Photo of Simple Profession of Sister Mary Rose
Vocation News

Sister Mary Rose’s First Profession

The Dominican Nuns joyfully announce the First Profession of Sister Mary Rose of the Pure Heart, O.P., which took place on January 13.

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Fr. James Brent, O.P., celebrated the Mass of First Profession.  In his homily, commenting on the Gospel reading of the Annunciation, Father spoke of how God chose, called, and accomplished His work in the Blessed Virgin Mary so that she could respond to His Word.  In a similar though lesser way, God chose, called, and accomplishes His work in Sister Mary Rose and each Sister called to the cloistered contemplative life, so that they too may respond to God with their “Fiat” and may contemplate the Word breathing love.

Sister Mary Rose entered the monastery in 2015 and spent one year as a postulant and two years as a novice before this important step in her journey to total consecration to God.  By making First Profession, Sister promised obedience to God and her superiors in the Dominican monastic life for a period of three years.  This is meant to strengthen her vocation and root her more solidly in her calling as a Dominican nun in preparation for lifelong Solemn Profession.

Sister’s  family was able to come from California and Wyoming join us for the ceremony; her two brothers, one in seminary for the diocese of Monterey, served the Mass.  Please keep Sister Mary Rose in your prayers as she continues to grow in her contemplative Dominican vocation.

For more information:

Photo of Dominican nun solemn vows
Dominican Life, Vocation News

Solemn Profession of Sister Mary Thomas of the Holy Name of Jesus, O.P.

On Wednesday, January 3, 2018, the feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, Sr. Mary Thomas of the Holy Name of Jesus, O.P. made her Solemn Profession in the hands of the prioress, Mother Mary of the Precious Blood of Jesus, O.P.

  • Photo of entrance procession
    Entrance Procession as seen from the choir
  • Sister’s twin brother Deacon Dominic Rankin sings the Gospel
  • Photo of Dominican nun making cruciform prostration
    “What do you seek?” “God’s mercy and yours.”
  • Photo of Dominican nuns at Solemn Profession ceremony
    Mother Prioress questions Sister about her desire to make Solemn Profession and be totally consecrated to God.
  • Photo of Dominican nun
    Sister Mary Thomas prostrates during the Litany of the Saints
  • Photo of Dominican nun solemn vows
    “I make profession and promise obedience . . . until death.”
  • Photo of Dominican nuns
    Mother and Sister pin on the blessed veil of the solemnly professed nun
  • Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi blesses the wedding ring representing Sister’s espousals to Christ
  • Dominican chant for Amo Christum, sung after the Dominican nun receives her blessed veil.
  • Sister Mary Thomas and Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., homilist
  • Photo of Dominican nun and deacon
    Sister Mary Thomas and her twin brother Deacon Dominic Rankin
  • Dominican Nun and servers
    Sister Mary Thomas and brothers, cousins and friends who served Mass
  • Photo of Dominican nun and family
    Sister Mary Thomas and family
  • Be faithful to Jesus, your Spouse, so that you may come to the wedding feast of eternal joy.

Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi of our Archdiocese of Mobile celebrated the Profession Mass, joined by many priest friends of the community.  “Dearest sister, by this solemn profession you have given yourself to God and to His will,” proclaimed Archbishop Rodi over the newly professed nun.  “God Himself, therefore, has consecrated you to Himself through the ministry of the Church in preparation for the gospel of peace so that you may be His own heritage and He may be your heritage forever.”

Sister Mary Thomas is one of three children of Mark and Stephanie Rankin of Quincy, Illinois.  As a child she always wanted to be a nun, and when she learned of the Dominican nuns during her senior year of homeschool high school, she immediately wrote the monastery: “I think your life is for me!”  Sister joined the community in November 2011 after a year at college, and completed six years of monastic formation prior to her Solemn Vows.  She shares a sacred vocation with her twin brother, Deacon Dominic Rankin, who will be ordained to the priesthood this May for the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.  He sang the Gospel at the Profession Mass, while their younger brother Alexander and many cousins and friends served.

In his homily, Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., spoke inspiringly of the important role of the Dominican nuns’ life of prayer. While the friars, sisters, and laity of the Dominican Order preach the Name of Jesus for the salvation of souls, the Dominican nuns seek, ponder, and call upon Him in solitude so that the Word which goes forth from the mouth of God may not return to Him empty, but may bear much fruit.

