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Jesus
answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and
give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come,
follow me."
(Matthew 19:21)
Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey is a
cloistered, monastic community of 30 Trappistine nuns of the Order
of Cistercians of the Strict Observance. We are situated on a farm
on a high bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, about seven miles
from Dubuque, Iowa. Our main means of support is the production and
sale of Trappistine Creamy Caramels. As Cistercians, we follow the
Rule of St Benedict, written in the sixth century. Our Order was
founded in 1098 by Saints Robert, Alberic, and Stephen in a
wilderness area called Citeaux, in the diocese of Burgundy, France.
As Trappistines, our branch of the Cistercian family follows a
seventeenth century reform by the Abbey of La Trappe.
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 The Benedictine balance is a day made up of
choral and private prayer, lectio divina (meditative reading
of Scripture and other spiritual books), and manual labor. Each day
begins with the Office of Vigils at 3:45 a.m. Then we have about
three hours for silent prayer, lectio, breakfast, and taking
a walk. Lauds is chanted at 7:30, followed by chapter (community
meeting, sometimes with a spiritual talk by the abbess). Morning
work is 8:30-11:30, with the Office of Terce recited at work. Midday
Prayer is sung in choir at noon, followed by our main meal of the
day, taken in common in the refectory; our minds are fed by
listening to spiritual reading even as our bodies take in
nourishment. (Our Order is vegetarian for the most part.) After
dishes, there is time for an optional siesta. Afternoon work is from
2:00-4:00. For much of the year, our community is able to have
“free” afternoons for lectio and study on Wednesdays,
Fridays, and Saturdays. Vespers integrated with Eucharist is at
5:00, followed by a quarter hour of silent prayer and a light
supper. Compline, the last prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours, is at
7:15 p.m. |
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The Cistercian Order
of the Strict Observance is a monastic institute wholly ordered to
contemplation. The monks dedicate themselves to the worship of God
in a hidden life within the monastery under the Rule of St.
Benedict. They lead a monastic way of life in solitude and silence,
in assiduous prayer and joyful penitence, thus rendering to the
divine majesty a service that is at once humble and
noble.
(Constitutions of the
Order) |
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