Tyburn Monasterio
Puerta del Cielo
Apartado 11-01-403
Loja
Ecuador

Diocese of Loja

So keen was his desire for this foundation that he immediately arranged that his personal chauffeur would take us in the episcopal car to visit this area of his diocese as a preliminary step towards the realisation of his earnest desire. Accordingly we spent most of the remaining hours of that day visiting Malacatos and Vilcabamba and being shown the varied parts of this region by the Bishop’s chauffeur. On our return to Sechura, Peru the following morning we wrote to advise Bishop Hugolino Cerasuolo Stacey that we would submit his request to our General Chapter at its next session, which was due to be held in another few weeks.

High up among the peaks of the Cordillera de los Andes, in the Sacred Valley, known as Vilcabamba in the Quechuan dialect of the Incas, in the province of Loja, Ecuador is our Tyburn Monasterio Puerta del Cielo : Gate of Heaven.

Ever since we made our foundation in Peru in 1976 we have had requests from several dioceses to found a monastery in Ecuador but it was not until the courtesy visit paid to Bishop Hugolino when travelling through his diocese in early 2002, that he prevailed upon our sisters with heart-rending entreaty to help his people by making the witness of our life of Divine praise and Eucharistic adoration available to them in their spiritual need.

Already on a mission to found a new monastery in Colombia, our General Chapter, docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, voted unanimously in favour of both new foundations. The Bishop, proving himself a paternal pastor of his flock encouraged us through all the difficulties of obtaining a suitable property and by mid June 2002 the community made up of five sisters from our monasteries all over the world had moved into the house on our property. Building work began soon after and part of the house was adapted and extended to create the monastery church ­ our most important building. Immediately the local people began to attend in ever increasing numbers so that further adaptations had to be made to extend the laity chapel to accommodate all the people coming for prayer and Holy Mass.

In July 2002 foundations were laid for more of the monastery buildings and in August the church was completed in time for Bishop Hugolino to concelebrate with the Apostolic nuncio to Ecuador at a Mass of First Profession of one of our sisters. In these months we also managed to sink a viable well on our property so that the monastery has its own supply of fresh drinking water.

In keeping with our apostolate of Benedictine hospitality the community has worked hard to provide facilities for retreats and opportunities for Eucharistic adoration for people of the surrounding areas and further afield. The Bishop wishes us to provide retreat facilities in order that we can draw people into our Benedictine life of praise and worship and so foster the prayer-life of the diocese. Two small guest cabins have been completed enabling retreatants to stay and various works of the apostolate include Bible study and prayer groups, and Oblates. A large garden for the laity has been landscaped where a pilgrimage shrine of Our Lady of Cisne is situated, blessed by Bishop Hugolino on 29 December 2003.

Bearing the Marian title ­ Gate of Heaven ­ this monastery is characterised by the spirit of maternal solicitude and confident enthusiasm for the great adventure of proclaiming the Gospel as the new millennium opens before the Church like a vast ocean upon which we shall venture.