This is the vocation which Sister Mary Thomas of the Holy Name of Jesus received from God. If you think God might be calling you to this vocation, we encourage you to respond with joy! (Learn more at our Vocations Page.)

News and Updates

New Website Design

During this season of Advent we have updated our website to a new design, with a few new pages as well.  We hope that it is good looking, easy to navigate, and helpful in portraying our Dominican monastic life.

If you find any broken links or other problems, please let us know so we can make sure everything is in working order.  Thank you and God bless you!

Marian Consecration

Ave Maria for Advent

In honor of our Blessed Mother’s two beautiful Advent feastdays – the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe – we want to share with you this Ave Maria.

Our founding Mothers brought this “Ave Maria” with them from the Dominican monastery in Catonsville, Maryland. We sing it solemnly every day after Mass for forty days before Christmas, concluding after Midnight Mass of Christmas itself. It sets a tone that blends in with the dark evenings, purple vestments, and lighted candles of Advent, as we unite ourselves with the expectation, hope, and petition of the Patriarchs and Prophets as they longed for the coming of the Messiah, dawning at last in the words of the first “Ave” spoken by the angel to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Vocation Letters

Vocation Letters: Life as a Novice

After a hiatus of two years, we continue following the story of our fictional novice, Sister Mary Rosaria, taking up her life where we left her after her Vestition.  For the history of this series, see our Vocation Letters page.

Ave + Maria

Dear Mom,

Joyful greetings as we close this month of the Holy Rosary!  I have been meaning to write you about my life as a novice, as I know you have been wondering how things have changed for me in the months following my Vestition (reception of the habit).

I have found it to be a beautiful experience of entering more deeply into this vocation as a Dominican novice—even literally, as I “enter into” the habit each morning as I dress myself in this sign of dedication to Christ and of belonging to this Dominican community.  Of course, it takes some time to get used to wearing a flowing white garment every day, and to handle the white Dominican scapular that hangs down in front and back, a sign of Our Lady’s loving care all around us.  Looking so much more like a nun, and responding to my new name each day, reminds me continually to strive to correspond to God’s call by giving myself more fully to Jesus and Mary for the salvation of souls.

As a novice, I am assigned new roles in our singing of the Divine Office, which is lovely, and I have a greater responsibility to give a good example to the Sisters younger than I.  Most daily activities, though, remain the same: my daily Hour of Guard praying the Rosary, our novitiate classes, helping cook on the days the novitiate helps in the kitchen, enjoying recreation with the novitiate or with Mother and all the Sisters, being ready for whatever big or little project Sister Mary Magistra has planned for our work period or to do at recreation!  It is mainly my perspective which continues to grow as I enter more deeply into the life of a Dominican nun.

I keep you all in my prayers—pray for me and give my love to everyone at home!

With love in Our Lady,

Sister Mary Rosaria

Further Reading:

Jesus in the Eucharist

Eucharistic Adoration on October 13

October is traditionally celebrated as the month of the Holy Rosary, so it is fitting that this October 13 we will celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the last apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. In 1917, after a series of apparitions in each of which Our Lady urged the children to do penance for the salvation of souls and to pray the Rosary, she appeared to them a last time as the crowd of upwards of 30,000 spectators observed the spectacular Miracle of the Sun.

Celebrating October 13 with Eucharistic Adoration

In honor of this occasion, Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi of our Archdiocese of Mobile has called for a day of Eucharistic Adoration: “This anniversary of Fatima gives us a wonderful opportunity to observe a historic moment in which all churches and chapels of the archdiocese are asked to join together in prayer through the Exposition of the Holy Eucharist on the same day.”

“The apparitions of our Mother Mary at Fatima brought, and continues to bring, God’s blessings to the people of God,” the Archbishop said. “Her message or prayer and repentance is as simple as it is profound. We often live our lives without opening our hearts to God’s powerful call to ‘repent and believe!’ (Mk 1:15)”

For What Should We Pray?

Exhorting the people of the archdiocese to participate by spending at least an hour in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, Archbishop Rodi continued:

For what should we pray? The prayer of the Our Father gives us a great starting point. We should ask God for “our daily bread.” In other words, to pray for the needs in our personal lives and in our world. Let us pray for our world, nation, state, communities, families, loved ones and ourselves. This is certainly pleasing to God. As Jesus taught us in the Gospel of John: “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” (Jn 14:13-14)

Let us also remember to pray: “Thy will be done.” So often our prayer is asking for “My will be done, not Thy will be done.” God’s plans are always better than ours. God’s plans are always for our good. God’s plans are always what is best for us. The miracles of prayers are often not that we get what we ask for but that prayer changes us and makes us willing to open ourselves to God’s will. In this way, prayer brings us closer to God and allows us to trust God and lean on Him for strength.

