Cloistered Nuns that Have Eucharistic Adoration
A Handmaid of the Precious Blood in nocturnal Adoration
In our world of noise and distractions, Eucharistic Adoration has become one of the most attractive ways for Catholics to encounter Christ. Though the popularity of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament first experienced a surge in the 17th century, St. John Paul II is responsible for its revival and expansion in our own day. Thanks to the trend he set in motion, Eucharistic adoration chapels continue to pop up in parish churches, college campuses, seminaries, and convents. Conferences and retreats for young people almost always include a time of Eucharistic Adoration, and most young women discerning a vocation will spend considerable time in front of a monstrance, face to face with the Lord of the Universe, receiving his gaze of love.
Given this familiarity with Adoration, many young women discerning cloistered life are interested in monasteries that practice Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. In this post, I want to highlight some of the communities with Adoration and explain the role it plays in their way of life.
Some communities actually have a charism of Adoration, which means that the Holy Spirit’s original inspiration for their community included a special devotion to this practice. Some of the communities that have Adoration as part of their charism would be:
There are a number of other communities who do not specifically consider Adoration to be part of their charism, but for whom Adoration has always been an important aspect of their spiritual life. Some of these communities would be:
Most Poor Clare monasteries have always practiced Eucharistic Adoration, since St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi are credited with popularizing it in the Middle Ages.
Most Dominican monasteries also have Eucharistic Adoration, since the Eucharistic devotion of St. Thomas Aquinas forms a strong part of their heritage.
Older monastic traditions such as Benedictines and Carmelites pre-date the popular surge in Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Naturally, all monasteries have a strong devotion and love for the the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but that devotion is not necessarily expressed in prayer before a monstrance. These communities may carry out their daily meditation in front of the closed tabernacle, or may even have a tradition of meditating in the solitude of their cells. But in the last few hundred years, many monasteries in these traditions have introduced Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Here are some examples of older monastic traditions that have incorporated Adoration into their spiritual life:
I’m sure there are other monasteries that have Adoration that I haven’t listed here; if you know of one I’ve missed, feel free to post it in the comments! Below are links to communities who list Adoration as part of their profile in our directory.
As Poor Clares, we are enclosed, Franciscan, contemplative nuns who observe the First Rule of St. Clare. Our charism is centered on the love and contemplation of Jesus, in sisterly fraternity, and in intercessory prayer for the Church and world.
As Passionists, we are called to keep alive the Memory of Christ's Passion. We do not only recall it in our minds, but we render it present in our lives by living His self-emptying love in our daily lives for the salvation of souls.
The Contemplative Sisters of Saint John usually establish their houses near a priory of their Brothers. The Contemplative Sisters desire to live a life of prayer and adoration. Their mission is to be silent witnesses of Christ's love for the Church and for all men.
The Handmaids are cloistered contemplatives dedicated to the honor, praise and worship of God. By our hidden apostolate, we extend the arms of prayer and sacrifice around the world, with a special solicitude for God's priests.
As cloistered contemplatives, we are a community of sisters wholly dedicated to praying for the Church and for all of God's people. Our prayer is our mission in the Church and in the world. The Monastery of St. Clare is one of six Poor Clare monasteries in Canada: two English-speaking in British Columbia, and four French-speaking, in Quebec.
Currently, 17 women between 22 and 95 call the Carmel of St. Joseph home. Individually and communally our lives are centered on God. Everything in our lives is focused on a life of prayer, centered around the daily celebration of the Eucharist.
St. Francis de Sales, our Founder, desired to “give God daughters of prayer, and souls so interior, that they may be found worthy to serve His infinite Majesty, and to adore Him in spirit and in truth.”
Devoted to a life of contemplation, the mottoes of the community are: "Adoration, Reparation and Suffering" and "Fidelity, Constancy and Generosity". The sisters' life of prayer is a true living of the Gospel and it is in every way apostolic.
The Sisters are a community called to a life of contemplative prayer, directed in a special way to the great love which Jesus showed to all mankind in the shedding of His Precious Blood.
God, through His Spirit, Who is Love, has called us and gathered us together into a religious community whose members are entirely dedicated to the contemplative life and the service of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and thus to serve the Church’s missionary activity.
God, through His Spirit, Who is Love, has called us and gathered us together into a religious community whose members are entirely dedicated to the contemplative life and the service of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and thus to serve the Church’s missionary activity.
