Our Community
North Guilford, Connecticut, Founded 1947
We are a community of cloistered Dominican nuns with Solemn Vows, Papal Enclosure and perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Following the Rule of Saint Augustine and the Constitutions of the Nuns of the Order of Preachers, we follow Jesus Christ in our hidden sacrificial life of faith, adoration, and love in the heart of the Church, associated with the "holy preaching" of the Sacred Order of Preachers by our monastic life of prayer and penance for the salvation of souls.
Today, our community numbers 24 nuns, including four sisters in formation: one postulant, one novice and two nuns in simple vows. We have a several young women making preparations to enter our community as postulants in 2026 – we ask that you keep them in your prayers!
In light of recent Vatican legislation on women’s contemplative life, the Monastery of Our Lady of Grace became a member of the newly erected Federation of Our Lady of the Rosary in the summer of 2019.
From 2021 to 2023, we received several sisters from the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary (formerly of Buffalo, New York and Heath, Ohio) into our community. They have shared a wealth of experience, especially in traditional chant, organ artistry, and fine sewing. The end of the pandemic allowed us to open our newly renovated St. Catherine’s Center for the use of local Catholic groups such as the Lay Dominican Fraternities.
In 2024, we were blessed with additional growth in our community, including a postulant. In an effort to strengthen our monastic observance of manual work, our candle and pottery departments were rejuvenated, and the fruits of our labors are available in our Gift Shop, along with our homemade fudge and other handcrafted items. We also renovated our cloister garth according to a more traditional monastic layout.
In 2025, our community joyfully celebrated two simple professions and a vestition; we also welcomed several aspirants into our enclosure. The Master of the Order, Fr. Gerard Timoner III, paid a fraternal visit to our monastery during the summer. We also established the Aquinas Guild for friends and benefactors (learn more). Our chapel restoration project, including the restoration of our wooden choir stalls and repainting of the ceilings in our public chapel and choir, was completed.
This year—the year of Our Lord 2026—we received a postulant in January and hope to welcome more postulants and aspirants this year. We are grateful to God for all the blessings He continues to lavish upon us, especially new vocations! In Winter/Spring 2026, we published our first issue of In Medio Ecclesiae, our new biannual monastery newsletter.
Henceforth, community updates will be shared in our newsletter, available here in digital format.