed and continue to do their work there."


"You may be thinking of a monastery in Europe - the Bronx never had that many nuns at one time, nor did any other American Dominican Monastery."

Thanks for the accurate information - I walk around with all sorts of information in my head, and sometimes it gets all mixed up! Imagine that! Anyway, I'm glad to know there aren't just ten or twelve nuns knocking around in a house built for a hundred.

[Grace06]

[quote name='Luigi' post='1816463' date='Mar 25 2009, 09:08 PM']Thanks for the accurate information - I walk around with all sorts of information in my head, and sometimes it gets all mixed up! Imagine that! Anyway, I'm glad to know there aren't just ten or twelve nuns knocking around in a house built for a hundred.[/quote]

I totally understand...I have so much information floating around in my head it's amazing it doesn't burst at the seams!

[sistersintigo]

The cloistered Dominican Nuns at Hunts Point have gone through a number of personnel shifts in recent times. I know of only one, have not met her but spoke to her former sub-prioress. She transfiliated. Her name is Sr. Maria Aquinas OP and she had entered the Blue Chapel monastery in Union City, New Jersey; at roughly 70 years of age, she was the....youngest of all the Blue Chapel nuns.
Union City's Blue Chapel closed last year. At that point there were three women still alive, they had just buried a fourth in the Union City enclosure, and a fifth, suffering from the consequences of diabetes, was bedridden, so she had left the enclosure and gone to nursing care with the Caldwell congregation of active Dominican sisters. According to the Summit Monastery blog, the two older nuns at Union City went to the Caldwell facility, so as to be reunited with the bedridden one who had in fact been the Blue Chapel superior. And this "youngest" one, Sr. Maria Aquinas, transfiliated from Union City to Corpus Christi in Hunts Point. I don't know this area well, from hearsay I am told that the physical distance between the two is not great. I would guess, from what I have heard of the long-drawn-out process of closing the Blue Chapel, that there is an entire world of difference between the two communities of women, however! But if I described my impression of the Blue Chapel community, it would be off-topic...a different thread I guess... and very much all in the past anyhow.

[Laudem Gloriae]

This Dominican blog, "Ordo Praedicatorum", has a page on these Bronx Dominican nuns. As it says click on the picture for more photos of the monastery (about 3-4).


[url="http://www.dominicanfriars.org/2009/07/19/dominican-nuns-of-corpus-christi-monastery/"]http://www.dominicanfriars.org/2009/07/19/...isti-monastery/[/url]