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The Benedictine Sisters of Florida are over 117 years old! In 1889 five Sisters founded Holy Name Convent and Academy in response to a need for teachers for children of immigrants in the San Antonio and St. Leo area.

Today 21 Sisters follow the Rule of St. Benedict and seek God together at Holy Name Monastery. Our life is monastic, a balance of prayer and work, community and solitude, an integration of contemplative living and active ministry on behalf of others.

Left to right the sisters are: Row 1(seated): Sisters Mary Ann Carollo, Irma Multer, Cecilia Heintz, Helen Lange, Pauline Block Row 2: Sisters Mary Dorothy Neuhofer, Mary Romana Gomez, Mary Clare Neuhofer (prioress), Margaret Mary Roberts, Donna DeWitt, Germaine Bevans, Mildred Gelis Row 3: Sisters Dianne Wansley, Eileen Dunbar, Jean Abbott, Mary David Hydro, Roberta Bailey, Miriam Cosgrove, Jane Martinson, Nilla Cabrera

Being Benedictine

The Rule of St. Benedict offers ageless values for which the world still hungers: community, peace, love of liturgy and learning, a balanced life of prayer and work, respect for persons and things. This leads us to ministries ranging from teaching the 3 R's to counseling, from giving direct service to the poor to providing spiritual direction, as well as opening our home to numerous guests and retreatants.

Being Benedictine is not so much about doing as being. Our essential ministry is Community. We strive to be a sign that strangers can come together as sisters in Christ. As a faith community we support and challenge one another to growth. The prioress serves as a spiritual guide; all members share in decision making. We reverence Christ in the Scriptures, in all persons and in creation.

Prayer

Prayer is a priority. We are a worshipping people. Each day we center our lives around the Word in Liturgy of the Hours, lectio divina (private prayer), and Eucharist. God's Word nourishes and transforms us. Commitment to this prayer life creates community, unites us to the wider Church, gives meaning and purpose to our ministries and opens us in compassion and hospitality to others.

The monastic vows channel the grace of God in and through us:

• Stability--to be rooted in community, to stay and grow together

• Obedience--to the voice of God heard in the prioress, the community, the Church, the cry of the poor

• Fidelity to the Monastic Way of Life--to be transformed into Christ, into love throughout the monastic way of life.

We share the Benedictine legacy in a special way with our Oblates (lay Christians using the Rule to guide their lives) and with our Affiliates (women seriously discerning a religious vocation.)

Christian community is experienced by all those who visit us: family, friends and strangers. The Benedictine Charism of Hospitality is also expressed at Holy Name Monastery in an Oblate Program, retreats, and ministries to the poor and the needy.

The pioneer rigor is gone from our life in the rolling hills 35 miles northeast of Tampa, but our commitment to prayer and work is the same. In Florida today where the Church is growing by leaps and bounds, but where there are fewer priests and religious, there are many ways to serve!

Community Philosophy Statement

We, the Benedictine Sisters of Florida of the Federation of Saint Scholastica, are a cenobitic community of vowed Christian women who seek God in an intensified life of prayer and service. Rooted in the Word of God, we center our life in the Eucharist, Liturgy of the Hours, and Lectio Divina . In response to a call to deepen our Baptismal commitment, we live our vows of Obedience, Stability, and Fidelity to the Monastic Way of Life in covenant with God and the members of our community. Because we are Christ to one another, we form bonds of mutual love and respect and call forth the best in one another. We freely and generously open our lives to others in hospitality and place ourselves in service to the larger community. "That in all things God may be glorified."

Mission Statement

We, the Benedictine Sisters of Florida, have as our purpose to seek God in community through the monastic way of life and to enable all people in our realm of influence to develop their fullest human and spiritual potential.

We accomplish our mission by sharing our human and material resources and our monastic values of community and liturgical worship through works of mercy, education, hospitality and stewardship.

Corporate Commitment

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