Postulancy is a two-year period for the young women who enter the Daughters of
St. Paul to get to know the congregation “from the inside,” experiencing life
among them.
During postulancy, the young woman deepens her initial discernment to see if
she is called to spend her entire life with the Daughters of St. Paul as a
consecrated religious sister. She is helped in her discernment especially by the
formation classes about religious life and the community’s spirituality and
mission. Both the classes and the one-on-one meetings with the postulant
formator assist her in discovering her gifts and limitations, and in delving more
deeply into her interior and affective life.
Postulancy is a two-year program and is lived in our community located in St. Louis, MO.
The focus of the first year of postulancy is to guide the postulants to grow in a
deeper knowledge of themselves and their relationship with God. They explore
their inner life more closely, taking notice of the movements of their hearts, their
motivations, and the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
They also grow in a deeper understanding of the Pauline life, prayer, and mission
through formation classes on those topics. They also study the Catholic Faith in
academic classes in theology, the Catechism, and Scripture.
The second year of postulancy is a more intense preparation for novitiate. The
postulant comes to understand more profoundly what it means to completely
dedicate herself in the Pauline apostolic life, living and working closely together,
learning from others, and contributing her gifts.
The second-year postulants learn more about the history of the congregation and
become more involved in the work of evangelization with the media. They build
on the formation they received in the first year as they seek to allow themselves
to be drawn by Christ into a deeper relationship. It is in this climate of prayer,
classes, and experiences that the second year postulant discerns if Christ the
Master is calling her to enter the novitiate, which is the next stage in becoming a
Daughter of St. Paul.
What is a typical day for the postulants?
They begin their day in prayer, just as the professed sisters do. They have a half
hour of quiet meditation on the Word of God, morning prayer and Mass. After
breakfast they do some house cleaning, followed by class or study time, or they
will work with the sisters in an apostolic activity.
The postulants are involved in our mission of evangelizing through the media in
many ways in St. Louis. They serve in our Pauline Books & Media Center, and
they bring the Gospel to parishes and schools through book fairs. They also help
to run events in our center, such as Seniors’ Day (a day of spirituality for the
elderly), Faith and Film nights, and our famous annual Christmas Party for Kids.
Time is set aside every day for the Hour of Adoration. The day closes with
evening prayer and supper together.
The evening is often free for the postulants to catch up on correspondence,
studying, or reading. Some evenings are community nights where they play
games, take a walk, or go for an outing.
The postulants manage to work in a lot of fun together and they collaborate
closely in the apostolate. Their creativity never seems to diminish! Check out
their blog to see some of the activities they’ve been up to lately.