The Nuns of the Order of Preachers (Ordo Praedicatorum), known more simply as the Dominican Nuns, have launched their first offical international website, MonialesOP. The site is the first of its kind to be completely dedicated to the Dominican Nuns, who represent approximately 2,500 sisters in 190 monasteries, across five continents.
While they always had a spot on the Ordo Praedicatorum website, the order felt that information on the nuns was too hard to find, which led them to create the new website. Available in three languages (English, French, and Spanish), MonialesOP informs visitors about the different elements that make up the contemplative life of a Dominican nun, as well as the ways in which they participate in the preaching mission of the order.
This new digital home offers important information for women who are discerning a call to the monastic life. On the site, candid photographs of the sisters going about their duties are placed alongside explanations of the order’s practices and good works, in order to provide a glimpse of their daily life.
The sisters note that there are five keys to the life of a Dominican Nun: Prayer, Community, Work, Study, and Preaching. These keys are essential to their mission, of which they write:
“In order that we may be perfected in the love of God and neighbor through this following of Christ, we are incorporated into our Order by profession and consecrated totally to God, and in particular we are dedicated in a new way to the universal Church, “being appointed entirely for the complete evangelization of the Word of God.”
The new site also includes an interactive map that shows the locations of every one of their monasteries around the world, as well as a more in-depth breakdown of their many monastic locations by region. Each region is afforded its own page where interested parties can find contact information for the monastery closest to them.
In a press release, they note that although each Dominican monastery is autonomous, Dominican Nuns are bound together by a common Rule and Constitutions. They also profess obedience to the Master of the Order of Preachers, which is unique among contemplative orders of nuns. It is due to this shared obedience that the website can cater to the needs of each monastery, as a fruit of sisterly communion on an international level.
To learn more about the Dominican Nuns, visit their beautiful, easy-to-navigate new website.
And today we celebrate...