Poor Clares nuns leave Barcelona's Pedralbes Monastery after almost 700 years

Sister Immaculada, Sister Pilar, and Sister Isaura are 90, 73, and 66 years old respectively. They are the last Poor Clares, or Clarisses, nuns residing in one of the most famous monasteries in Barcelona: the Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Pedralbes.

The three of them will also be the last, after almost 700 years of the order residing in the monastery. Founded by Queen Elisenda de Moncada in 1326, it opened its doors the following year, on May 3, 1327.

The Sisters will now move to another monastery of the same order in Vilobí d'Onyar, very close to the northern city of Girona, as several local media outlets report, with the support of Pope Francis.

The monastery is currently home to three nuns, only one younger than 70 years old, and a museum. The city council owns the building, and so far, all local governments have had a close relationship with the religious site.

Every February 12, on Santa Eulàlia, coinciding with the Saint of the city's old patroness, city mayors and councilors visit the nuns and offer them a dozen eggs in exchange for good weather and the Clarisses' secret-and-traditional Catalan Mató fresh cheese.

The Clarisses or Poor Clares are an order founded by Clare of Assisi and Francis of Assisi in 1212, three years after founding the order of the Franciscans in 1209.

In 1234, the order founded the Santa Clara convent in Barcelona.

Centuries later, in May 2024, the Poor Clares bid farewell to their last Abbess Montserrat Casas, aged 90, who entered the Monastery in 1955. She passed away a few months after the traditional February 12 city council visit.

Good weather

Saint Clare is the patron saint of good weather, which is why many people used to offer eggs to the nuns ahead of special occasions, including their wedding day.

During the last city council visit, authorities asked nuns to pray for rain as Catalonia was in the midst of one of the worst droughts ever recorded.

Local media reports that Poor Clares nuns will leave Barcelona on February 15, after the feast of Santa Eulàlia and the last mass, which is scheduled for February 9.

Church authorities report that the three nuns voluntarily requested to be transferred as they are elderly and there are only three of them, important as the order states that there should be at least five nuns per monastery.

Poor Clares nuns are organized so that their financial sustainability comes from their work and subsistence, which was difficult to achieve in Barcelona's Monastery of Pedralbes.

Change.org

To avoid the Monastery's closure and allow the Poor Clares order to continue in the Catalan capital, a new request was filed on Change.org calling to "avoid the eviction of the Clarisses nuns from the Monastery of Pedralbes."

"Their eviction does not only represent a material loss but also the disappearance of a symbol of the fight and devotion in women's history," Sarai Román Cortés, the promoter of the request, wrote on the platform.

She praises the nuns, who "not only have a religious role but are also a living example of how women have helped preserve culture across centuries."

"Are we going to stare at how these nuns leave the city, or are we going to demonstrate that we take care of what we believe in?" she asked in the text.

Over 960 people have already signed the petition.