On Saturday, April 24, Sister Mary Rose of the Pure Heart, O.P. made her Solemn Profession in the hands of the prioress, Mother Mary of the Precious Blood of Jesus, O.P.
Archbishop Rodi prepares the incense at the beginning of Mass. 
“What do you seek?” “God’s mercy and yours.” 
Fr. James Brent, O.P., preaching the homily. 
Mother Prioress questions Sister about her desire to make Solemn Profession and be totally consecrated to God. 
Sister Mary Rose prostrates as the chantresses sing the Litany of the Saints. 
“I make profession and promise obedience . . . until death.” 
Mother and Sister pin on the newly blessed black veil of the solemnly professed nun. 
“Receive this ring of divine faith, given in the name of the Holy Trinity. Be faithful to Jesus, your Spouse, so that you may come to the wedding feast of eternal joy.” 
Uniting Sister’s holocaust of Solemn Profession with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 
Sister Mary Rose with Archbishop Rodi, concelebrants and servers. 
Sister Mary Rose with Archbishop Rodi and Mr. Zachary Halloran, our Marbury seminarian. 
Sister Mary Rose with Dominican friars. 
Sister Mary Rose with her family. 
Sister Mary Rose visits with Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia and Sister Servants of the Eternal Word in the Covid-proofed parlor.
Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi of our Archdiocese of Mobile celebrated the Profession Mass, joined by priest friends of Sister and of the community. “Dearest sister, by this solemn profession you have given yourself to God and to His will,” proclaimed Archbishop Rodi over the newly professed nun. “God Himself, therefore, has consecrated you to Himself through the ministry of the Church in preparation for the gospel of peace so that you may be His own heritage and He may be your heritage forever.”
Sister Mary Rose is the oldest of seven children of Andy and Debbie Allen of San Luis Obispo, California. With great confidence in God’s loving plan for her life, whatever that might be, she began seriously considering a religious vocation while working professionally in the years following her graduation from the Catholic University of America. Sister joined the community in January 2015, and completed six years of monastic formation prior to her Solemn Vows. She shares a sacred vocation with her younger brother, Deacon David Allen, who will be ordained to the priesthood this June for the Diocese of Monterey. He sang the Gospel at the Profession Mass, while their younger brother Jonathan acted as server.
In his homily, Fr. James Brent, O.P., applied the Scriptures read at Mass to Sister Mary Rose’s Dominican monastic vocation. “‘In my God is the joy of my soul,’ Sister could say with the prophet Isaiah. It is God who has fashioned her heart this way, and established in the Church the cloistered form of life, which is here in order to protect and promote such grace at work in the heart of His nuns. St. Paul’s exhortation to the Colossians, ‘May the Word of God dwell in you richly,’ aptly sums up the inner meaning of Dominican monasticism, with the special charism here at Marbury of serving as Our Lady’s Guard of Honor, praying the Rosary in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Like Mary, listen to the word today, carry it in your soul, and someday it will come to birth, perhaps in the words of the preaching brethren, perhaps in another manner known only to God. A nun ventures everything in faith on the fruitfulness of listening to the Word, today.”
From the Gospel of John, Fr. James turned to the words of Our Lord: “‘Remain in My love.’ Sister Mary Rose fulfills this by receiving and welcoming ‘the Word breathing forth Love’; and by staying so close to Our Lady, following the inspirations of the Spirit she obtains, and by dwelling in the Eucharistic presence of the Lord Himself. Out of love He gave us the Eucharistic Sacrifice, and in the same love He unites us to it. The Cross is a mystery of love suffering freely for the life of the world, a mystery of love mixed with joy. It belongs to the bride of Christ to learn the mystery of such love, from the inside out. In conclusion, we ask, why all this grace, pouring out in this vocation? Our Lord Himself gives the answer in the Gospel: ‘It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.'”
This is the vocation which Sister Mary Rose of the Pure Heart received from God. If you think God might be calling you to this vocation, we encourage you to respond with joy! (Learn more at our Vocations Page.)