Mater Ecclesiae Monastery
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The Mater Ecclesiae Monastery (
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for 'Mother of the Church') is a
monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...
in
Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...
. It was founded around 1990 by
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
as a monastery for cloistered
nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
s. In 2013, it became the residence of Pope Emeritus
Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...
after his resignation.


History

The monastery, named after a
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
title for
Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
as " Mother of the Church" ( la, Mater Ecclesiae), is located on the Vatican Hill inside the
Vatican Gardens The Gardens of Vatican City ( la, Horti Civitatis Vaticanae), also informally known as the Vatican Gardens ( it, Giardini Vaticani) in Vatican City, are private urban gardens and parks which cover more than half of the country, located in the ...
and near the ''Aquilone fountain''. It was founded by
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
in order to have a community of
nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
s of an
enclosed religious order Enclosed religious orders or ''cloistered clergy'' are religious orders whose members strictly separate themselves from the affairs of the external world. In the Catholic Church, enclosure is regulated by the code of canon law, either the Lat ...
inside Vatican City, who were to pray for the
pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
in his service to the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. This task was, at the beginning, entrusted to the nuns of the Order of St. Clare, better known as the
Poor Clares The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...
. This assignment, however, was shifted every five years to another female monastic order, who would then occupy the monastery. The building was erected between 1992 and 1994 in place of an administrative building of the Vatican police. Its structure is incorporated into the Leonine walls. The building is divided in two parts: The western chapel (two floors and rectangular in shape) and the eastern community rooms and
monastic cell A cell is a small room used by a hermit, monk, nun or anchorite to live and as a devotional space. Cells are often part of larger cenobitic monastic communities such as Catholic and Orthodox monasteries and Buddhist vihara, but may also form sta ...
s (rectangular in shape and, on the Aquilone fountain's side, with four floors, with 12
monastic cell A cell is a small room used by a hermit, monk, nun or anchorite to live and as a devotional space. Cells are often part of larger cenobitic monastic communities such as Catholic and Orthodox monasteries and Buddhist vihara, but may also form sta ...
s on the second and third floors, and a
refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. The name derives from the Lat ...
, store, kitchen, infirmary, archives and an office-studio on the ground and lower ground floors). Adjacent to the monastery is a fruit and vegetable garden. Pope Benedict XVI visited the monastery several times, where he would preside at
Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
for the nuns. With the start of renovation works in November 2012, the last nuns moved out. After his historic retirement in February of the following year, Pope
Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...
moved into the monastery on 2 May 2013. He lives there accompanied by a few assistants, with their domestic needs cared for by a small community of women belonging to a
secular institute In the Catholic Church, a secular institute is a type of institute of consecrated life in which consecrated persons profess the Evangelical counsels of celibate-chastity, poverty and obedience while living in the world, unlike members of a relig ...
called Memores Domini, part of the
Communion and Liberation Communion and Liberation (Italian: Comunione e Liberazione, often shortened to CL) is an International Catholic movement founded in 1954 by Fr. Luigi Giussani. The official name is the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation. Its aim is to prese ...
movement.


Resident orders

*
Order of Saint Clare The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...
(1994–1999) *
Discalced Carmelites The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Carmelites of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel ( la, Ordo Fratrum Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo) or the Order of Discalced Carme ...
(1999–2004) * Benedictine nuns (2004–2009) * Visitandine nuns (2009–2012)


See also

* Index of Vatican City-related articles


References


External links

* {{Vatican City topics 20th-century Christian monasteries Benedictine nunneries in Italy Carmelite monasteries in Italy Monasteries in Vatican City Poor Clare monasteries in Italy Pope Benedict XVI Visitation monasteries