Presently we are ten professed sisters, a joyful and prayerful group of women who take seriously our vocation to a life of prayer as Poor Clares.
In the tradition of our co-founders Clare and Francis, we, the Poor Clares of South Carolina, are dedicated to a life of contemplative prayer, evangelical poverty and life in community. This means that our primary mission and ministry is prayer, interceding for the needs of our sisters and brothers throughout the world. Our day’s activities revolve around communal and personal prayer.
Poor Clares have traditionally lived a life of enclosure; that is, we are cloistered. However, Clare lived a cloistered life while at the same time attentively sharing in the concerns of the citizens of Assisi. She cared for people’s needs in a very personal and practical way, primarily through prayer, but also through her gifts of healing and spiritual wisdom. The original Poor Clares enjoyed a relationship of mutual support with their neighbors. Today, we continue to carry on our tradition of being a prayerful presence, and offering spiritual direction and space for solitude and prayer.
As Poor Clares our vow of evangelical poverty and simple, gospel living impel us to be dependent on God’s Providence. While prayer is the focus of our lives, we also help support ourselves by the work of our hands. Our work distributing altar breads and producing prayer remembrance cards yields approximately one third of our annual budget. Over half of our annual operating needs are provided by generous, faithful friends who value and support our life and vocation.
The monastery is a sacred place where our intimate relationship with God can be nourished. It encompasses all the activities of daily living in one place. It is where we celebrate Eucharist, pray the Liturgy of the Hours, work, study, receive guests, and live out our lives. It is where we grow in charity and love, and where we offer our gift of prayer with and for all creation.
Living in community is both a gift and a challenge! We come from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and from many different life experiences. We also have a variety of opinions on almost any subject! Yet all those differences pale in comparison to the unity we share at our deepest center–our bond as sisters in Jesus Christ.