Olivetan Benedictine Sisters, Holy Angels Convent
Contact
Sister Mary Clare Bezner O.S.B.
Vocation Directress
P.O. Box 1209
Jonesboro, AR 72403-0130
hacvocations@yahoo.com
www.olivben.org
Dioceses
Fort Worth, TX Little Rock, AR
Mission
The Olivetan Benedictine Sisters are a community of monastic women who seek God through prayer and work in the Olivetan Benedictine tradition. Accordingly, we proclaim Jesus Christ and the Gospel message through our service to each other in community, hospitality, health care, education and other apostolic works.
Our first Sisters set out in 1874 from Convent Maria Rickenbach in Switzerland to answer the call for more teachers in the mission territories of America. After initially settling in Missouri, they journeyed to Pocahontas, Arkansas, in 1887 and put down roots in the Diocese of Little Rock. The community was affiliated to the Olivetan Benedictine Congregation in 1893 and relocated to Jonesboro in 1898. A malaria epidemic in 1900 revealed a desperate need for nurses in the area, and the Sisters answered by founding St Bernards Hospital—now the leading healthcare provider in Northeast Arkansas.
The Sisters live in community, pray the Divine Office together four times a day, participate in daily Mass with our resident chaplain, daily Eucharistic Adoration, daily rosary and are responsible for making time each day for personal prayer and lectio divina. We have weekly confession and a monthly Spirituality Weekend with a visiting priest.
The Prioress, elected by the Sisters, governs according to the Rule of St Benedict and under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Little Rock. Sisters are based at the Motherhouse in Jonesboro but may be sent to serve on mission elsewhere. Ministry assignments are made by the Prioress in consideration of the needs of the Sister, the community, and the Diocese.
Qualifications
Saint Benedict says in his Rule that “the concern must be whether the novice truly seeks God and whether he shows eagerness for the Work of God, for obedience and for trials” (RB 58:7). Canon Law directs that “superiors are only to admit those who, besides the required age, have the health, suitable character, and sufficient qualities of maturity to embrace the proper life of the institute” (Canon 642).
Formation
Women discerning a vocation spend a minimum of one year as a postulant, two years as a novice, and four years in temporary vows. They live in the Novitiate wing of the convent under the supervision of the Formation Directress, who oversees their classes and meets with them individually. With the consent of the community, a Sister professes perpetual vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, stability, and conversion of life. She wears the religious garb appropriate to each stage of formation, finally receiving her ring at the ceremony of perpetual profession. Sisters in vows wear a cream habit with a black veil.
Belated Vocations
Candidates over the age of 50 are considered on an individual basis and are subject to the approval of the Prioress and Council.
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