The Sisters of Mary and their spirit-filled castle – A máriás nővérek élete a kastélyban

SOMODI, SLOVAKIA. The Marian Sisters have been living on the outskirts of Somodi since the turn of the millennium. Despite their quiet, peaceful way of life hidden in God, they work with amazingly huge effort and with even greater enthusiasm. 

The community bought the castle and its buildings in 1999 and has been continuously renovating it ever since. A diligent day in their lives was shown to our editorial staff. A rare chance indeed. The Marian Sisters community was founded in 1973 in Switzerland. Their mission, rooted in the mystery of Mary, was discovered by Mary Grignion, St. Louis of Montfort. The founder of the community is Mother Myriam, named after the heart of Jesus, the high priest, who to this day regularly visits the sisters.

QUIET LIFE

“Our founding mother pays close attention to the physical and mental health of the members of our community. We arrived in Slovakia at the invitation of Bishop Eduard Kojnok, and we were warmly received. With the help of our benefactors from France, we bought the castle of Somodi in 1999, which was in a very dilapidated condition at the time. We work with the sisters who live here every day to rebuild and make the building more beautiful” – said Sister Maria Angela, who has Transylvanian roots and also works in France. By the way, not much has been heard about the sisters living along the road between Somodi and Szepsi, and in fact, they have not been seen much since the introduction of precautionary actions for the current pandemic. They spend most of their lives in the former episcopal castle and its courtyard, built in the 1780s, but there is a lot of activity going on behind the seemingly lifeless walls. According to the sisters, it took twenty years to make the building beautiful and habitable. These were heroic years, for 20 years the nuns tolerated the cold and the dripping moisture from the walls, and worked to improve their conditions by insulating windows and attics, doing basement work, masonry and lots of other tasks that would normally involve strong manly hands. During our visit, the sisters were praying together, then they took us around the monastery and showed us the outbuilding in the rear, which is still in a dilapidated state. The monastery tour is a real privilege, as only the church prelate can set foot in the monastery, apart from the sisters. We have to mention, of course, that our visit was preceded by long weeks of correspondence.

PRAYER AND KITCHEN WORK

Although the sisters regularly work on beautifying the monastery, they do not forget their main vocation either. Several times a day, common and individual prayers are said for the whole world. “For us, prayer is the most important thing, but we also work a lot around the house. We do gardening and we mow the grass as effectively as we can, but if we can’t grow something in our garden, we go to the store. It is a way of life that we do for others of our own free will. No one keeps us here, this is our choice. We live for others, spiritual peace is very important to us. We dedicate our entire lives to God and live in intimate spiritual contact with Our Lady. We are very happy in this community. There are Slovaks, Hungarians and French too, but we never differentiate. The point is, we are all children of God and we have to love each other” – Sister Marie Daniel said. The life of the sisters living in the convent and the renovation of the building are aided by the community’s benefactors in France and donors supporting the community. “Many people come to pray, to be silent, or visit us for even longer spiritual practice. We look forward to seeing all our dear neighbours” – concluded Sister Maria Angela.