Celebrating Our 75th Jubilee!

Today marks the 75th anniversary of our monastery\’s establishment here in Lufkin! We had big plans for today: a Mass with numerous concelebrants, a reception, visits, souvenirs…but all that went by the wayside when COVID-19 came along. We hope to reschedule these events later, but for now our celebration has been scaled back a lot. Nevertheless, we are still celebrating!

We published a long and informative article on the history of our monastery in the latest issue of our newsletter, “Monastery Bells”. If you don\’t receive the Bells, you can read it here.

 (By the way, if you\’re interested in receiving our newsletter in your snail mailbox, please go to the email address on our website and send us your name and address! It\’s free!)

We also want to share just a few pictures that didn’t appear in the Bells:

This is another view of the first incarnation of the Monastery of the Infant Jesus. Note the statue of the Infant Jesus in front! We still have this statue in our infirmary yard. In 1945, the Monastery was right on Lotus Lane, instead of up the hill as it is today.

This photo was actually taken in the late 1940s, but it shows the growth the Monastery experienced in a short amount of time.

The sign on Lotus Lane directing visitors where to turn onto the access road to reach our Monastery today.

Part of the front of the Monastery today.

And finally–another version of our latest community picture!

We give joyful thanks to God for the past 75 years, and pray we will be here for many years to come!

Celebrating Martin the Charitable

Today is the feast of St. Martin de Porres, a Dominican saint from Peru. Here in Texas we give this day special importance because our state is in the Southern Dominican Province of the United States, which is dedicated to St. Martin de Porres. So this is our patronal feast day–and we are blessed to be a part of this missionary province.

St. Martin was particularly known for his charity. He was always caring for the sick and unwanted, even bringing them into the Dominican priory where he lived as a cooperator brother. The prior was not too happy about this (and probably not some of the brothers either), but Martin\’s goodness won the day and he continued his ministry of mercy until his death.

St. Martin also had a special relationship with animals. As you can see in the drawing above, he is frequently pictured with various animals–cats, mice, rats, dogs, birds–all co-existing in harmony with each other–even, in this case, sharing the same bowl of food! Martin achieved this by speaking gently with these creatures, and through the grace of God miracles abounded. Martin is perhaps best known for ending a plague of mice in the priory by simply asking the mice to stay outside. Which they did. To this day, popular legend suggests that if you pray to St. Martin and later see a mouse (alive or a representation thereof) your prayer will be answered.

St. Martin, who was the son of a free Black woman and a Spanish noble, is also the patron of social justice, as one of our sisters illustrated during the 1960s.

He is an excellent patron for our country–and our world–today, which is why we wanted to dedicate this post to him today.

As our chaplain pointed out in his homily this morning, St. Martin was able to bring enemies together and encourage them to be friends–as seen by the animals peacefully gathered around the food. Today in the United States we go to the polls to elect a President and members of the House and Senate. While the secular world encourages us to believe that all that we hold dear hangs on the outcome of this election, we should also keep in mind that political solutions will never have the power to save us. Only God can do that! So, we encourage all our fellow Americans to vote–but remember, whatever happens, God is still Lord of Heaven and earth. No election result can change that! And God is able to bring good out of any circumstance. Let us view these coming days (and possibly weeks) with serenity, knowing that God is in control of everything. And let us, like St. Martin de Porres’ animal friends, learn to live together in peace and harmony, regardless of race, color, class or religion–because we are all, in the end, God\’s children.

Celebrating Sr. Mary Margaret’s Feast Day

If you\’re thinking, “Wait, isn\’t St. Margaret of Hungary\’s feast day on January 18?” you would be right. However, since January tends to be a busy time–what with the New Year and Epiphany and all–Sister thought it would be more appropriate to have her feast day at another time of the year. We’ve had other prioresses do this too–notably, Sr. Mary John, whose feast day was December 27th, but who often celebrated either on Mother’s Day (as our spiritual mother) or sometimes the Nativity of John the Baptist (June 24). So, like so many things in religious life, we have a precedent and a tradition!

Part of the feast day table (gifts, etc.) Notice the picture of St. Margaret of Hungary in the middle!
Left side of feast day table (when you are facing it)
Right side

We began with the feast day song, a musical retelling of Sr. Mary Margaret’s many adventures and accomplishments over the past year. It was written by one of the sisters and set to a familiar tune.

Sister seemed to enjoy it a lot!

Then, we played games all morning. They had a “mystery” theme at Sister\’s request.

The community was divided into four teams, three of which are pictured here. Sr. Mary Rose (right) supervised and kept score.

In the afternoon, Sister opened her many gifts. The vast majority were hand made by the sisters. Possibly some future raffle prizes?

As Sister opened her gifts, we passed them around the circle so all could admire them.

It was a delightful and fun-filled day, ending with a skit and more mysterious games in the evening. We also saw a movie on the two evenings before and after the actual day (Friday and Sunday), so we had a triduum of celebrations for Sister!

