The Monastery
The Poor Clare life is a life lived in the experience of the indwelling Holy Trinity and the design of the monastery symbolises this. In effect, the outer building reflects the inner, spiritual life of the community.
The main building consists of three interconnecting circles. The circle is a symbol of the eternal or the divine and the interconnectedness signifies the life of the Trinity within which the sisters live.
The architecture of the monastery is designed as a symbol of the spiritual calling of the Poor Clares as described by St. Francis when he wrote these words for St. Clare:
“Because by divine inspiration,
you have made yourselves daughters and servants of the most high King,
the heavenly Father,
and have taken the Holy Spirit as your spouse,
choosing to live according to the perfection of the holy Gospel,
I resolve and promise for myself and for my brothers
to have that same loving care and special solicitude for you
as I have for them”.
“Daughters of the…
heavenly Father…”
We live in the providence of a loving God. The first circle building is where the sisters experience daily God’s care, both in the food we eat and in the gift of one another’s companionship. The dining and community rooms are in this circle.
“ …to live according to the perfection
of the holy gospel…”
For Francis and Clare, to live according to the perfection of the gospel is to live as Jesus lived. They often described this as “following in the footprints of Jesus”.
The second circle is the only one open to the public. It is the central building and at its heart is the chapel with the Blessed Sacrament. The Eucharist is the centre and heart of the life of the community and it is here that the sisters gather daily for prayer and adoration.
Several small reception rooms, where the sisters are able to meet with the people with the compassion of Jesus and minister to their needs through prayer and spiritual direction, surround the chapel.
“…you have taken the Holy Spirit
as your Spouse…”
The third circle contains the library where the sisters have access to spiritual books that support and guide their spiritual lives. The library is surrounded by the sisters’ bedrooms, which in turn lead out to the hermitage garden.
The hermitages are the place of solitude where we enter deeply into the call of the Spirit. It is in solitude that we encounter the divine love and discover the resurrected self, which was always the quest of the Celtic monastic life.
I wish, O Son of the living God,
Eternal ancient King,
For a secret hut in the wilderness
That it may be my dwelling.”
(Prayer of St. Manchan)
A prophecy about
Clare and her sisters
from Francis
Therefore, beloved sisters, we must consider the immense gifts
that God has bestowed on us, especially those that He
has seen fit to work through His beloved servant, our
blessed father Francis, not only after our conversion but also
while we were still [living among] the vanities of the world. In
fact, almost immediately after his conversion, when he had
neither brothers nor companions, while he was building the
church of San Damiano, where he was totally visited by
divine consolation and impelled to completely abandon the
world,through the great joy and enlightenment of the Holy
Spirit, the holy man made a prophecy about us that the Lord
later fulfilled.
For at that time, climbing the wall of that church,
he shouted in French to some poor people
who were standing nearby:
“Come and help me in the work [of building] the monastery of San Damiano,
because ladies are yet to dwell here who will
glorify our heavenly Father throughout His holy, universal Church by
their celebrated and holy manner of life”
(Testament of Clare, 14)
Desire to have above all else the Spirit of the Lord
and the Spirit’s holy manner of working. - St. Clare
