The Poor Clares have four stages of formation including aspirancy, postulancy, noviceship, and temporary vows (during which time she is called a junior) before making solemn vows.
Each stage of formation is flexible and meant to serve the needs of each individual.
Aspirancy
As a young woman is introduced to the Poor Clare life through prayer, private interviewing, interaction with community and deepening prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, she is called an aspirant - one who aspires to give herself entirely to God as a Poor Clare Nun. Aspirancy is a time of discernment for both the young woman and the community she seeks to enter.
Applicant Inquiry
Postulancy
Postulancy in the Order of Saint Clare today is at least a year of preparation for that kind of total giving which will be climaxed in solemn Profession some nine years later.
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Noviceship
Every novice receives a new religious name, by which she will henceforth be known, and whose mystery becomes her own in a gradually deepening sense. Because a life of prayer and penance is a life which generates that joy and peace which the world cannot give or take away, the day that a postulant becomes a novice is a day of special rejoicing in the monastery.
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Temporary Vows
In exchanging the white veil of the novice for the black veil of the professed nun, the young Poor Clare assumes her full responsibilities as a member of her Order: prayer, penance, fidelity. For embracing the hard and austere things that lead to God, the vows bring a marvelous strength.
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Solemn Vows
First Profession of vows is made for a period of approximately three to six years. This is a time of continued discernment on the part of the community of the capacity of the newly professed sister to fulfill the obligations of the cloistered contemplative for the whole time of her life.
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