Thank you for everything you do, Sister, and for everything you are! May God continue to bless you abundantly, and all our community, too!

Happy Feast Day To You!

We\’ve had a lot of feast days to celebrate recently–the Archangels, St. Therese, the Guardian Angels, and Our Lady of the Rosary. So, how do we celebrate?

Some things are subject to change depending on circumstances. For example, we currently have a generous cook who makes whatever the feast day sister wants for dinner and supper on the big day (within reason, of course!). The novitiate sisters often have a little party when one of their own celebrates her feast day. And all the sisters receive cards, small gifts, prayers, and other tokens of affection from the other sisters.

And, we sing a song of the feast day sister’s choice at recreation! This is actually a big deal because sisters often choose songs we don’t sing at Mass–and therefore sing rarely. We all stand in a circle for the song. Before COVID-19, the feast day sister went around the circle to embrace each sister, but we put that on hold for the time being. Still, we are happy to be a part of the community and to have a group of sisters to support us in good times and bad.

As another song we never sing at Mass goes, “the best things in life are free”!

Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

Yesterday was the beautiful feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, dear to Dominicans everywhere because of our great devotion to the Holy Rosary. This feast is also known as “Our Lady of Victory”, because on this date the Christian forces of Europe under the command of Don Juan of Austria defeated the advancing Muslim army in the battle of Lepanto. Pope St. Pius V, a Dominican priest who became Pope, asked for all Christians to pray the rosary for victory, and through this prayer Don Juan\’s forces were victorious.

At many Dominican houses, it is the custom to bless and distribute roses on this feast, and our chaplain, Fr. John Lydon, OP, has been doing this.

Father invited the people attending our Mass and us, too, to select a blessed rose to take with us.

We thank Father for the roses he so graciously blessed, and for his beautiful Mass, too!

New International Website for the Dominican Nuns!

We\’re super excited to announce the launch of this website! And many, many thanks to our fellow American Sr. Mary Magdalene, OP who put it all together! Please continue to read the official press release, which has all the details:

Dominican Nuns Launch First International Website


Summit, New Jersey–The Nuns of the Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominican Nuns, launch their first international website, www.monialesop.org, in order to make their mission of prayer within the heart of the Order of Preachers better known.

St. Dominic de Guzman founded the Nuns of the Order in 1206, ten years before the friars were founded in 1216, when we gathered together nine women who were converts from the Cathar sect to the Catholic Faith at the Monastery of Notre Dame de Prouilhe in Southern France. From the very beginning St. Dominic associated the contemplative nuns to the mission of the Order to preach the Gospel for the salvation of souls through their lives of prayer and penance. 

According to tradition it was at this monastery that St. Dominic received the Rosary from Our Lady in 1208, although there are no historical documents to prove this oral tradition. 

Although each Dominican monastery is autonomous, the Dominican nuns are bound together by a common Rule and Constitutions and their profession of obedience to the Master of the Order of Preachers, which is unique among the contemplative orders of nuns.

The new website www.monialesop.org is in the three official languages of the Order of Preachers: English, French and Spanish. Readers can learn about the different elements that make up the contemplative life of the Nuns and the particular way the contemplative nuns participate in the preaching mission of the Order. 

There is an interactive map where one can any monastery in the world. Links to individual monastery websites as well as contact information can easily be found.

There is a resource page featuring various articles about the nuns’ charism as well as back issues of Monialibus, the international bulletin of the nuns. 

Although the Nuns of the Order were always listed on the main website of the Order of Preachers, the information was very difficult to find. Sr. Lioba Hill, OP, of the Monastery of Our Lady of Prouilhe, France, representative of the French monasteries on the International Commission of Nuns, proposed the idea of a website totally dedicated to the nuns. 

Sr. Mary Magdalene, OP, Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary, Summit, NJ was commissioned to create the website. Despite the challenges of language, nuns from all over the world collaborated with Sr. Mary Magdalene making the website a fruit of sisterly communion on an international level.

There are approximately 2500 nuns in 190 monasteries in five continents of the world. 

Happy 80th Birthday, Sr. Maria Cabrini!

Sr. Maria Cabrini with her special “80” cake

We wish Sr. Maria Cabrini a very happy 80th birthday, and may she live many years to come!

Readers of this blog may recall that we only begin to celebrate birthdays when a sister turns 80 (we usually celebrate feast days instead). We have a party on a sister\’s 80th birthday, and cake and ice cream for dessert on subsequent birthdays–unless the sister is lucky enough to turn 90, or 100, and then we have another party!

Although this may seem unfair, it really does work out well for everyone–because we all get to eat cake and ice cream along with the birthday sister!

The birthday girl with Sr. Mary Margaret, our prioress. Note the happy sisters picking up their cake and ice cream in the background!