Angel painting by
Sr. Mary Veronica

Why We Have Come

“This is the will of God, your sanctification.”
1 Thessalonians 4:3

The only answer we can give for dedicating our lives to God under the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience according to the Rule of the Community of St. Mary is that God calls us. He called us when we were outside in the world, and he continues to call us each day. We know that only the love of God can ever satisfy our hearts.

How Can This Be?

“If a man love me, he will keep my word.
And my Father will love him and we will come to him
and he will make our abode with him.”
John 14:23

Some of us came in the fervor of youth, for all the selfish reasons one could imagine; but God kept calling us into his love for his reasons. Some of us came after a full life in the world. Only God knows why the time of his calling is as different for each of us as we are diverse in appearance and abilities. What we have in common is that we want to give ourselves away — to be a witness to God's love in prayer and worship, in service to God’s people and the larger world, in fellowship with one another.

Preliminary Considerations

In looking at the possibility of a monastic vocation, the inquirer must understand that she does not come into a religious community to develop her own ideals, but to be conformed to an ideal already existent, a charism given by Jesus Christ to be held and cherished in faith. It is then a serious question for each aspirant to consider, “What is the inner spirit of the community I would like to enter? Can I surrender myself to it?”

The spirit of any religious organization like any human character, is marked by gradual growth and development. It evolves a corporate personality, gradually communicated to it by the Holy Spirit. This ethos may be traced to four sources varying in degrees of influence:

• The ideals of the founder, whom God has inspired for that special work
• The character of the patron saint who is chosen for the model and guide
• The nature of the external activities that are the expression of its internal life
• The response of the Community to current events and its worldly environment

The Charisms of the Community of Saint Mary

Mother Harriet was one of five founding sisters of our Community. While she was a strong individual, she gave her life to Christ through a familial relationship with the four others. The gifts she used in forming the spirit of the Community were:

• an affectionate nature that poured itself out in love toward God and His children
• a profound vision of the mixed life — a life of activity flowing from contemplation of and union with God
• a devotion to His will as revealed in the common events of daily life
• “sanctified common sense,” which avoided sentimentality or unreality either in prayer or work, and
• an unselfish capacity for cheerfulness, simplicity and mortification of self

Bishop Horatio Potter, the sixth Bishop of New York, instituted the fledgling community in 1865 with the condition that they choose St. Mary as their patroness. Following the example of Mary, our sisters seek perfection in discerning and doing the will of God, and allowing the power of the Holy Spirit to overshadow our lives.

The ideals of the Community that have evolved over the hundred-and-forty years of its existence are:

• a belief in our calling to the mixed life — ministry flowing from a contemplative prayer life
• devotion to the Divine Office and the Liturgy
• a spirit of enclosure, a garden enclosed, waiting for the Bridegroom
• centering our works around our convent home

Saint Mary's East has made a considered choice to remain one of the more traditional communities. We love our roots in our Founding Sisters and their grafting into the tradition of ancient cenobitic life. Our old Rule spoke of doing all the “corporal and spiritual works of mercy of which a woman is capable.” Our decisions are not made autocratically, but with a blend of the primitive Benedictine consultation of the brethren and American democracy.

Training and Stages

Postulants, novices and junior sisters are trained over a period of five to seven years. In addition to the professed sisters' regular times of prayer, work and study, postulants and novices are taught the basics of monastic life and church teachings. Junior sisters are assigned responsibilities within the community, but they take no vows until they are elected to life profession by all the professed sisters of the Community.

The Sisters of St. Mary are looking for a few good women who are…

• committed to giving themselves unreservedly to Jesus as Lord and Savior in the Anglican tradition;
• between the ages of 21 and 50 and are in good physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual health;
• single and unhindered by familial, financial or other personal obligations,
• seeking to know and serve God alone, first in a life of corporate and personal prayer and then by sharing in the ministries and outreach of the Community;
• prepared to consider a lifelong commitment to personal conversion, sanctification and service within stable community life, under the monastic vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience;
• open to learning responsible, adult obedience, accepting a common Rule and the wisdom and judgment of others in community life.

   If this description brings someone to your mind, pray that the Holy Spirit may open her heart to considering religious vocation in the Community of  St. Mary, and, if appropriate, invite her yourself to explore this possibility.

How Can I Learn More?

If you want to pursue your discernment of vocation, the best way is to arrange to visit us — see our ordinary Community living, and have a conversation with the Vocations Director. Write to the Vocation Director at St. Mary’s Convent, 242 Cloister Way, Greenwich, NY 12834-7918, or Email her. Please tell a little about yourself and why you believe God may be calling you to the Religious Life. We are always happy to hear from someone who is engaged in the process of discernment.