Journal

2018 Journal

On Tuesday, May 1, 2018, we had the great joy of re-electing our Mother Victoria Murray for a second six-year term as our Titular Prioress! Here are two photos from this happy occasion. Dom Brendan Freeman, superior at Mellifont Abbey in Ireland, presided at the election. Mother Kathy DeVico, abbess of Redwoods Monastery in California, was an official witness for our election. Please pray for M. Vicki as she begins this new term of service to our community.   left to right: Mother Kathy, Mother...

2018 Journal

January-February 2018 at Santa Rita Abbey Things have been busy around here so far this year. Here are some highlights. Fr. James Garcia was our resident chaplain for six months of 2017, July-December. He left us after Mass on January 1, 2018. We are grateful for his generous service--not only providing us with the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but also cheerfully lending a hand with various chores around the monastery and retreat house! Thank you, Fr. Jim, for your months of devoted service to our community! May God bless you as you move on to your next assignment. On January 3, Dom Brendan Freeman,...

2018 Journal

Mother Cecile Jubinville Our beloved former superior and first prioress, Mother Cecile Jubinville, was called home to God on December 31, 2017. She was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on February 17, 1920, daughter of Raoul Jubinville and Leoni Laroche. After graduating from high school, Cecile studied nursing and worked in that profession for several years. Discerning God's call to the contemplative life, she responded by entering our mother house, Mt. St. Mary's Abbey, in Wrentham, Massachusetts, in November 1949. In those days she was considered a "late" vocation, being about ten years older than the more typical vocational candidates at the time. Mount Saint Mary's Abbey itself had just been founded in...

2018 Journal

Christmas 2017 at Santa Rita Abbey Happy New Year 2018! We hope you enjoyed a lovely Christmas celebration with your loved ones. May 2018 be full of blessings for you and all the world! Here are a few scenes from our Christmas celebrations here at Santa Rita Abbey: the blessing of our Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve; Midnight Mass; Christmas dawn; Day Mass; festive dinner and supper; outdoor Christmas decorations; Mass on the Feast of St Stephen. Enjoy!    

2017 Journal

November-December 2017 at Santa Rita Abbey Christmas is just around the corner, but here's a little news from November and early December. We'll publish a Christmas journal entry sometime after the New Year. Thanksgiving Day We hope you and your loved ones enjoyed a lovely day of thanks-giving on Nov 23. Here are a few photos from our own celebration: Fr. Jim at the altar during Mass, Sisters receiving communion, and everyone helping in the kitchen afterward. We shared our Thanksgiving dinner with Fr. Jim, our chaplain, and our Benedictine brothers from neighboring Erlac Monastery. Sr. Clare's 90th Birthday Our Sr. Clare became a nonagenarian on Nov 27! She is the first of us to reach this august age, and...

2017 Journal

October 2017 (part 2) at Santa Rita Abbey Annual Retreat & A Little Halloween Fun Our annual community retreat was the week of October 15-21 this year. We stay right here for our retreat, but we take a holiday from our Cistercian Altar Bread bakery production. We never take a holiday from prayer, however, so we got up at 3:00 a.m. for the Office of Vigils as usual, then Lauds at 7:00 and Vespers at 5:00 p.m. (a little early for the retreat). Fr. Francis Michael came from Holy Spirit Monastery in Georgia to be our retreat director this year. Each morning Fr. FM presided at the Eucharist for us, preached the homily, and afterwards gave us a retreat conference...

2017 Journal

September-October 2017 at Santa Rita Abbey Mother Vicki was away at our Order's General Chapter for most of the month of September. It is always an extraordinary experience to be among abbots and abbesses of our Order from all around the world--the unity of the Order, of the Church, of the human race, is profoundly felt. A highlight was the private audience with the Holy Father in Rome. See the red circle in the photo above? That's our Mother Vicki among the capitulants in the aula at the Domus Pacis conference center in Assisi, Italy. To see more...

2017 Journal

July & August 2017 at Santa Rita Abbey After a very bad fire season in the Sonoita-Elgin area this year (the Sawmill Fire in April, the Kellogg Fire in May, and the Encino Fire in June, to name just a few), we then received record amounts of rain in July, bringing fire season to an end at last. Alleluia! Here at Santa Rita Abbey we received just under twelve inches of rain in July, 11.96"! This is nearly five inches above our previous record of 7.11" in...

2017 Journal

May - June 2017 at Santa Rita Abbey Friends and Volunteer Helpers This summer at Santa Rita Abbey we have two more women Volunteer Helpers living in our Retreat House for several weeks, participating in our prayer, and helping us with our work. We pray that their time with us will deepen their relationship with the Lord Jesus and overflow with blessings for their daily life! Year round, we also have several local friends who volunteer their time and talents to help us with various projects. Towards the end of Lent this year Art and Valerie of Tumacacori Mesquite Sawmill donated...

2017 Journal

Sister Jacqui's Diamond Jubilee Yes, we've just celebrated another Jubilee of Monastic Profession here at Santa Rita Abbey! This time it is our Sister Jacqueline Moor. Sr. Jacqui is a native of England. She entered religious life in 1955 at our great-grandmother house, Holy Cross Abbey, Stapehill, England. There she made her first vows as a Trappistine nun in 1957. Much has happened in the course of those 60 years, including the moving of her community from England to Whitland, Wales in 1991. From 1995 to 2000 Sr. Jacqui served as the English language secretary at our Order's Generalate in Rome. She was abbess at Holy Cross Abbey from 2001-2005. She came to Arizona in 2011 where our dry and warm climate...