News

We welcome three new transafliated members to our community at Elmira: Sr. Mary Columba Brienza, O.P., Sr. Mary Emmanuella Handlos, O.P. and Sr. Mary Grace Thul, O.P.

In 2010, the sisters received the necessary approval  and is now established as the Caterina Benincasa Monastery, the  new Dominican foundation of nuns in New Castle, Delaware. Our Mo0nastery of Mary the Queen is their founding monastery. 

To see more of this new Community visit "Photos". 

A Warm Welcome to Sr. Marie Du Christ, O.P., who is with us for one year

January 1st, 2011

Sister was born in La Wallonie, the French part of Belgium in the middle of winter in 1938. She is the third girl of a family of seven. She has four sisters and two brothers. And if my math is correct, she would have been close to two years at the beginning of WWII. Sister candidly shared some of her history with us. Raised on a farm, her parents managed to have enough food for their family, she said, so her kind parents helped neighbors and those less fortunate than themselves during those difficult times.

In 1949, her parents decided to migrate to Canada with their seven children with the hope of providing them with a better future. They bought a farm and settled in the province of Quebec, since it too was French speaking.  After a number of years studying, she earned her qualifications to be a teacher and taught 45 little boys for one year. She loved every minute of it but chose instead to follow God's call to be a contemplative nun.

This was indeed a great sacrifice for her entire family especially her parents. At the time she was only nineteen years old and there were four younger siblings still attending school. Money was "tight" she said, but good Christians as they were, her parents gave her not only their permission but their blessing as well.In 1957, on the feast of Christ the King she entered the Dominican Monastery of our Lady of the Rosary in Berthierville, QC. where she lived for twenty-three years.  In 1980, sister got the required permission to visit with the nuns of the monastery of Our Lady of Grace in North Guilford, CT, for a few months rest. That visit, however, prompted her to transfer to the community in North Guilford, where she has been a member  for the pass thirty years.

We sincerely hope that this year will be a life-giving experience for sister