The Community of St. Clare (OSC) is a

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

Anglican religious order Anglican religious orders are communities of men or women (or in some cases mixed communities of both men and women) in the Anglican Communion who live under a common rule of life. The members of religious orders take vows which often include ...

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, and part of the wider Franciscan movement within the Anglican Communion. The community, founded in 1950 and based at

Freeland Freeland may refer to: Places Canada *Freeland, Prince Edward Island United Kingdom *Freeland, Oxfordshire United States *Freeland, Maryland *Freeland, Michigan *Freeland, Ohio *Freeland, Pennsylvania *Freeland, Washington Other uses *Freel ...

near

Witney, Oxfordshire Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is west of Oxford. The place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest known record of it is as ...

, England, is one of several associated with the

Society of Saint Francis The Society of Saint Francis (SSF) is an international Franciscan religious order within the Anglican Communion. It is the main recognised Anglican Franciscan order, but there are also other Franciscan orders in the Anglican Communion. Backgrou ...

. It forms the 'Second Order' of the Anglican Franciscan movement, commonly known as the 'Poor Clares'. The community, in common with other Second Order Franciscan communities, is an enclosed and contemplative one, and the sisters provide for their own needs through a variety of activities. The sisters believe that their 'enclosed' life does not mean being 'shut in', but rather an opportunity to live and work together on one site in real community. The community runs a guest house and retreat centre, and the sisters engage in various works including sewing, painting, printing, and manufacturing altar breads. Between 1975 and 1993 the order maintained a house at

Stroud, New South Wales Stroud is a small country town one hour north of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Mid-Coast Council local government area. The major road through Stroud is the Bucketts Way (The) Bucketts Way is a rural road that lin ...

. Originally three sisters from the mother house at Freeland established the community at Stroud Rectory in response to an invitation from the then Bishop of Newcastle,

Ian Shevill Ian Wotton Allnutt Shevill AO (11 May 19173 November 1988) was an Australian Anglican bishop. Early life and education Ian Shevill was educated at Scots College, Sydney, and Sydney University, then at Moore Theological College and the Austra ...

. The Monastery, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary was built by community support of mud bricks and is an outstanding example of mud-brick building. In its later years the community at Stroud was headed by Sister Angela CSCl, formerly the artist Wendy Solling. Sister Angela lead the community in several controversial directions involving it increasingly in environmental issues and the movement for the ordination of women. Between 1988 and 1992 the community opened its Stroud novitiate to male novices who were seeking an expression of Franciscan contemplative life.Sydney Morning Herald, Sept 1989, Good Weekend Magazine, "Nun but the Bold." Although several enquiries were made by men at this time only one novice was admitted in May 1989, the Australian harpist Andrew Radclyffe, and the community functioned for a period as a double monastery. After the closure of the Stroud Monastery the Community of St Clare exists only at the original house near Oxford.

External links

About the community, from franciscans.org

Community of St. Clare website

References

''The Anglican Religious Communities Yearbook 2004-05''. Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2003. Anglican orders and communities Christian organizations established in 1950 Anglican religious orders established in the 20th century 1950 establishments in England {{anglican-stub