Trappist Cistercian Nuns of Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey
The Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance is a monastic order consecrated to contemplation. We are dedicated to the worship of God through a life of love, according to the Rule of St Benedict.
The monastic rhythm of life includes Daily Eucharist, the Liturgy of the Hours, manual work, and Lectio Divina. Our vows of obedience, stability, and conversion call us to ever-deeper humility, for love of Christ, one another, and all creation.
Trappist-Cistercian nuns are invited into deep simplicity, solitude, and sacrifice, as well as to abundant loving-kindness, freedom, and joy! Hidden from popular sight but exposed to our own personal need for mercy, we are called to seek Jesus in our particular community and specific place. In this ordinary yet sacred way, we get to participate in Christ's work for the fruitfulness of the Church and world.
Our community is richly diverse in age, background, and personality, and the Holy Spirit helps us to grow together into the one Body of Christ.
Located on a high bluff-top in the Upper Mississippi River Valley of northeastern Iowa, surrounded by hundreds of acres of rolling fields and woodlands, we cherish our monastic land as both a profound responsibility to be cared for and a holy refuge to be shared.
We want to be poor with the poor Christ, he who became poor because he so wanted to be with us! And because we so need him.
-St. Bernard of Clairvaux, early Cistercian
Contact:
Sr. Madeleine beverly, Vocation Director
Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey
8400 Abbey Hill Lane
Dubuque, IA 52003-9576
563-582-2595 x123
vocations@olmabbey.org
http://mississippiabbey.org
Professed Members: 17
Year Founded: 1964
Diocese: Dubuque, IA
Federation: Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappistines)
Worldwide: 22 countries
Qualifications: Some college or work experience after high school, good physical, mental, and emotional health
Formation: 1 year postulancy, 2 years novitiate, simple vows for 5-9 years before solemn profession
Age range/limit: 18-40
Belated vocations? No