Our Santa Rita Abbey belongs to the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance which is a monastic institute wholly ordered to contemplation. The nuns dedicate themselves to the worship of God in a hidden life within the monastery under the Rule of St Benedict. They lead a monastic way of life in solitude and silence, in assiduous prayer and joyful penitence, thus rendering to the divine majesty a service that is at once humble and noble.

Our way of life is cenobitic. Cistercian nuns seek God and follow Christ under a rule and an abbess in a stable community that is a school of mutual love. Since all the sisters are of one heart and one mind, they have everything in common. By bearing one another’s burdens they fulfil Christ’s law, participating in his sufferings in the hope of entering the kingdom of heaven.

In the monastic life, we seek to place Christ at the center of all we do. The Gospel is our guide which the Rule of Benedict interprets in a life of liturgy, lectio, and labor. This threefold balance is what supports and focuses us on Christ.