‘People find peace here’
Sancta Clara Monastery in Canton turns 75
CANTON – With its lush flora, manicured lawns, a pond, and shrines honoring the Virgin Mary, the grounds of Sancta Clara Monastery are an oasis from the busyness of life.
For 75 years, it has been home to the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration, a cloistered order of nuns who devote their lives to prayer and contemplation.
Next month, the Poor Clares will celebrate their platinum jubilee with two special Masses and a gala brunch. One of the highlights is Bishop David J. Bonnar of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown celebrating a Mass of Celebration at 11 a.m. Oct. 4.
“The 75th anniversary of Sancta Clara Monastery gives us a chance to not only celebrate a holy place but also the powerful presence of women with a particular mission,” Bonnar said. “In an action-oriented world where people find it hard to be alone and sit still, the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration choose to be contemplative and pray.”
Sancta Clara was established after Charles and John and Ida O’dea, a childless, devout Catholic couple donated their Tudor mansion and its surrounding 15 acres to the Youngstown diocese in 1945 to be transformed into a monastery dedicated to eucharistic devotion.
Led by the Rev. Mother Mary Clare, six members of the Franciscan Nuns of the Most Blessed Sacrament arrived in Canton from Cleveland on Oct. 1, 1946. Among them was young Rita Rizzo, a former Mckinley High School majorette. Rizzo would leave Canton again in 1962 to establish her own order in Alabama as Mother Mary Angelica, the founder of EWTN, the world’s largest Catholic media outlet.
The monastery’s first chapel was set up in the O’deas’ former living room. The Shrine of Perpetual Adoration, was dedicated in 1951.
The current abbess, Mother Mary Gertrude Espinella is celebrating her 20th year at Sancta Clara. Prior to taking her vows, the Philippines native worked as a nurse in Iowa.
“I’ve always been drawn to religious life and eucharistic adoration,” she said. “The calling was always there.”
In 2001, Mother Mary Gertrude visited a friend who was a nun at Sancta Clara.
“I was planning to return to the Philippines, but when I came to this place, I felt like I was home,” she said. “It’s been a very fruitful journey these past 20 years.”
What makes Sancta Clara special?
Mother Mary Gertrude said what makes Sancta Clara special is that it is the only contemplative order in the Diocese of Youngstown where prayers are offered day and night.
“We’re here offering our lives in prayer not just for the church, but for everyone,” she said. “It’s a silent ministry others don’t know about.”
The monastery includes a chapel where Mass is celebrated at 9 a.m. every day by one of the retired local priests. The chapel and grounds are open daily to the public for individual prayer from 7:15 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Cloistered does not mean completely cut off from the world. Newspapers are read to keep up with current events, and the monastery operates a website, through which the 11 nuns in residence receive prayer requests from around the world.
Also, the Poor Clares regularly conduct a popular bread and soup sale and recently converted a former priests’ five-bedroom residence into a retreat center that’s open to the public.
“People find peace here,” Mother Mary Gertrude said.
‘People think we come here and escape the world. No.’
Forty-seven years ago, Mother Mary Magdalen Colson arrived from St. Petersburg, Florida, wtih long blond hair and red flip-flops.
“What brought me here is my relationship with God,” she said. “What has kept me here is my relationship with God. My relationship with God is what brought me through fragile times.”
Mother Colson said many people misunderstand what it means to be a cloistered nun.
“People think we come here and escape the world. No,” she said.
Their days begin shortly after midnight in accordance with ancient tradition when an appointed “knocker” wakes up her fellow sisters for about two hours of prayer for the poor. Adoration begins a few hours later. “Prayer is very much a part of our day,” Mother Mary Gertrude said. “We pray the Divine Office, which is seven hours (total). Basically, our life is in and out of the chapel. The Lord calls us day and night to pray in the chapel.”
Mother Colson said their devotion to God includes concern for people.
“The prayer of the church is universal,” she said. “It strongly focuses on the Psalms and original writings of the church.”
These days, churches of all denominations are challenged with how to attract and grow their congregations, with young many people describing themselves as “spiritual, but not religious.”
Scandals and increasing mistrust of authority and institutions have exacerbated the exodus.
“People focus on people instead of on the Lord,” Mother Colson said. “(Faith) does not excuse others, it’s the perspective through which we see things. People leave the church because of an encounter with a person, or priests. They don’t understand that is not the focus; that’s not the core of the church. Christ is the core of the church.”
How do you become a Poor Clare?
The Poor Clares are a diverse sisterhood, with a member from Japan, two from the Philippines, two from Tanzania. There also are two first-year nuns.
“We have three more sisters in formation and are in contact with four college students,” Mother Mary Gertrude said.
Becoming a Poor Clare is a process that takes nine years. Not everyone completes it.
Some are called to stay for a lifetime, Mother Mary Gertrude noted, while others are not.
“It’s a very serious commitment,” Mother Colson said. “Whatever time they spend in the monastery is not a waste of time. We still maintain contact with some of them (candidates).”
Mother Mary Gertrude said no one at the monastery has contracted COVID.
“We have been so blessed,” she said.
Supported by donations
With a very small paid staff, the monastery has enjoyed the support of thousands of individual donors, volunteers, and local businesses as well as various religious organizations, including the Servants of the Paraclete (chaplains), the Monastery Guild, the Third Order, the Fatima Club, and the Precious Blood Fathers of Brunnerdale Seminary who celebrated the daily Mass.
A new outdoor Rosary Walk is being installed by Caroline Katigbak, Dan Lopez, and Curtis Dimarzio. The Joseph A. Jeffries & Co. is resurfacing the parking lot, both of which should be done in time for the anniversary.
Another current benefactor is John Proach, owner of Green & Things Nursery & Landscaping in North Canton, who has donated plants and his expertise to beautify the grounds for about four years.
Proach, who goes to the monastery every night to care for the plants, said he’s been working on the grounds in preparation for the anniversary since January, with assistance from Maureen Austin and Tony Peldunas.
A member of St. Paul’s parish, Proach said he met Mother Mary Gertrude when she came to the nursery to buy some plants.
“It just kind of snowballed into this,” he said. “I enjoy doing it. I’ve done some other churches, too, including St. Peter’s. They’re (monastery) just so appreciative. The people that go there are also appreciative. It makes you want to do more.”
Though none of the sisters has contracted COVID-19, the pandemic has put a crimp in their fundraising projects.
In a bid to be more self-sufficient, the nuns maintain a garden where they grow vegetables, and in 2019 they added a chicken coop and a goat.
Ida O’dea died in 1946. After John O’dea died in 1956, their bodies were brought from California and re-interred at Sancta Clara. The tiny cemetery includes several nuns, including Sister Mary Assumpta Mcmanus, a Canton native who died in 2016.
“This was Mrs. O’dea’s original rose garden,” Mother Mary Gertrude said. “They’re heaven’s roses now.”
Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com.
On Twitter: @cgoshayrep