‘It’s an adventure’

Handmaids of the Precious Blood pray with a pioneer spirit for priests

By Emily Booker

Just outside of New Market, on top of the third-highest point in Jefferson County overlooking the Holston River, a group of women keep vigil, praying for the sanctification of priests and the health of the Church.

They are the Handmaids of the Precious Blood, a cloistered religious community who have called East Tennessee home since 2013. Due to their sequestered lifestyle, few may know of their presence, unless one happens to spot a couple of Sisters in wine-colored habits and white veils out running errands.

But their work is mostly done in their chapel, spending time with the Lord and praying for His priests.

A mission to pray for priests

While some religious orders serve in schools or medical fields, the Handmaids are a cloistered order, meaning they mostly stay at their monastery and devote their entire lives to prayer. For centuries, the prayers of cloistered nuns and monks have sustained the Church.

The Handmaids in particular pray for priests. The reason is simple: without priests, there is no Mass, no confession. By praying for priests, they are praying for the health and care of the whole Church. Further, they believe priests face specific spiritual challenges; the enemy seeks to weaken priests and vocations to the priesthood in order to weaken the Church.

“We can’t have Jesus without priests. We can’t have the Church without priests. We can’t get absolution without priests. We basically get nowhere without priests. So, I’m willing to do anything,” explained Mother Rose Philomena, the community’s prioress.

The Handmaids dedicate their lives to praying for priests. They have a chalkboard on which, every week, they write a list of names of priests from a particular diocese and pray for them by name throughout the week.

Mother Rose Philomena described it as “praying for the local community, the local Church, the local diocese, the local parishes, and being a prayer resource for them because they’re not forgotten.”

She noted that priests, especially in rural areas where they are the only priest in the parish or covering multiple parishes, often feel lonely.

“You’ve got priests out on their own running two or three or four parishes and a mission or two, and they’re in a car all the time, and they’re just doing sacramental ministry, and they’re starting to feel like a vending machine: somebody puts in a dime and is expecting to get a nice homily, or ‘I want a wedding,’ or ‘I want a funeral,’ or ‘I didn’t like this,’ and ‘I didn’t like that.’ And these are men who spent years in formation to give their life to Christ and to be conformed to Him on the cross. And then they get out there to start doing that ministry, waiting to bring the Gospel to people and find out that nobody cares,” she said.

“It’s like a passive rejection. And I think that feeds a lot of negative feelings, a lot of depression, a lot of isolation. And then you have these priests out there in little islands working themselves to the bone and wondering if anybody cares. And one of the things we want to put out is that we care. We care so much. We’re giving our lives for this. We’re giving our lives for you, for each priest.

“If all priests were as holy as God desired, there would be no scandals,” Mother Rose Philomena said. “But, you know, human nature and evil and the mystery of evil is not going to go away. Our fallen state isn’t going to go away. But we can always be part of Jesus’ solution, which is, what are you going to give for these priests to keep a priest out of hell?”

From New Mexico to New Market

It was knowledge of this need for holy priests and the heavy burdens many carry that led Father Gerald Fitzgerald to establish the Handmaids of the Precious Blood in 1947 in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, N.M. Seeing the spiritual battles and struggles priests had, Father Fitzgerald envisioned a religious order to pray and sacrifice for the sanctification of priests, which in turn would strengthen the whole Church.

Of the first three women who arrived in the canyon in New Mexico to start the religious community, only one became a Handmaid. She was paralyzed from childhood polio, but Mother Rose Philomena recalled, “I don’t think I ever found a photograph in our archives where she is not smiling. She suffered a lot physically. Father Gerald would say her legs were on crutches, but her spirit was on wings.”

As more women joined the community, the pioneer spirit of the West propelled them in applying their skills in active apostolates throughout New Mexico, Vermont, South Dakota, Missouri, and England. They served in education, nursing, and administration, while keeping eucharistic adoration at the center of the community’s life.

However, following the death of Father Fitzgerald in 1969, the community decided it was best to focus completely on the charism of prayer and sacrifice for priests. All the Handmaids returned to the motherhouse in New Mexico, and the order became fully contemplative, as Father Fitzgerald originally intended.

By 2010, it was becoming difficult to sustain the contemplative community in its remote New Mexico location. It was determined they should move. But where? The Handmaids prayed heavily for God’s guidance on whether to leave New Mexico, and if so, where to go next.

