Monastery of Capuchin Poor Clares at Chamalières

Posted in Diocese of Clermont-Ferrand, Ecclesiastical province of Clermont-Ferrand, Poor Clairs

Locate

The History of our Monastery

In 1930, the community of the Poor Clare-Capuchin sisters in Lorgues (Département of Var), who were harrassed by the 1905 anticlerical laws, is transfered to Chamalières : a well-off industry leader and tertiary of Saint Francis from Clermont-Ferrand, had acquired a piece of land for them and had a small, simple and beautiful monastery built, with a acute sense of the Franciscan spirit.

The Poor Clare-Capuchin sisters, warmly welcomed by the locals and with the spiritual support of the Capuchin friars established in Clermont, took roots in the Auvergne land in a very short time and have been experiencing an untroubled development there until now.

The monastery today

Being called to live by the charism of the Poor Clare-Capuchin sisters (solitary contemplation, simple sisterly life, humble working and care for the poorest), our days are filled with liturgic and silent prayer, work (hosts, craftsmanship, welcome) in a joyful and sisterly atmosphere. The chapel is open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and all those who wish can join our Church prayer. Our schedule can be found on the Messes Info website.

Special features of our monastery

We have agreed to the request of lay people who wished to share, amidst the world, our Capuchin contemplative life, under the light of Saint Clare. These people, committed “Oblats” or on their way, are living with us a beautiful, brotherly and spiritual communion.

The Monastery of Capuchin Poor Clares at Chamalières also provides welcome to an interreligious dialogue group, to which we take part : each month, Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Muslims learn how to know each other better, by exchanging, under the light of their respective faiths, on doctrinal issues or society facts.