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Clare founded the Order of Poor Ladies at San Damiano, and led it for 40 years. Everywhere the Franciscans established themselves throughout Europe, there also went the Poor Clares, depending solely on alms, forced to have complete faith on God to provide through people; this lack of land-based revenues was a new idea at the time. Clare’s mother and sisters later joined the order, and there are still thousands of members living lives of silence and prayer.

Intercessory Prayer—Let us ask Saint Clare to intercede with God today to assist us with our urgent prayer needs, and to intercede for all cloistered religious who strive to live for God alone!

A joyful, informative and inspirational inside look at lives totally dedicated to Christ Jesus, their Beloved Spouse. View video.

Pro Orantibus Day Recalls Cloistered Communities as the “Heart” of the Church

(Aug. 12, 2010) Nov. 21 is the Church’s Pro Orantibus Day, an annual day of solidarity and support for cloistered and monastic religious throughout the world. Pope Benedict XVI spoke to a group of cloistered Dominican nuns in Rome in June, referring to such religious as “the heart” which pumps life to the rest of the Body of Christ.

The Holy Father has often spoken of the tremendous value of the cloistered, contemplative life. This time he compared the role of the cloistered nuns in their life of contemplation, work and prayer to the heart that gives life-giving blood to the rest of the body. Pope Benedict said that their lives were “hidden with Christ,” and that they contribute to the mission of the Church, which is the “instrument of salvation for every man that the Lord has redeemed with His Blood.” Read CNS story.

Pro Orantibus Day was begun by Pope John Paul II in 1997, and the Holy Father asked that this ecclesial event be observed worldwide, and that it be observed as a special day to thank those in the cloistered and monastic life for serving as “a leaven of renewal and of the presence of the spirit of Christ in the world.” The Pope also intended it to remind others of the need to provide spiritual and material support “for those who pray.”

The nationwide effort to publicize Pro Orantibus Day is coordinated by the Institute on Religious Life, a national organization based in Chicago.

For instruction and aids to celebrate the day please see our FREE resources.

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To order a copy of “Amata Means Beloved,” visit the Sisters’ website.

In the Western world, we see continuous and progressive changes, all of which weigh heavily on religious vocations. And although there has been a general decrease in the number of vocations to the consecrated life in the last few decades, vocations to the contemplative life of women are increasing in comparison with those of active communities. In places such as Africa, Asia and in many countries in Latin America monastic and cloistered life of women religious is flourishing in such a way that they continue to open up new convents and send out vocations to replenish dwindling monasteries elsewhere.

Here are some numbers offering a more precise idea of the monastic presence in the Church. According to recent Vatican statistics, there are 12,876 monks residing in 105 monasteries worldwide. In addition to these, there are 48,493 nuns living in 3,520 monasteries of which 2 out of 3 are in Europe.