“When the decision was made, it was very Abraham-like. The chapter prayed about it for a long time and then came up with the unanimous decision: yes. God is asking us to leave. We didn’t expect much to happen fast,” Mother Rose Philomena recalled. “God will always give us more than we ask for. His providence is always super abundant.”

Several dioceses extended invitations to the Handmaids. In 2013, Bishop Richard F. Stika offered for them to come to East Tennessee. They initially settled at Christ Prince of Peace Retreat Center in Benton.

“God just worked a whole series of miracles we weren’t planning on,” Mother Rose Philomena said. “I mean, all of it was really a miracle. We had a bishop invite us in. We thought it would take years to move. March of 2013: OK, Tennessee looks great. Visit. And then next thing you know, the first four Handmaids were arriving in May.”

The community planned to build its monastery on the retreat center property in Polk County. But the Handmaids soon found a growing, active retreat center was not compatible with their contemplative lifestyle.

“If someone was coming in for a retreat at the chapel or something, we would just retreat to our houses. We would have our prayers, but we would avoid all contact and generally try to stay inside or just back and forth between the two buildings,” Mother Rose Philomena shared. “It was going to be a little too close and a little too active for us.”

The Sisters began looking for new property in the diocese. They eventually found it in New Market. The property had been built by a Christian family as a retreat center and wedding venue, so there were already accommodations for several people and space for a refectory, library, and chapel.

“So, that was a bit of a fun whiplash,” Mother Rose Philomena remembered of relocating from New Mexico to Benton to New Market. “But that’s part of our life. It’s an adventure. People often think of cloistered nuns as having a not-nice, boring, dull, day-to-day existence. That it’s always the same and repetitive. I’m still waiting for that. It’s not like that.

“It’s an adventure because you’re with Jesus every day, and sometimes He does strange things. Like, you thought you were staying in New Mexico forever. Guess what? Moving to Tennessee. And then once we’re in Tennessee and Benton, it’s like, you thought you were staying there forever. Guess what? You’re going to New Market. We didn’t think we could find a better place than Christ Prince of Peace. And again, God just worked all these miracles.”

As they settled into their new home, they felt God was watching over them in lots of little ways. The 55-acre property offered seclusion, caves, river access, and breathtaking hilltop views.

They began to develop the landscape, creating spaces for prayer and reflection among God’s creation. The Mary, Mother of Priests Garden sits at the top of a hill overlooking the natural beauty of the rolling hills of Jefferson County. Surrounding the garden are the Stations of the Cross; the images are inspired by the bronze, life-size statues by sculptor Mickey Wells. The garden honors priests, both living and deceased, who have supported the Handmaids of the Precious Blood.

The community’s cemetery sits near a bucolic overlook of the river. Sisters from throughout the community’s history are buried here, transferred from New Mexico. At the center of the cemetery is stonework in the shape of a chalice, a reminder of Christ’s precious blood.

And as the property includes caves, Mother Rose Philomena said the Sisters hope one day to build a grotto in one of the caves. They want the property to not only offer seclusion for their cloistered life but to provide a quiet, prayerful respite for visitors to come and be with the Lord.

The Handmaids have a team of helpers and supporters who they call the Handmaids Advisory Team. This team has supported them since they arrived in Tennessee and is helping them as they continue to grow. They also have Knights of Columbus who regularly visit and help care for the large, 55-acre tract.

As a former Christian venue, crosses and hearts were designed into the structures on the property.

Mother Rose Philomena recalled the story behind the cross on the fireplace: “There’s all this stonework full of crosses, because the masons put the crosses in. They built this massive fireplace, and the owner wanted to put the cross in the top himself, but the masons beat him to it. He was a bit angry at them that they weren’t doing exactly what he wanted. Then the mason stepped out of the way of the scaffold to show him the heart he had carved next to the cross. And then he said, ‘I put the heart in because I know how much you love Jesus.’ Obviously, you can’t yell at someone when they tell you that.

“And it has great significance to us because our monasteries are called Cor Jesu, and that means Heart of Jesus in Latin,” Mother Rose Philomena shared.

The Handmaids enjoy finding crosses and hearts across the property.

“Every place they put stones, they put crosses and hearts and stuff, and it’s fun to just kind of find them when you’re walking around and looking, because it’s even on the outside of the fireplace. If you’re in the woods, you can look up and see, like, I think it’s a heart,” Mother Rose Philomena said. “It just had writing all over the place that was this is going to be a religious house someday.”

