A community of nuns in rural Wales has applied to the Home Office for a licence to disinter the remains of 18 nuns buried in its cemetery. The sisters have also held a public auction of their monastery’s belongings ahead of their move.
Thirteen sisters from the Poor Clare Colettine Community are to leave their home in the village of Hawarden to join four sisters from their order in Nottingham.
The Poor Clares have been in Hawarden for 90 years but, in the face of mounting bills to restore and maintain their property, they have discerned that the time is right to move.
When they go they plan to take the disinterred remains of the 18 sisters from their cemetery for reburial in Nottingham.
Speaking from Hawarden, Mother Damian explained the decision, saying: “As a community we asked, ‘Will we take the cemetery with us?’ Of course we will, we wouldn’t dream of leaving them here, was the reply.”
The deceased sisters will be reburied in the grounds of the Nottingham monastery. “They are a part of our community. They’re our roots; if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have been here in Hawarden all these years.”
The disinterment will involve the convent’s cemetery being cordoned off and the remains being moved by hearse.
“Our cemetery is very special; they were the founding sisters of this house,” said Mother Damian. “The cemetery is very much part of our lives. Many young sisters, when they first come here, walk into the gardens and then to the cemetery and spend a long time there in prayer.”
There is sadness at the Poor Clares’ departure from Hawarden and Mother Damian acknowledges that many local people have wondered why it has to happen.
“We’ve had a wonderful life in Hawarden but we’ve come to realise that we can’t cope with the size of the property,” she said. “The grounds are big but the infirmary is too small. The house is also full of stairs; we can see it will be harder for us here in five years, so we are looking to the future.”