Join Us in Eucharistic Adoration

For us as Dominican nuns dedicated to the perpetual prayer of the Rosary before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, Eucharistic Adoration and prayer are a way of life! We invite you to join us in prayer especially on October 13 in response to the Archbishop’s exhortation, either in our chapel, at a church near you, or in spirit from your home.

On Friday, October 13, our normal 7:30 am daily Mass will be in honor of Our Lady of Fatima. Eucharistic Adoration will follow as usual, with the chapel open to the public until 6:00 pm. At 11:25 am we sing Midday Prayer followed by the recitation of the Rosary until noon; at 3:00 pm we sing Midafternoon Prayer. Anyone is welcome to join us for Eucharistic Adoration and silent prayer throughout the day.

As Archbishop Rodi concluded, “May this day of archdiocesan observance honor the Immaculate Heart of Mary by honoring her Son, Jesus Christ, who is the Savior of sinners and the hope of salvation. Let this day remind us of our need to pray, to repent, to do penance and to renew our resolve to live in the dignity of the children of God.”

Marian Consecration

Sanctifying our Work – Fatima Centenary

The Fatima Centenary

This year, 2017, is the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady to the three shepherd children at Fatima.  The 13th of each month from May to October, the actual anniversaries of the apparitions, are special days to honor Our Lady and obtain a plenary indulgence.

How are we observing this special year?  One thing we are doing is reading a book written by Sister Lucia, the one of the shepherd children who grew up and became a Carmelite nun.  She wrote “Calls” from the Message of Fatima to answer the many questions she was asked about the meaning of the apparitions.  Here we would like to share with you a passage from the Sixth Call, “The Call to Prayer,” because it shows so beautifully what our life is like in the monastery, while also being applicable to life in the world.

Holy Card from the Dominican Nuns in Fatima

Sanctifying our Work

Sister Lucia writes:

In carrying out our everyday tasks, we must endeavour to be aware of God’s presence: call to mind that God and our Angel Guardian are close to us, see what we are doing, and in what frame of mind we are doing it.  Hence, we must sanctify our work, our rest, our meals, our wholesome entertainments, as if they were an on-going prayer.  Knowing that God is present, it is enough to call Him to mind and from time to time say a few words to Him: whether of love — I love you, Lord! — or of thanksgiving — Thank you, Lord for all your benefits—, or of petition — Lord, help me to be faithful to You; forgive me my sins, my ingratitude, my coldness, my failure to understand, my backsliding — or of praise — I bless you , Lord, for your greatness, for your goodness, for your wisdom, for your power, for your mercy, for your justice, for your love.  This intimate and familiar converse with God transforms our work and our daily occupations into a true and abiding life of prayer, making us more pleasing to God and bringing down upon us extra special graces and blessings.  (“Calls” from the Message of Fatima, p. 95.)

This prayer of being mindful of God and speaking with Him while we work is an integral part of our life in the monastery.  We spend a good deal of time in formal prayer, either at Mass or singing the Psalms in the Divine Office or praying the Rosary or adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, but we also spend a good deal of time going about our household tasks that keep the monastery running every day.  During this time, too, we are united to God.  Yet this form of prayer Sister Lucia describes is not for monks and nuns only, but for people in every walk of life as they go about the duties of their daily life at home, school, or work.

May this anniversary inspire us to give ourselves more completely to Jesus through Mary in the ordinary events of daily life, and offer God the sacrifice of our daily duty out of love for Him and in reparation for sin.

News and Updates

Easter Greetings from Marbury

Alleluia!--Jesus rescues the souls from limbo as He rises from the dead, by Fra Angelico

Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling down death by death,
and upon those in the tomb bestowing life!

May peace and joy be yours on this glorious feast of Christ’s Resurrection.

“Regina Coeli laetare, alleluia!” we sing today and throughout this Easter season, rejoicing with Our Lady. Her Son whom she merited to bear has now risen as He promised. Rejoice, O Heavenly Queen!