Life in community

Living in community is both a profound blessing and a meaningful challenge. Cloistered life requires discipline and a willingness to set aside personal preferences, worldly comforts, and certain forms of independence, but it also comes with the blessings of a supportive community and the graces of Christ’s presence. This shared calling has brought together women from all walks of life and guided them in building this community centered on Christ.

Currently, 13 Sisters live at Cor Jesu, with three more elderly Sisters living in assisted care due to medical reasons.

“In a monastery it’s kind of like a heated petri dish—you get a small group of people, and yet you’re getting every personality type on the planet. You have to learn. Just like you don’t get to choose your siblings, you have to learn to love them in their idiosyncrasies and realize they’re doing the exact same thing,” Mother Rose Philomena said. “Living in community is supposed to sanctify all of us. The Lord is expecting us to do our best, but He knows we’re going to fail, and yet He’s a God of mercy.”

Despite differing personalities, the Handmaids are united in their call to follow God and their charism. They are amazed how God has brought them together.

“It’s not dull. It’s not boring. We’re not cookie-cutter clones. I mean, we have 13 people just on this property, and the backgrounds are so varied, so different, that you would be surprised that God would call any of us together in one spot. But He has.

“And I love that the new Sisters coming in also have their own unique perspectives they’re bringing in from the world. And the rest of the Sisters are learning from them, and they’re learning from the other Sisters. So, it’s always an adventure,” Mother Rose Philomena said.

While daily life can vary somewhat, with different tasks, appointments, and projects, it is always rooted in prayer and spending time with the Lord. The day begins with prayer, breakfast in silence, adoration, and matins. Matins, or morning prayer, is part of the Liturgy of the Hours, which is prayed by religious and laypeople around the world throughout the day.

“[Morning prayer] is usually our starting point of the day,” Mother Rose Philomena said. “We’re praying that office together, singing, chanting the psalms, and then two readings.”

After that is Mass, which Mother Rose Philomena called “the highlight of our day, receiving the body and blood of our Lord.”

“The fact that we get to live in His presence all the time is a luxury and a privilege that I don’t think we take seriously enough because it could be gone in a heartbeat.” She recalled how in some countries the Church is actively persecuted or how some people live far away from a church and are not able to regularly receive the Eucharist.

She said she tries to always remember what a blessing it is to have Him present at the Cor Jesu monastery.

“I think it’s good if we have an awareness of nothing is guaranteed and we’ve been given this gift, we better give it back. And the way we give it back is by living our charism and our mission and purpose in the Church. We were founded to give our lives in adoration and sacrifice, oblation, in offering for the sanctification of priests,” she noted.

But being cloistered doesn’t mean the Handmaids are completely cut off from society. In fact, they welcome connecting with people, sharing their joy and ministry, and promoting prayer for priests.

The Sisters have a website with blog updates about their life
(nunsforpriests.org), and Mother Rose Philomena draws a monthly cartoon called “Sister Regina” for The East Tennessee Catholic, which often references cloistered life, the liturgical year, and the monastery’s cats.

They’ve also dipped their toes into social media.

“We try to figure out which one is worth using and which one is not worth using, or which one is worth avoiding like the plague because they’re all kind of different,” Mother Rose Philomena said. “But we figure, if St. Paul was alive today, he would be digitally evangelizing. So, we’re trying to use that and realizing we want to push the cloister into the world so that people understand what it is without having the world come into the cloister. So, it’s like a one-way gate…. We’re kind of finding a way to put a digital cloister out there and say to these people, ironically, through all this computer noise, that they need silence, they need the Eucharist, they need prayer, and they need to know to pray for priests.”

The Sisters are also venturing into podcasts. The Diocese of Knoxville recently partnered with the New Market community to build a podcast studio on the monastery grounds to be used by various ministries.

“I know nothing about the equipment and stuff like that, and I just understand that people sit and talk and video themselves talking, and then people subscribe or listen or whatever to that whenever they want,” Mother Rose Philomena said. “I’m hoping that that will allow us to give the diocese a place to spread the Gospel.”

Responding to Christ’s call

The Handmaids have seen a steady interest in women discerning their order.

Sister Christiana, who is the community’s vocations director, noted that COVID seems to have spurred a number of vocations, as women realized how much they missed the Eucharist during the pandemic lockdown. That prompted some to want to dedicate their lives to strengthening the Church and ensuring there were priests to make Christ in the Eucharist accessible to all who seek Him.

