We are a community of contemplative nuns that take solemn vows and belong to the Monastic Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, founded in 1604 by Blessed Mother Maria Vittoria de Fornari Strata, a Genoese patrician.  Our monastic vocation is based on the rule of life in the Rules of St Augustine.  

The mystery of the Incarnation of the Divine Word that opens an era of grace and love for humanity, reveals the sublime election of Mary to collaborate with the work of the Divine Saviour by becoming His mother.  The explicit reference to this mystery commits the nuns to taking part in God’s redemptive plan, imitating the Holy Virgin in her humble openness and complete giving of herself to the Lord.

The Daughters of the Annunciation are tasked with offering God an unceasing sacrifice of praise, adoration, and thanks on behalf of all mankind, for the ineffable mystery of the Redemption that began with the Incarnation and came to its fulfilment in the Paschal Mystery. 

The nuns consecrate themselves to serving God and the Church by professing solemn vows, a uniquely contemplative life and papal enclosure, and promote following and imitating Christ, loving participation in the hidden and humble obedience of His entire life from Nazareth all the way to His supreme sacrifice on the Cross.

Animated by divine charity, in a life of unceasing prayer, they unite with Christ’s eternal intercession for mankind, to the advantage of the Church and all humanity. 

Our Order arose as a Monastic Institution, entirely dedicated to contemplation.  Therefore, the essential task of every nun – as gift and mission – is to seek and contemplate each day the beauty of the mystery of God, savour His gentleness, and keep the hope and striving to the good things of heaven alive among mankind, their brothers and sisters.

Contemplation is a gift of God that cannot be merited but that must be requested with humility, trust, and insistence (St Augustine, on psalm 35:14).

The Order’s Founderess, Blessed Mother Maria Vittoria De Fornari Strata, would often say:  “Oh! If only I could go all over the world, always shouting:  Trust in God, Hope in God”.

Faithful to the Order’s tradition, our vocation is both contemplative and missionary. 

Elements of spirituality of the Order of the Most Holy Annunciation (called the Blues) according to the writings of Mother Maria Serafina of the Convent in Lyon (France):

– Adoration of the Word Incarnate
– In the mystery of the Annunciation
– With the Eucharist always in our midst
– Happily living the hidden life of the Virgin and her Divine Son and Lord
– In continuous prayer, consistent meditation, and hard work
– Imitating the Virgin Mary, following Christ’s example
– as daughters of our Heavenly Father, sisters and disciples of Jesus, with the commitment of the Holy Spirit.
– In simplicity of life and fraternity.
– Accepting with generosity and hope the joys, sufferings, and crosses of life.
– Saying with Jesus on the Cross:  everything is completed
– Living in the happiness of the dawn of the Resurrection
– To be witnesses to the world of the endless Mercy of the Holy Trinity.

THE EUCHARISTIC MYSTERY

The Holy Mass, the living commemoration of the sacrifice on the cross, must form the centre of life of the Monastic Community and principal source from which the Nuns draw sustenance for their spiritual life.