CLOISTERED DOMINICAN OF THE PERPETUAL ROSARY OF THE MONASTERY OF ST. JUDE

Cloistered Dominican of the Perpetual Rosary  –  Sister María Gloria del Cielo, O.P.                                of the Monastery of St. Jude                                                                                                                                                         † The first interracial cloister in the United States †                                                                                                       “Mary’s Guard of Honor”                                                                                               “A witness to a culture of love, a powerhouse of prayer . . . and                                                                         an intercessor for the salvation of souls”

Foundresses:  Mother Mary Dominic of the Crown, O.P.                                                                                                 Mother Mary of the Child Jesus, O.P.

Place:  Marbury, Alabama

Year:  1944 A.D.

Her Charism:  This Marian Dominican nun is a member of a vibrant Community whose life is one or prayer and singing praise to God and His Holy Mother.  In her monastery (which is a marketplace of love) she is “another Mary” witnessing Christ to others.  The observance of papal enclosure and monastic silence fosters in her soul “good soil” for the Word, enabling her to live in sisterly charity.  With the solemn celebration of the liturgy being at the “heart”    of her life, she vows to live with one mind and one heart in the Lord, interceding for the salvation of the world.  Zeal for souls is the “marrow” of her interior life in imitation of Jesus Who offered Himself completely for our salvation.  In the privilege of all-day Eucharistic Adoration and the Perpetual Rosary, her life is a continual remembrance of God.  She perpetuates St. Dominic’s charism of bearing the downtrodden and afflicted in her heart and immersing them in the inmost sanctuary of God’s compassion.  Totally consecrated to Our Lady and her Rosary, this nun brings before her in prayer the needs of the world and the Church.  In Dominican fashion, she becomes more conformed to Jesus, her Beloved Spouse.  †  In 1947, Sister Mary Joseph of the Rosary, O.P. was the first African-American Sister to join this Community.  She was a pioneer Sister who desired to serve God as “The Little Flower.” †