For mass this morning, we visited the nuns at Sta. Rosa Monastery, the smaller of the two Dominican monasteries in town. It was built in 1747 by four sisters from the other monastery, Sta. Catalina. There are about 16 nuns, one novice, and two postulants. The community had not accepted new members after the earthquake in 1974 when their old novitiate was destroyed, but in 1995 they finally built a new one and now have new members. Most of the rest of the monestary is original, however, and is in wonderful condition, despite the many earthquakes it has suffered over the years.
The monastery has four courtyards. The photo at the top is some of the sisters in the central courtyard, painted a nice cheery yellow and having a spectacular view of the volcano. The sister's rooms are in this courtyard, as well as a vegetable garden and some alfalfa for the the animals. There is another courtyard just as large that has animals for the nuns: rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, ducks, turkeys, and a pig. The remaining two courtyards are smaller and have a variety of flowers, fruit trees, and vegetable gardens.
This is also of the main courtyard.
Of course the nuns spend much of their time each day at prayer. Right now they are using a small, stark room for their chapel while their real chapel is being renovated. The prayers are still beautiful, however, because they take their time with the prayers and sing wonderfully.
Being Dominican, the nuns never miss an opportunity to preach. As we ate breakfast, Sr. Lourdes preached quite forcefully from the pulpit in the dining room about the love of God and the greatness of the Order, and how glad the sisters were that we came to visit. She ended by pounding on the railing while we all applauded. It was quite the Evangelical moment.
The nuns support themselves with a variety of jobs. Some of the sisters, like the one pictured at the left, make hosts to sell to the churches in the area. Other make clothing and handiwork. The sisters also get some money from renting ot parts of the monastery.