“It was strange to hear our young Sisters in formation who had to live through all this talking about how the churches were closed, how they couldn’t go to Mass, how they had to schedule to go to Mass and sign up. And I’m thinking, wow, we really were blessed. So, we’re more focused on trying to remember the privilege we’ve got and to share that with others in a way that benefits the entire Church, locally and globally,” she said.

Sister Christiana was born and raised in Bradley County. She joined the Catholic Church as a teenager and spent several years in Catholic education, both in the classroom and administration.

“But I felt really drawn to the contemplative life,” she said. “I remember thinking there should be contemplative life in these mountains. You know, there’s all the psalms about the mountains. God surrounds His people like the mountains. I was like, there should be a monastery here. I should be a part of a monastery here.”

Soon enough, there was.

“I can still remember when I read the article saying there was going to be a contemplative monastery in Benton. And I thought, first of all, this is so, so weird because I was from Cleveland.”

Sister Christiana visited with the Handmaids and realized this was the life she had been looking for.

“When I saw their spiritual background as well, it was just a really good fit. Wonderful. It was a blessing. To me, it was just so special that God is really bringing that monastery into these mountains.”

Now as vocations director, Sister Christiana welcomes inquirers and guides new Handmaids in their formation.

“Sister Christiana has done an incredible job with forming them in every way, you know, not just academically, but, you know, intellectually and spiritually and prayerfully and showing them the ropes of the life that is wildly different than the current age,” Mother Rose Philomena pointed out.

For Mother Rose Philomena, the journey to the contemplative life was one of long discernment and waiting for God’s perfect timing. She explained that she was raised in the faith, but like many, as an adult she had drifted away from the Church. While serving in the U.S. Air Force, she had a reversion.

“I developed a hunger for more because I realized not only did I not have faith, I had absolute ignorance. So, I had to learn more,” she said.

The more she grew in her faith, the more she realized she would have to make a choice between the plans she had for herself and God’s plans.

“Basically, God gave me everything I wanted in that process, the things I was seeking materially. Like in my career, I was in a good position, I had good pay. I was going to get promoted, I was going to have rank and command, and I was being offered a really good job. And all I had to do was keep saying no to God and not yes.

“So, I finally said yes to Him and said no all that. Then I had to go through the difficulty of getting out of my commitments so I could leave.”

Even after months of working to end her military commitments in order to discern religious life, Mother Rose Philomena then had to discern which religious community was right for her and be accepted into that community. She was living in Colorado at the time and visited the Handmaids in New Mexico. During her visit she was asked to do a holy hour in the middle of the night.

“I walk in and the lights are all off except on the tabernacle, on the Blessed Sacrament, where the monstrance is exposed because we always leave the lights on. And, I just thought, oh, I get to do this,” she said. “I kind of knew at that point, this is it. I don’t know why this is it, but this is it. It’s the priesthood. It’s the Eucharist. It’s Marian. It’s eucharistic. This is it.”

This eucharistic call is drawing more people not just to the religious life but to a life centered on prayer and sacrifice. That process of stripping away the distractions and attachments of the world and entering into a new, contemplative community takes a great deal of discernment and trust.

Even before a woman visits, there is a time of correspondence where they get to know each other and the woman learns more about the community. Then she is invited to visit the monastery, where she shadows the Sisters’ life for a few days.

The Handmaids don’t have come-and-see retreats like some other orders do, partly because of limited space. But, Sister Christiana noted that individual visits help the Handmaids really get to know each inquirer.

There is a lot of time of prayer and discernment in answering a call to the religious life and then finding the right order. Both the individual and the order pray for God’s guidance.

“Too many people think ‘once I’ve converted, I know what I’m going to do,’” Mother Rose Philomena said. “No, no. God has a big plan for you. You have no idea. And neither do we until you get there.”

Once a woman has discerned the join the Handmaids, she goes through at least nine years of formation before taking perpetual vows. She will study Church teachings, learn more about the Handmaids’ charism, and grow in her own prayer life. There also is human formation, learning how to live in a group setting, and work with other Sisters.

After the initial inquiry, the first step in joining the community is becoming an aspirant. The aspirant spends time in spiritual and human formation, sometimes via correspondence and sometimes living with the community. The next step is postulancy, another one to two years of formation, which also involves assimilating into contemplative religious life.

