Lvov, where Sister Kolumba first travelled with her mother in an effort to found a Dominican convent.
This is the continuation of the story of the life of the Mother Maria Kolumba, foundress of the Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. In our previous installment, the Most Reverend Vincent Jandel, Master General of the Dominican Order had a prophetic insight that Róża would become a Foundress and would bring back the Third Order of active Dominican Sisters in Poland.
St. Rose’s family tried in vain to convince her to marry.
Feast Day: August 23
More than four hundred years ago in South America, there was born a girl whose beauty was intended not for this world, but for the next. St. Rose of Lima was so attractive that she drew the stares and admiration of others. She was so abhorred by this that she rubbed her face with pepper and lye to disfigure it.
From an early age, Rose was interested in the things of God. As a young girl — in imitation of Saint Catherine of Siena, another Dominican — she began to fast three times a week and performed severe penances in secret. She resisted the attempts of her parents to get her married and spurned the attention of suitors who began to notice her. Despite the censure of her parents, she spent many hours contemplating the Blessed Sacrament, which she received daily.Finally, out of frustration, her father gave her a room to herself in the family home, and with the help of her brother, she built a small cell in the family’s backyard garden, to which she went for long periods of time for prayer. She supported her family with her needlework and with flowers that she grew, and helped the poor in various ways. Continue reading ‘Misunderstood by Her Family, St. Rose of Lima Became a Dominican Tertiary’ »
Dogged by cultural upheaval and religious confusion, the early Dominican Order in the thirteenth century had its work cut out for it. And yet, St. Dominic emphasized the importance of prayer and contemplation for his Dominicans. The words Contemplare et contemplata aliis tradere – “to contemplate and to share with other the fruits of the contemplation” – is the motto of the whole Dominican Order – friars, nuns, active sisters, and laity.
Pope Benedict XVI realized this, and reaffirmed the role of prayer in the life of a community of cloistered Dominican nuns in Rome last year. Speaking to the members of the Convent of Our Lady of the Rosary, the Holy Father stressed the importance of prayer in drawing graces from God. He said, Continue reading ‘Dominican Motto Stresses the Importance of Contemplation’ »
