Nuns to end a joyous life with horses

Sister Angela and some of the horses.

Now, with just three Franciscan Poor Clare nuns left, when once they numbered 20, the sisters have decided to sell their monastery and seek a new direction.

Breeding miniatures has been a remarkable journey for the sisters, generating a much-needed income and attracting tens of thousands of tourists to the Monastery of St Clare, about 120 kilometres from Houston.

The order has existed since 1212. It came to Texas in 1960 when the Poor Clares of Havana, in Cuba, sought refuge when Fidel Castro swept to power.

They set up in Corpus Cristi, Texas, eventually moving in 1985 from 20-acre premises to the 98-acre monastery where they live today.

Sister Angela said they began breeding miniatures in 1981, at times having up to 80 horses on the property.

Sales of the horses from their breeding operation generated a useful income.

However, the thousands of tourists that flocked to the monastery to see the horses ultimately proved the most profitable.

They each pay a modest $US2-$US4 to wander the property and enjoy the horses and also spend money in the gift shop, which sells ceramic items made by the sisters.

Tourists from as far away as Sweden, Jerusalem, Egypt and Tasmania have paid the Poor Clares a visit to see their horses.

Organisations from around the area have organised bus tours to the monastery.

"People show up," she explains. "We give them a little map. They just go out and walk the grounds and pet the horses.

"Most people make a visit to the chapel, make a prayer request."

A ceramic item goes in the kiln at the Art Barn.

Sister Angela said that while they once numbered around 20 nuns, even then many of them were old.

Today, just three remain. Sister Angela, 54, is by far the youngest. The others are aged 89 and 96. The eldest suffers from Alzheimer's.

Sister Angela's brother, Bill Chandler, helps out as the grounds keeper, but the work around the monastery is now too much for the sisters.

"It has been coming for a number of years," Sister Angela said of the decision to move, which was made last year.

"It has got too much for us to handle."

The property has a range of buildings, among them the gift shop, a commercial kitchen, the chapel and an 18-bedroom residence.

She said the property is worth about $US1.5 million and there has been strong interest, in particular from another order of nuns looking to establish a retreat centre.

She is starting to disperse the herd and there has been good interest, especially since publicity around their plans to move on.

"There are those who have seen the horses and thought, 'we are going to get a horse some day'. They have started to realise that they have to do it before it it too late."

And the sisters' plans? They hope to remain in the area.

"We want to downsize and find a little place and have just a couple of acres and a small orchard."

It will, she says, provide them the opportunity to spend more time on spiritual matters and hopefully recruit younger people to join them.

Sister Angela has been with the Poor Clares for 34 years and the horses have been a part of her life for nearly 30 years of those years.

"My emotions are all over the place," she says of leaving behind what the sisters have built.

"I am sad in one sense, excited in another."

"I've been 29 years with the horses and loved every minute of it. The horses are my babies. I've raised them, named them, done their breeding."

However, it was time to move on.

Sister Angela says the monastery has 3000 ceramic moulds, but she intends scaling back that side things.

She is looking to Photoshop and publishing, for the production of spiritual cards, to help carry them in the future.