Following that, she becomes a novice; at this stage, she receives a new name and is invested with the wine-colored habit and white veil. She continues in spiritual formation as well as Scripture and Church studies.

Following that, a Sister makes her temporary profession of vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. She continues in her personal formation and spiritual growth for several more years before making her lifelong, perpetual vows as a solemnly professed Handmaid.

The years of discernment and formation can seem intimidating to some, but the Sisters noted that such a decision should be taken seriously.

“If people approached marriage with that kind of preparation, nobody would get divorced and there wouldn’t be need for annulments because you’d eliminate all the impediments and you’d learn about each other. It can be tough and grueling in a way. You’re laying yourself out on the line and saying, ‘All right, Lord, I want to learn just everything I can about You (which, of course, is infinite), and I want to learn everything about me as You see me,’” Mother Rose Philomena said.

The periods of preparation and formation show just how seriously they take their charism and their way of life.

But learning is a two-way street. Mother Rose Philomena said she enjoys getting to know the younger Sisters and learning about what they go through in today’s world. It helps the community stay aware of the struggles people face and how to reach out to pray for the younger generations.

“And we’re learning a lot about younger generations because we’re like, you know, we weren’t raised on phones, so we’re not used to some of the things they’re used to. They kind of educate us on some of the things that are out there that they’re dealing with, that we never had to deal with,” she said.

Planning for the future

With increasing interest in the vocation comes the need to accommodate more inquirers and, hopefully, more Sisters.

“We to have get a bigger space so we can keep growing and to accept the vocations that are coming,” Mother Rose Philomena said.

Currently, the Handmaids are spread across several buildings, requiring some to walk up a steep hill to Mass and meetings. And bedrooms are at capacity, making it difficult to host inquirers. The Handmaids have repaired and renovated existing buildings, but they are hoping an expansion will soon help put everyone under one roof and make the place feel properly monastic.

The community has plans for a new annex, which will be called Holy Family and will accommodate the needs of a growing monastic community.

A primary focus is, of course, the chapel, where the Handmaids spend so much of their time with the Lord. The first chapel at Cor Jesu was sufficient but small. There was no room for guests, and funerals couldn’t be held there because a casket couldn’t fit though the door. So, the Handmaids moved the chapel into the open-plan building with the refectory and library. The open-space chapel now has much more room and air flow, but it still is not ideal for long periods of contemplative prayer.

“We’re looking forward to a new chapel so that you could not be distracted, like, ‘oh, there was the cat,’ as he walks across the mantel, or sometimes he’ll walk across the library railings, or he’ll just get on a shelf in the library and glare at you,” Mother Rose Philomena said, smiling. “He’s a good cat. He’s quiet, mainly. But it’s definitely not your typical chapel, and it’s hard to figure out. It’s a lot of distraction, visually and noise-wise, that we’re going to try to address with the new building and Holy Family.”

Another focus of the expansion is proper accommodation for the Sisters, including specific space for the novices and inquirers.

“I’m looking forward to having some small cells in Holy Family, something a little more monastic, you know, just a little bed, chair, desk. It’s simpler that way. And it will allow us to get back to a more prayerful life,” said Mother Rose Philomena, who has had to double up her office and her cell, which is a Sister’s room where she sleeps.

Holy Family will also be handicapped-accessible, so older Sisters can live with the community for as long as possible.

“For our Sisters who are aging, they have fought a long battle. Some of them may have started later in life as a late vocation, but they’ve got decades of suffering under their cinctures. They deserve to be able to be with us as long as possible, to say, ‘OK, Sister, I know you’re not necessarily in the best of condition, but I’m wheeling you in. I’m parking you in front of the Blessed Sacrament because I know stuff is happening between you and Him. He’s giving you grace and you’re giving Him love,’” Mother Rose Philomena shared.

“I think they would all really like to know that’s a possibility instead of wondering when am I not going to be able to get down that ramp?” she added.

While it’s a challenge, the Handmaids see the expansion project as a positive one: a sign of the health and growth of their community, which has set itself apart from the world for the glory of God and the sanctification of priests.

“It’s a great adventure. You know, you have to have a pioneer spirit. It’s been good,” Mother Rose Philomena said.

You can learn more about the Handmaids of the Precious Blood and sign up for their weekly newsletter at https://nunsforpriests.org/ And you can support their capital campaign at https://nunsforpriests.org/donation-landing/