To Seek the Face of God: The Cloister and Renewal of Women's Contemplative Monasteries

The apostolic constitution Vultum Dei Quaerere exhorts those who embrace the highly esteemed vocation of women's contemplative life and regulates the vocation in twelve areas. This article focuses on the notion of the four traditionally recognized disciplines of cloister—papal cloister, constitutional cloister, monastic cloister and the discipline of cloister required of members of all religious institutes—and undertakes consideration of Vultum Dei Quaerere's new norms for women's contemplative monasteries with particular emphasis on the implications of these norms for the disciplines of papal and constitutional cloisters. Reflections are also offered to assist members of women's contemplative monasteries with discerning the will of God with regard to the form of cloister appropriate to the monastery as requested by Vultum Dei Quaerere.