Capuchine Sisters Convent

June 17th, 2007 by Angelyn

Today, we went to the Capuchine Sisters Convent to offer prayers for the second death anniversary of my aunt. The convent was closed and is not open to the public any day of the week. I needed to talk to one of the sisters regarding the prayer offering and I found a door at the left side of the chapel that lead to revolving wooden window. There was an instruction for visitors to ring the bell in case they need to talk to one of the sisters. The day to day schedule of the sisters is also posted near the window. I rang the bell once and the revolving window moved. I heard the sister greet me , but I did not see her face. She informed me , that members of her congregation are not allowed to show their faces to people who comes daily to the convent. I thought the way they live is similar to a hermit monk, with very limited contact with the outside world. She politely accepted my prayer offering and I took the opportunity to ask her if we can go and visit the chapel which was locked at the time. The daily mass is at 6:00 a.m. . She told me to wait outside the chapel and one of the sisters will open the door for us. We stood at the front door and we heard it being unlocked. The moment we entered, we were greeted by peace, the kind of peace one would never experience in the outside world. The chapel is small , with nine pews, a very simple altar devoid of flowers and decorations and there are two statues, one on each side of the altar. Everything inside the chapel including the floor is made of wood. We noticed a part of the wall where the altar is located is iron grills, partially covered with lace curtains. The reason for the existence of these iron grills is , during the celebration of the mass, the sisters can be one with the parishioners . Even if there is a wall between them, both sides can hear what is going on during the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. The sisters attend behind the wall of the altar and the parishioners stay in the chapel itself. As we knelt in prayer , we heard the sisters sang and prayed, their voices echoed from the other side of the wall that separated us from them.