This period lasts one year and begins when a woman first contacts the monastery to visit in view of experiencing the Dominican contemplative life as embodied in our monastery. This initial contact includes dialogue with the novice mistress/vocations directress about the nature of the contemplative life, its particular expression in the Dominican Order, and our monastery’s appropriation of this tradition. When there are genuine indications of a possible vocation, the candidate may request to enter the monastery’s enclosure for a set period of time (usually about four weeks). This admission into the enclosure to share in the common life of the novitiate, and the monastery as a whole, allows the candidate a taste of daily life within a monastic structure.  The insight provided by the live-in experience allows the monastery and the candidate an opportunity, as Saint John counsels in his first letter, “to test the spirits”—so as to determine whether the grace of God is directing her here. If both the monastery and candidate believe there are strong signs of a genuine vocation to Our Lady of Grace, the necessary preparations for postulancy are arranged.

The postulancy which is a period of transition from secular life to cloistered religious life, lasts one year. During this time the postulant is gradually, and gently, introduced into the observances and customs of the monastery—that she may “put on the mind of Christ.” She is also provided with assistance through dialogue with the novice mistress and classes oriented towards furnishing a deeper understanding of how Saint Thomas Aquinas’s dictum “Grace does not destroy nature but perfects it” is realized in the Dominican contemplative life. To this end, the postulant is instructed on the principles of Thomistic philosophical anthropology and begins her studies on the Dominican and monastic traditions.

Postulancy is immediately followed by the reception of the Dominican habit, a religious name in the Order, and the beginning of the novitiate. This phase of formation builds upon the postulancy insofar as it further develops and deepens the sister’s understanding of the Dominican monastic vocation as a lived reality. There is a progressive integration, then, between the sister’s intellectual grasp of the life and how it permeates her entire person. This integration is furthered not only by an imparting of knowledge about the dispositions – both interior and exterior—appropriate to a consecrated woman, but in some sense involves an affective education, whereby the sister is encouraged to cultivate filial devotion to and reliance on the Blessed Mother’s guidance and assistance. Just as Mary embodies and represents the destiny of Israel; similarly the consecrated woman, in union with Mary and formed by her exemplarity, represents the Church, the new Israel in her spousal relation to Christ. In echoing Mary’s “yes” she is progressively liberated from an isolating individuality to enjoy a spousal existence as an ecclesial person. She then begins to taste the elevation of her natural powers at the service of God for the salvation of souls. The areas of instruction especially complementary with this growth are the nature of the vows and the religious consecration, and the history and theology of the spiritual life. At the end of two years, the sister will either be admitted to first profession of vows or return to secular life.

With the profession of simple vows for three years, the former novice begins her life as a nun in the Order of Preachers. During the profession rite, she receives a black veil—signifying her death to the world and her role as a house of prayer—and her white scapular is blessed. Both the veil and the scapular are tangible signs of her consecration. In distinction from other traditions, the Dominican friars and nuns only make a vow of obedience. Dominicans place a singular emphasis on obedience due to its Christological significance, which is explained in LCM: “By this profession, we imitate Christ in a special way, for he always submitted to his Father's will for the life of the world” (LCM 18.I). This vow is a profession of an adherence to a whole way of life which includes poverty and chastity, as well as the other evangelical counsels. The consecration wrought at vows is a deepening of the consecration received at Baptism, when the Christian is espoused to Christ in faith. Religious consecration expands the nuptial character of this Baptismal grace, such that the bonds by which a nun pledges herself to the evangelical counsels, “show forth the unbreakable bond of union that exists between Christ and his Bride the Church” (LG 44). As a fledgling nun, she continues her formation—but now as a woman consecrated in the Order. During this period, she participates in the Theological Formation Program. In accordance with Cor Orans simple vows are renewed for an additional two years.

At the end of nine years of formation, the nun may petition to profess solemn vows, when she is “totally consecrated to God in the Order until death.” The Christological character of her obedience is especially highlighted by the profession formula’s parallel to Philippians—“obedience unto death” – obediens usque ad mortem. To signify the ratification of her espousal with the obedient and crucified Christ, the nun receives a ring, and her black veil is blessed. Now that her consecration has been sealed by the profession of solemn vows, she is joined more closely to the saving work of Christ on the cross. She learns to understand that as a bride of Christ, the Cross is her inheritance, and her spiritual maternity will only bear fruit if she cleaves to this mystery in body and soul. Although her period of initial formation has ended, her life will include a certain ongoing formation as her entire person is purified and elevated through the living of the theological virtues and the evangelical counsels beneath the shadow of the Cross.