God, through His Spirit, Who is Love, has called us and gathered us together into a religious community whose members are entirely dedicated to the contemplative life and the service of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and thus to serve the Church’s missionary activity.
God, through His Spirit, Who is Love, has called us and gathered us together into a religious community whose members are entirely dedicated to the contemplative life and the service of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and thus to serve the Church’s missionary activity.
Passionist Nuns "are to strive for perfection in God's love by living in His Divine Presence and by preserving indelibly written in their hearts the most holy Life, Passion and Death of the loving Jesus.
The sisters' life as contemplative nuns flows from the personal love of Christ for us manifested in His passion, death and resurrection. We seek to comfort Him in His Sacred Passion by pondering the mystery of His undying love, by loving our sisters in community life and through Divine Worship.
The cloistered Passionist Nuns were founded by St. Paul of the Cross to live a hidden contemplative life dedicated to intercessory prayer for the apostolic work of his congregation, for the Church and for the whole world. This cloistered community's contemplative mission is to promote devotion to, and grateful remembrance of, the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ.
Our life, as nuns of the Order of Preachers, is centered on prayer. This includes communal prayer, through daily Mass and the solemn chanting of the Liturgy of the Hours, and times of quiet prayer given to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the rosary and lectio divina.
Consecrated to a life of prayer and praise, we cloistered Dominican nuns share in the redemptive work of Christ in the heart of the Order of Preachers. Our primary mission is to pray for the salvation of souls, and to support the preaching mission of the Dominican friars.
Consecrated to a life of prayer and praise, we cloistered Dominican nuns share in the redemptive work of Christ in the heart of the Order of Preachers. Our primary mission is to pray for the salvation of souls, and to support the preaching mission of the Dominican friars.
Cloistered contemplative life: faithful to the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church and observing Papal enclosure. The celebration of the Eucharist is central to our daily life. An important focus is praise and adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, and choral celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours at prescribed times.
The Dominican Nuns of the Monastery of St. Jude withdraw from the world to be at the heart of the Church. Our primary mission is to pray for the salvation of souls and for the preaching mission of the Dominican friars.
Conscious of our unique call in the heart of the church as enclosed contemplatives, we dedicate our entire selves to living the Eucharistic Mystery. Through our daily celebration of the Eucharistic Liturgy and time given to loving prayer before the exposed Eucharist, we are graced to incarnate this Mystery in our own lives.
It was revealed to our father St. Francis that he was to model his life on the Gospel. The form of life he established for St. Clare and the Poor Sisters was to observe the holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ by living in obedience, without anything of one's own, and in chastity.
The Handmaids are cloistered contemplatives dedicated to the honor, praise and worship of God. By our hidden apostolate, we extend the arms of prayer and sacrifice around the world, with a special solicitude for God's priests.
Clare and her sisters joyfully embraced a life of poverty, prayer and contemplation, solitude and seclusion that they might serve the Lord and His church through this holy manner of living as Francis had foretold. This life continues today in our little monastery of San Damiano on Ft. Myers Beach, Florida.
Our charism is to observe the poverty and humility of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Holy Mother, living the Gospel life as followers of St. Clare and St. Francis, in contemplative community of charity and unity within the enclosure.
We are contemplative nuns, in the Franciscan tradition. Our mission is to offer our Eucharistic Lord continual adoration in a spirit of reparative thanksgiving, as well as serve as intercessors for the needs the Church and all souls. We are blessed to live in the Sonoran desert, in solitude and silence and surrounded by God’s beauty.
The Poor Clares of Barhamsville are a cloistered, monastic community following the inspiration of St. Francis of Assisi and his faithful disciple, St. Clare. We seek the face of God as He reveals Himself in the Liturgy of the Church, our contemplation of the Eucharist and the Scriptures.
The Capuchin Poor Clares are a religious Order founded by Saint Francis and Saint Clare of Assisi in the thirteenth century. We live in community, embracing joyfully a life of poverty and fraternity. We are contemplative sisters whose lives revolve around prayer, manual work, study and silence, all for the greater glory of God.
In our loving community of Sisters here in Wappingers Falls, New York we work together, pray together and play together, setting aside of course, those private times of solitude needed by each Sister to develop and deepen her own inner life.