Nuns harness social media to grow vocations

An ancient enclosed order of nuns has embraced social media to reach out to the world.

The Poor Clares in Cork, who live a hidden life of prayer behind closed doors, launched their own dedicated website last night as the global order celebrated the 800th anniversary of its foundation.

And the eight nuns living in the Poor Clare Colettine monastery on College Rd also allowed a team from Sandymount Productions in to their chapel to film their Sunday rosary and benediction for the first time — clips which are now available to view in full on YouTube.