Poor Clare Monastery of Mary, Mother of the Church

In 1974, Saint Louis Church became a parish under the new Diocese of Arlington with its first bishop, Most Rev. Thomas J. Welsh. In 1977, Bishop Welsh invited the Poor Clares of Roswell, New Mexico, to establish a cloistered monastery here in the Diocese. He elected to build that monastery on the five acres that had been bequeathed to the Diocese in 1958 by Ludwood Popkins. On July 5, 1977, six Poor Clare nuns, with Mother Mary Francis as Abbess, took up temporary residence in the vacant former convent of the Franciscan Sisters who had taught in the parish school. On February 2, 1979, the Poor Clares took up permanent residence in the newly constructed monastery, located less than a mile from Saint Louis Parish.

More about the Poor Clare Colettines of the Monastery of Mary, Mother of the Church:

The Poor Clares are a Franciscan, cloistered, contemplative order, seeking union with God through a life of prayer and joyful penance, in the spirit of Saint Clare.

Professed Members: 15
Year Founded: 1977
Federation: Mary Immaculate
Archdiocese: Arlington, VA
Worldwide: 40 countries
Qualifications: Sound mental and physical health; good judgment and common sense.
Formation: Formation progresses from aspirancy to postulancy, to novitiate, to temporary profession, and then to permanent solemn profession.
Age range/limit: 18-30

A cloistered Poor Clare nun is:

a daughter of St. Francis and St. Clare, who seeks to observe the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, to listen to His words and follow in His footsteps.

She is a woman who seeks to find Christ and in this seeking of Him, finds the way to the depths of her own heart.

She wants to make a gift of her heart so that Christ may give her His Heart.

She desires to love Him totally who gave Himself totally for her sake.

She is one who is learning to love Him more selflessly, open to prayer and sacrifice for the Church, and for all, the living and the dead.

Leaving all things for God alone in a vowed life of obedience, without anything of her own, in chastity, and in enclosure, she discovers the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

She knows the One to Whose Love she has consecrated her life and that He will not disappoint her.

She is spouse of the Crucified