Lay Cistercians of Holy Cross Abbey

On Trinity Sunday, June 11, 2006, the conventual chapter of the monastery of Our Lady of the Holy Cross voted formally to recognize the Lay Cistercians of Holy Cross Abbey. Seven Lay Cistercians made the following promise on the Memorial of Blessed Guerric and Vigil of Saint Bernard, August 19, 2006:

I, N., promise my stability, fidelity to the Lay Cistercian way of life, and obedience according to my state in life, under the Rule of Saint Benedict, Abbot, and in accordance with the Constitutions and Statutes of the Lay Cistercians of Holy Cross Abbey. I do this before God and all his saints, in this Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Cross of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, constructed in honor of the Blessed and ever Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and in the presence of Dom Robert Barnes., abbot of this monastery, N., Dean of the Lay Cistercians of Holy Cross Abbey, and all the brethren. 

Additionally, we have four novices and one postulant in our four year formation process. Our observership opens once a year in September with persons drawn from the waiting list. Our group is small, rather like an extended family, which reflects the size of our monastery.

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