Augustinian nuns of Lecceto reflect on life of prayer and friendship with Pope Leo XIV
The Lecceto hermitage near Siena, Italy. / Credit: LigaDue, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
ACI Stampa, May 27, 2025 / 12:18 pm (CNA).
The Augustinian nuns of Lecceto are a small community living in a hermitage 10 kilometers (a little more than six miles) from the city of Siena in Italy. The hermitage bears witness to an ancient and rich history that began in the 12th century and originates with the Augustinian order.
Today, several Augustinian nuns live here, praying, working, and studying — a contemplative life that mirrors that of the new Pope Leo XIV, who knows the nuns of Lecceto well and has visited them on several occasions in their beautiful setting among the olive trees and vineyards of Tuscany.
ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian-language news partner, asked Sister Sara Maria to share the activities of the nuns at the monastery and the nuns’ relationship with Pope Leo XIV.
*ACI Stampa: As an Augustinian community, how did you receive the news of Cardinal Robert Prevost becoming the new pope?*
Sister Sara Maria: Augustine always lived and professed a deep love for the Church, the “true mother of the faithful.” As daughters of Augustine and thus deeply devoted daughters of the Church, we followed the days of the congregations and then the start of the conclave with great prayerful participation.
That ecclesial participation also included a human sentiment connected to the presence in the conclave of our beloved brother, Father Robert Prevost, whom we esteemed as someone who could be elected. Knowing his human and spiritual depth ... we feared for him, and when the cardinal protodeacon began to proclaim the name, the mere “R” of “Robertum” was enough to fill us with both joy and trepidation — joy for the Church, which had a new pope in such a short time, showing the world the power of the Spirit in the grace of unity; joy for an Augustinian pope who once again would bring to the world the charism of communion and unity of St. Augustine. Trepidation for the burden placed on our brother, as he himself said the next day to the cardinals: “You have called me to carry that cross and to be blessed with that mission.”
*Do you know him personally? We understand he has visited you a few times. Could you tell us about those moments?*
We have known Father Robert since the years when he was prior general of the Order of St. Augustine and, due to his institutional role, he visited our community multiple times, presiding over important celebrations, elective chapters, and helping us through some difficult points in our journey.
Every time we had the joy of welcoming him among us, we appreciated his fraternal presence, his warmth and capacity for listening, the simplicity of his manner, and the clarity with which he could express himself: a person capable of guiding and making decisions, starting from a real openness to others and to their situations.
*What are your activities in the monastery? What do the Augustinian nuns do?*
The Augustinian nuns, just like the Poor Clares for the Franciscans, or the Carmelites, or the Dominican and Servite nuns, are the contemplative branch of their respective mendicant orders. This means that ours is a cloistered life centered on prayer. But, as Augustinians, the life we lead is marked entirely by a yearning for communion: “Cor unum et anima una in Deum” — “One heart and one soul in God,” as St. Augustine loved to repeat.
We live a very simple daily life made up of prayer, work, and study (“Rise, seek, sigh, yearn with ardor, knock on the closed door. If we feel no desire, if we have no longing, if we do not know how to sigh, we will end up throwing pearls before anyone, and find only worthless pearls ourselves” — In Ev. Io. tr. 18,7), in communion and openness to anyone who knocks at our door.
Our main activity — after prayer — is the welcoming of men and women who are in search of God’s peace, who ask for a time of rest and the sharing of the experience of faith.
*What are your hopes for the new pope? Do you expect to hear from him or get in touch?*
For Pope Leo we pray, asking for an abundance of the Spirit’s gifts and peace of heart for the heavy task he has undertaken. We know his balance and his humility, and we wish him to walk serenely along the path he has set for himself: to be a servant of the faith and the joy of the people of God who have been entrusted to him.
In recent days we have sent him congratulatory messages, and we were also blessed with an audience granted to some Augustinian men and women: It was a great gift to be able to greet him, to receive his blessing ... and to witness firsthand his deep, abiding serenity.
This story was first published by ACI Stampa, CNA's Italian-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.