The Poor Sisters of Santa Clara will take care of the Fuensanta Sanctuary and convert the convent into a guesthouse
MURCIA (EP). The community of Poor Sisters of Santa Clara from the Santa Verónica de Algezares convent will be, from this Saturday, in the care of the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Fuensantalocated in that same Murcia district. The community thus takes the baton of the Benedictines, who have remained next to the sanctuary from 1978 until this month, when they moved to the monastery of Alba de Tormes in Salamanca due to the lack of vocations.
This is a decision that the Bishop of Cartagena has made together with the Cathedral Chapter, responsible for both the sanctuary and everything related to the cult of the Virgin of Fuensanta, so that after the march of the Benedictines “some community would remain there that would continue to offer close care and be a witness to religious life,” as explained by the dean of the Cathedral, Thomas Cascales.
When evaluating different options, the possibility arose that this service could be carried out by the Poor Sisters of Santa Clara. This community, which will not abandon its current convent in Algezares, will attend to the sanctuary and the patron saint “with a new orientation for the monastery next to the sanctuary: that there are people who, with their welcome, can go there as a inn to live a time of encounter with God“, within the task of accompaniment that these nuns already carry out.
“We are very sorry for the departure of the Benedictines, but we had to find a solution; this will be a beautiful stage, with an activity different from the previous one, but one that fits with that place for spirituality that we want the entire sanctuary to be,” the dean has expressed.
The abbess of this community of Poor Sisters of Santa Clara, Sister Leonor Sánchez, explains that they look towards this new stage “with great enthusiasm.”
In it they will be present in the sanctuary to “welcome the people who come to it and who can find that peace that is so needed, so that they can rest in the Mother’s house”; ypA house of spirituality will be launched that will be a place “of welcome and prayer“. A project that responds to “a desire that has been in the heart of the community for a long time” and for which they offered their availability.
“There is a lot of joy in this project; what God asks of us surpasses us, because it also means guarding the sanctuary of the patron saint of the city of Murcia and her garden, which for us is a joy; but we know that the Lord will go ahead leading the way,” declared the abbess.
The bishop of Cartagena, Monsignor José Manuel Lorca Planes, will preside this Saturday, at 12:00 p.m., at the Eucharist after which the Poor Sisters of Santa Clara will begin to attend to the sanctuary of the Virgin of Fuensanta. A celebration of welcome and thanksgiving to which “Murcia Entire” is invited.
