It is with great sadness, and after a long struggle, that the Poor Clare Community has decided that it can no longer continue at Baddesley Clinton and that the convent will close in January 2011. A group of six Sisters first arrived here from Bruges in 1850 and now it is only a group of four Sisters who will be dispersing. The very fact that we were able to celebrate our 160th anniversary is partly a tribute to the the wonderful care and support we have received over many years from so many good friends and benefactors. Without your help and support, we could not have maintained our lives of contemplative prayer for as long as we have, and for this we thank you and offer our deepest gratitude. We invite you to a Mass of Thanksgiving at Baddesley Clinton on Saturday, 8th January 2011 at 11 am, at which the Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Rev. Bernard Longley, will preside. Please be assured that each of us will continue to remember you in our prayers in the future.

The Poor Clare Community of Baddesley Clinton is a contemplative monastic community and was the first community of Poor Clares of the Colettine Reform to be re-established in England after the Reformation.

The community’s charism is that of St Clare and St Francis of Assisi as expressed in the Form of life written by St Clare in the 13th century. The Sisters take up the invitation of Jesus to St
Francis, ‘Go, sell all that you possess, and come, follow me.’ They find Jesus present in the daily Mass and Prayer of the Church. They also experience Him in themselves, each other, and in the needy world in which we live. As Jesus draws them closer to Himself through living out their vows of Poverty, Chastity, Obedience, and Enclosure, so they become richer in their experience of the Kingdom
of Heaven, sharing this experience with all those with whom they come into contact.

In their simple daily life the Sisters have time for private prayer and spiritual reading; each Sister has her own ‘cell’, where she
	can be solitary. At the same time the Sisters eat, work and pray together and live in community. In the tradition of St Clare they also undertake church sewing and offer hospitality to those who wish to spend some time in quiet contemplation. The monastery has facilities for individual and group self-catering retreats and the Sisters welcome anyone who wishes to visit them.

If you wish to come on retreat, or if you are English-speaking, from whatever part of the world, and feel called to this way of life, or would like to know more about it, please write to: