Monastero Mater Ecclesiae | |
 | |
  Location on a map of Vatican City | |
| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Order | Poor Clares et al. |
| Established | c. 1990 |
| Dedicated to | Mary, Mother of the Church |
| Diocese | Rome |
| People | |
| Founder | Pope John Paul II |
| Important associated figures | Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | private residence |
| Groundbreaking | 1992 |
| Completion date |
|
| Site | |
| Coordinates | 41°54′14″N12°27′04″E / 41.90389°N 12.45111°E /41.90389; 12.45111 |
TheMater Ecclesiae Monastery (Latin for "Mother of the Church" dedicated toMary) is amonastery inVatican City. It was founded around 1990 byPope John Paul II as a monastery for cloisterednuns who pray specifically for the health of the pope. Various cloistered orders are invited to take up residence for a time. It served as the residence ofPope Benedict XVI fromhis resignation in 2013 until hisdeath in 2022. In 2023,Pope Francis returned it to its monastic purpose with an invitation toBenedictine nuns of the Abbey of St. Scholastica inVictoria, Argentina.[1]
The monastery, named after aCatholic title forMary as "Mother of the Church" (Latin:Mater Ecclesiae), is located on theVatican Hill inside theVatican Gardens and near theAquilone fountain. It was founded byPope John Paul II in order to have a community ofnuns of anenclosed religious order inside Vatican City, who were to pray for thepope in his service to theCatholic Church. This task was first entrusted to thePoor Clares with the understanding that a different order of nuns would be invited to occupy the Monastery every five years.[citation needed]
The building was erected between 1992 and 1994 in place of an administrative building of theVatican police. Its structure is incorporated into theLeonine walls. The building is divided in two parts: The western chapel (two floors and rectangular in shape) and the eastern community rooms andmonastic cells (rectangular in shape and, on the Aquilone fountain's side, with four floors, with 12 monastic cells on the second and third floors, and arefectory, store, kitchen, infirmary, archives and an office-studio on the ground and lower ground floors).[2] Adjacent to the monastery is a fruit and vegetable garden. Pope Benedict XVI visited the monastery several times and celebratedMass for the nuns.[3]
After his retirement in February 2013, Benedict moved into the monastery on 2 May 2013. He lived there accompanied by a few assistants, with their domestic needs cared for by a small community of women belonging to asecular institute calledMemores Domini, part of theCommunion and Liberation movement.[4][5] He died there on 31 December 2022.[6]
The nuns who have occupied the monastery are:[7]
Media related toMater Ecclesiae monastery at Wikimedia Commons
