A Perfect Day To Say “Fiat!”

A HandmaidNews, HPB Vocations

March 2021 is full of wonderful Feasts and Solemnities during Lent that orient us best to this liturgical season while pointing ahead to the Resurrection Joys of Easter. On March 17th we recall the Saint of the Emerald Isle, Saint Patrick, and the bloodless conversion of the Irish that followed in his wake. Just two days later, the Solemnity of …

A Typical Monastery Christmas

A HandmaidNews, HISTORY, HPB Vocations

COVID-19 can’t kill Christmas 2020 COVID-19 may have radically changed 2020 but it can’t really touch what we celebrate at Christmas, or rather WHO we celebrate at Christmas. Certainly the “how” has been modified for many. So let’s remember Jesus as we share what it’s like as a typical monastery Christmas approaches. We have told you some of these customs …

Cartoon Come and Sees during COVID

COVID COME AND SEES

A HandmaidHPB Vocations, News

Vocations News: Coping with COVID-19 and Come and Sees Yes, 2020 has been quite a year. We managed to get in a couple visits with inquiring women before COVID became a byword and seeming harbinger of all that could go wrong with the year 2020. By lockdown in March it was hoped a few weeks would be sufficient to dispel the …

Religious Symbols: Side Rosary

A HandmaidNews, HPB Vocations, Vocation Snippet

Many religious, male and female, wear a side Rosary with their habit. Some can be rather large, others small. While Handmaids have had some minor variations in the wear of our side Rosary, we have always had them as a necessary part of the habit, not just as an accessory but as an essential to our spiritual life. Our Founder …

RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS: WHITE VEIL

A HandmaidNews, HPB Vocations, Vocation Snippet

If you are a lifelong Catholic and encountered religious sisters over the years, you may have noticed that in some communities that the color of the veil can signify whether the sister has been professed or not. Not infrequently over the years, Handmaids have been asked about our white veils by others assuming they are speaking to a novice or …

Happy 73rd Birthday to Handmaids – Foundation Day!

A HandmaidNews

On this date, May 25th, 1947, the Feast of Pentecost, the Handmaids of the Precious Blood began in Jemez Springs, NM. To celebrate our 73rd Anniversary of Foundation Day we want to share a few archive photos. We thank God for our Founder, Father Gerald, and the pioneering spirit of our first Handmaids. When you give your life to God, …

Yes, the Crown of Thorns is real.

Religious Symbols: Crown of Thorns

A HandmaidNews, HPB Vocations, Vocation Snippet

When we take our final vows, part of the ceremony is receiving and wearing a crown of thorns. A real one. We use pyracantha (otherwise called, very appropriately, firethorn) to fashion the crown. Since our veils are white, symbolizing the Eucharist, the Mother Prioress tries not to draw any blood either through the thorns or when pinning the crown to …

Chapter of Elections

A HandmaidNews, HISTORY, HPB Vocations

We thank everyone for their prayers for our recent Chapter of Elections in early October. As we do for each Chapter, the meeting itself was preceded by a prolonged period of more intense prayer and silence as the community invoked the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Bishop Stika presided over the election of our new Mother Prioress, Mother Sarah Michael …

Bearing an Undeserved Burden

A HandmaidNews, HPB Vocations, PRIESTS

  [Originally published September 2018] When we upgraded our website a few years ago, a photo was purchased for our use of a man with his head bowed and knuckles in his eyes and we added the caption: Our Priests Carry Not Only The Full Weight of Our Burdens But Their Own As Well. Today, in these days of renewed …