We keep you all in our prayers during this joyful time.  Haec dies quam fecit Dominus–this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

In our Risen Lord and His Blessed Mother,
Mother Mary of the Precious Blood, O.P. and Sisters

Image of the Crucifixion highlighting the Precious Blood of Jesus
Dominican Life, Dominican Saints, Liturgical Year

Video: Canticle of the Passion

The Canticle of the Passion, or the “Passion Verses” as we say, is a specifically Dominican devotion traditionally sung on the Fridays of Lent.  A compilation of texts from Sacred Scripture relating to the sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, this devotion was revealed by the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Catherine de Ricci, a cloistered Dominican Tertiary of the 16th century, after the Saint experienced the first of her many ecstasies sharing Our Lord’s Passion.

“Our Lady is said to have desired Catherine, when she revealed this Canticle to her, to spread it through the convent as a form of prayer and contemplation supremely pleasing to our Lord. The venerable confessor, Fra Timoteo, wrote it out in full at the saint’s dictation and submitted it for the approval of the Order. Padre Francesco di Castiglione had then become general, and he was not satisfied with allowing its use in San Vincenzio. By a circular letter to all monasteries of the Province he ordered it to be placed amongst the regular devotions and forms of prayer peculiar to the Dominicans; and it has remained celebrated amongst us, under the title Canticle of the Passion, as a monument to the tender love of our great Dominican saint, Catherine de Ricci, for her crucified Jesus”  (from St Catherine de’ Ricci : Her Life, Her Letters, Her Community by Florence Mary Capes, p. 76-77).

The Canticle of the Passion is a good example of how Dominican devotions flow from and lead to the Liturgy.  Like the Liturgy, the Canticle is woven out of Sacred Scripture and sung to the haunting tones of our Dominican chant, leading us to enter more deeply into the solemn mysteries of this season of Passiontide and Holy Week.

The above is a recording of the Canticle of the Passion as we sang it during this Lent. (The chant we sing in Latin; we have added English subtitles along with pictorial meditations from sacred art.)

Liturgy

Presentation of the Infant Jesus

O Thou, Who through Thy birth hast sanctified the virginal womb,
and Who hast blessed the arms of Simeon as it is meet,
do Thou, when wars prevail, give peace to Thy people.
Hail O thou, full of grace, virgin and Mother of God,
for from thee has arisen the Sun of Justice, Christ God,
illuminating those who are in darkness.

This Feast, celebrated on February 2, has several names, all pertaining to the various meanings of the Feast. In the Eastern Church it is called Hypapante or Encounter, because Simeon and Anna encountered the Infant Jesus in the Temple. We usually know it as the Feast of the Presentation – the 40th day after His Birth when Jesus was presented by Mary and Joseph in fulfillment of the Law of Moses. The Law also prescribed that mothers submit to a rite of purification at the same time, so today’s Feast has a strong Marian significance. Our Lady, who is All-pure, willingly submitted to this rite, giving us a marvelous example of obedience to the Church in all things.

Adorn your bridal chamber, O Sion, and receive Christ, the King. Greet Mary, the gate of heaven, with loving embrace; for she bear the King of Glory, the new Light. There stands the Virgin, in her arms the Son begotten before the day-star.
(Procession hymn)

This Feast is also called Candlemas Day, the day on which all the candles to be used in the Liturgy are blessed. This signifies that Simeon called Jesus the Light of Revelation to the Gentiles. By our Baptism and Confirmation we are required to bring the Light of Christ to the world too, and so before Mass the priest gives each of us a candle. Then all go in procession into the Church with the lighted candles.

We should never forget that consecrated life is a gift which comes from on high, an initiative of the Father “Who draws His creatures to Himself with a special love and for a special mission” (Vita Consecrata 17). This look of special love profoundly touches the heart of the one called, who is urged by the Holy Spirit to place himself or herself in the footsteps of Christ, in a particular way of following Him, by means of assuming the Evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience.

In 1997, Pope John Paul II designated this day as Consecrated Life day. He chose this day specifically because this Feast “reveals the mystery of Jesus, the One consecrated by the Father, come into the world to carry out His will faithfully.” All religious are obliged by their religious consecration to do this in a special way. Consecrated life the Pope said, is a “stupendous gift” of the Father to the Church. On this day everyone should “give unceasing praise and thanks to the Lord” for this gift. Furthermore he intended that celebration of this Feast should “promote a knowledge and esteem for the consecrated life by the entire People of God.” “What would become of the world if there were no religious?” he quotes from St. Teresa. Yes, with all our hearts we thank God for our call to religious life!