Our Lady of the Desert (Diocese of Gallup)
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| Monastery of Our Lady of the Desert | |
 | |
| Dedication: | Monastery of Our Lady of the Desert |
| Type/Classification: | Monastery |
| Non-Parochial: | Yes (no assigned parish community) |
| Operated By: | Benedictine Congregation of the Mother of the Incarnation |
| Venerated Saints: | None specified |
| Diocese: | Diocese of Gallup |
| Deanery: | |
| Address: | 10258 US Hwy 64, Mile Marker #104, Blanco, New Mexico 87412 |
| City: | Blanco, NM |
| Subdivision: | New Mexico |
| Country: | United States |
| County: | San Juan County |
| Website: | No website specified |
| Founded: | 1990 |
| School: | No |
| Email: | None specified |
| AI Confidence: | 6/10 |
| Review Level: | 0/5 |
The Monastery of Our Lady of the Desert is a non-parochial Benedictine monastic community of women located near Blanco, New Mexico, within the Diocese of Gallup. Situated in a remote area of San Juan County in the Four Corners region, the monastery is not a territorial or personal parish but an autonomous house of contemplative religious life, home to a community of cloistered Benedictine nuns dedicated to a life of prayer, work, and hospitality.
The community traces its origins to February 2, 1990, when a small group of sisters began as oblates connected to the Monastery of Christ in the Desert in Abiquiu, New Mexico, initially residing in El Rito, New Mexico. After years without a permanent home, the nuns were given forty acres of land in the nearby Gobernador area through the generosity of a local ranching family, and the community has since built its monastery on that mesa property east of Blanco.
Though most closely associated with Blanco, the monastery today sits primarily on its Gobernador property. The sisters continue to live according to the Rule of Saint Benedict, balancing communal prayer, manual labor, and hospitality to visitors and retreatants who come seeking silence and solitude in the high desert.
History
The community that became the Monastery of Our Lady of the Desert was founded on February 2, 1990, as a group of Benedictine oblates connected with the Monastery of Christ in the Desert in Abiquiu, New Mexico, with the sisters first living in El Rito, New Mexico.[1] Seven nuns were among the community's founders.[2]
For many years the community lacked a permanent home. On June 11, 2007, the sisters were deeded forty acres of property in the Gobernador area of New Mexico through the generosity of Jose and Florence Florez.[1] On June 13, 2008, the community moved to a temporary home in Blanco, New Mexico, at St. Rose of Lima Parish, before beginning to relocate to the Gobernador property in August 2009, initially living in a double-wide and two single modular buildings.[1]
In February 2015, the community celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of its founding with a Mass celebrated by Bishop James Wall of the Diocese of Gallup, attended by two abbots from the Monastery of Christ in the Desert. At that celebration, Mother Benedicta Serna, then prioress, noted that the nuns had come to own all of the buildings and property, and expressed hope of eventually building a full monastery on the mesa with a convent, chapel, and retreat house.[2]
The community was for a time dependent on the Benedictine Abbey of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple in Jamberoo, Australia; Prioress Hilda was appointed on January 1, 2017, by Mother Mary Barnes, Abbess of Jamberoo Abbey.[1] On October 23, 2020, the Holy See declared the Monastery of Our Lady of the Desert an independent, autonomous monastery.[1] On December 13, 2024, the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life approved the formation of the Benedictine Congregation of the Mother of the Incarnation, joining the Monastery of Our Lady of the Desert with St. Scholastica Priory in Petersham, Massachusetts, and other communities; the new congregation held its first meeting at St. Scholastica Priory from February 4–7, 2025.[1]
Special features
- Guesthouse offering a limited number of rooms for women seeking a private retreat in silence
- Contemplative life following the Rule of Saint Benedict, with communal hours of prayer open to visitors
- Association with the Monastery of Christ in the Desert, the community from which the founding sisters originated
Relics
No relics are publicly documented as being held at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Desert in available sources.
Architecture and Art
Exterior features
The monastery occupies a remote mesa-top property in the Gobernador area near Blanco, New Mexico. According to the community's own accounts, the sisters initially lived in modular housing after relocating to the property in 2009, with hopes expressed by community leaders of eventually constructing a permanent convent, chapel, and retreat house on the site.[2] The extent to which permanent stone or adobe chapel construction has since been completed is not fully documented in available public sources.
Interior features
Specific details on the interior layout or chapel furnishings of the monastery are not publicly documented in available sources.
Stained Glass Windows
No information on stained glass windows is publicly documented in available sources.
Statues and Sculptures
No information on statuary at the monastery is publicly documented in available sources.
Other Artwork
No further devotional artwork is publicly documented in available sources.
Image gallery
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Media
No media found for this saint.
Related parishes
- San Esteban del Ray (Diocese of Gallup)
- Mission of St. Anne (Diocese of Gallup, Acomita)
- Santo Niño de Atocha (Diocese of Gallup)
- St. Joseph (Diocese of Gallup, Aztec)
- Our Lady of Loretto (Diocese of Gallup)
- St. Rose of Lima (Diocese of Gallup)
- St. Mary (Diocese of Gallup, Bloomfield)
- Risen Savior (Diocese of Gallup)
- Mission of San Jose (Diocese of Gallup)
- Our Lady of Sorrows (Diocese of Gallup)
- St. Patrick (Diocese of Gallup)
- St. Paul (Diocese of Gallup)
- Immaculate Conception (Diocese of Gallup)
- Our Lady of Light (Diocese of Gallup)
- Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Diocese of Gallup)
- Mission of St. Anthony (Diocese of Gallup, New Mexico)
- Mission of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Diocese of Gallup)
- Sacred Heart (Diocese of Gallup, Farmington)
- St. Mary (Diocese of Gallup, Farmington)
- Holy Trinity (Diocese of Gallup)
- St. Francis of Assisi (Diocese of Gallup, Gallup)
- St. John Vianney (Diocese of Gallup)
- Santo Niño (Diocese of Gallup)
- St. Teresa of Avila (Diocese of Gallup)
- St. Anne (Diocese of Gallup)
External links
Social media
| Official Social Media |
|---|
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "History". Monastery of Our Lady of the Desert. https://www.ourladyofthedesert.org/our-history/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Benedictine Nuns Celebrate 25 Years of Work and Prayer". Voice of the Southwest. https://voiceofthesouthwest.org/benedictine-nuns-celebrate-25-years-of-work-and-prayer/.