Our Lady of the Rock Monastery is a Benedictine monastery of women located in the heart of the beautiful San Juan Islands of Washington state. The monastery, a dependent priory of the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem CT, is a place of recollection and prayer. Set amidst 300 acres of forest and farmland, the nuns strive to live out their lives faithful to the traditions handed on to them by their holy founders, Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica.
On January 4, 2025, Saturday of Christmastide, postulant Mary Margaret White was clothed in the monastic habit and veil and was given the name Sister Bernadette. Father Ezekiel Lotz, OSB, our Chaplain-in-residence, was the main celebrant and homilist at the Mass, with Mary's brother, Father Thomas White, LC, concelebrating. Mary's parents Bill and Denise and her 10 siblings traveled to Shaw Island from many parts of the country to share this joyful celebration with their their oldest sister. Friends and Oblates of the monastery from Portland, Seattle, the northern parishes of Ferndale and Lynden, and the San Juan Islands joined the monastic community for Mass, lunch and celebration at the Shaw Island Community Building, followed by the Clothing Ceremony.
Read about Sister Bernadette and her Clothing Ceremony.
See a gallery of the Ceremony and Celebration.
Feast of St. Scholastica—February 10th
St. Scholastica by Mother Praxedes
Abbey of Regina Laudis
February 10th is the Feast of St. Scholastica, the sister of St. Benedict. What we know about the life of St. Benedict, we owe to Pope St. Gregory the Great who wrote his biography roughly fifty years after St. Benedict's death. In the Second Book of the Dialogues Containing the Life and Miracles of St. Benedict of Nursia the Pope recounts to the disciple Peter the miracles wrought by St. Benedict. There was, however, one time when the saint did not get his way.
Read more about the Feast of St. Scholastica
. OUR LITURGY SCHEDULE
LAUDS
Daily 6:30 am
MASS
Sunday: 8:00 am
Monday–Saturday:
Terce and Mass 7:50 am
VESPERS
Sunday: 4:30 pm followed by Benediction
Monday–Saturday:
5:00 pm
You are most welcome to join us in our Monastic Chapel
for the celebration of Mass and Hours of the Divine Office.
Our chapel is open throughout the day for private prayer and meditation.