Sister Raphaela (Courtesy Photo/Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia)
By Margaret Scott
for the ICR
Sister Raphaela, born Lucille Elizabeth Eggleston, took first vows as a member of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia in Nashville, Tenn., on August 10, 2024. The vows included poverty, chastity and obedience and came at the completion of Sister Raphaela’s third year in the community’s eight-year formation process.
She is the daughter of Rich and Shannon Eggleston and one of six children. The family members are long-time parishioners of All Saints Catholic Church in Lewiston.
Sister Raphaela spoke of the many influences that led her to religious life, but the emotion in her voice as she shared about her parents’ faith-filled example indicates how her childhood laid a foundation for her future vocation.
She remembers taking turns with her siblings to join one of her parents at Adoration in the middle of the night. She recalls her parents bringing home the Vocation Chalice with which they prayed for new priests, deacons and Religious. She is grateful for her parents’ “little yeses” and their support and encouragement in her discernment.
“I’m so profoundly grateful for my family,” she said.
Another significant influence has been her two sisters. The first time she thought about Religious life was as a freshman in high school when she attended the Idaho Catholic Youth Conference (ICYC) with her older sister, Madeline. When she started discerning Religious life again toward the end of college, the first person she told was Made-line. “My sisters have always been such a source of strength to me and a source of deep companionship,” Sister Raphaela said.
Sister Raphaela attended Washington State University where she studied grape growing and winemaking. She describes herself as a “farm kid and a science nerd” and was interested in running a small business like her dad.
Her education in grape growing brought Christ’s analogy of the vine and the branches from the Gospel of John chapter 15 into a new light. “It was like I was learning the heart of the Father as I was doing that, specifically His providence,” Sister Raphaela said. “You can plant a grape in a vast variety of different soils, different climates, different ecosystems, and you can make good wine if you are a good vinedresser. The Father has planted each of us exactly where we are, with the end in mind, and great love in the present moment.”
In 2019, Sister Raphaela graduated from Washington State University with a Bachelor of Science in Viticulture and Enology (winemaking). She then moved to Pocatello and spent two years as a FOCUS missionary at Idaho State University.
She initially joined FOCUS because she wanted the personal formation in order to raise her future children to be saints, but also because of the impact of missionaries while she was a college student.
“As an adult, I became a friend of Jesus because of the work of missionaries,” said Sister Raphaela. “College is such a critical time in a person’s life. If you introduce Him who is love to them, their whole life is different.”
She credits FOCUS’s catechesis formation as well as their strong human formation, as helping her “clarify what it means to desire and where it’s coming from. You can just hear the Lord a lot better when you’re praying every day,” she said.
During her years as a missionary, FOCUS supported her exploration of Religious life. Sister Raphaela attended vocation retreats with three different Orders: the Sisters of Life, the Carmel of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Post Falls, and the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia. “I was able to witness the peace and joy of three different Orders and the women in the three different Orders. It was moving because it was so real,” said Sister Raphaela. She said that the Sisters of Life and the Carmel communities felt like visiting a group of cousins, “but Nashville was like coming home.”
When asked if the demographics of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia, where the median age is 41, influenced her decision, Sister Raphaela explained that it wasn’t a distinguishing feature, as all three communities are thriving. What she did like about the Dominican Sisters was seeing the whole life lived out. “We have a cemetery, an infirmary, a novitiate.” She could picture her life, and cherished seeing younger Sisters care for elderly Sisters and the sense of family and belonging.
She was also attracted by the habit. “These were people who didn’t look like anyone else in the whole world, and yet are so alive!”
Her first year of formation, or Postulancy, was spent immersed in Religious life, learning about Dominican spirituality and the Order’s daily practices.
During Postulancy, Sister Raphaela was asked to pray a novena to Saint Raphael involving the beautiful litany in which Raphael is invoked by various titles for people who were sick. Once the novena was finished, Sister Raphaela continued praying it and developed a devotion to the archangel. “As I prayed the novena, several of his titles pierced my heart,” she said. “I thought I would love to be called ‘filled with the mercy of God.’” She also wanted to be like Raphael, saying ‘yes’ to God’s plan for her life.
When she entered the Novitiate, after completing the first year, she was given a white habit and received her new name: Sister Raphaela. The Novitiate lasted two years. Then, in August, she professed her first vows and was given a black habit, a symbol of consecration. She received the Dominican title Ordo Prædicatorum, or Order of Preachers, and dedicated herself as a Bride of Christ, living as a person consecrated to Jesus.
After three years in vows, Sister Raphaela will have the opportunity to renew her vows for two more years and then profess perpetual vows. “I have this great desire in my heart for it to remain forever.”
“Canon law requires members of religious communities to go through a process so they are really able to discern and know about the life and live it before they make a final commitment,” explains Sister Anne Catherine, who handles communication for the congregation.
While Sister Raphaela was going through the formation process, she remained present to her older sister, Madeline, and then her younger sister, Maria, as they each prepared for the vocation of marriage. She and Madeline continue to exchange letters and encourage one another in their vocations.
Remembering her profession of first vows in August, Sister Raphaela sounds like any bride. She gushes about her love for the Lord and how special it was to have her whole family come for the celebration, explaining that it really felt like her dad was handing her over to Jesus.
Sister Raphaela (far right) joins her Sisters in celebrating the profession of their fist vows with the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia. (Courtesy Photo/Dominican Sisters of Saint Celcilia)
Spending time with Jesus in prayer makes up a large part of Sister Raphaela’s day. Meditation starts at 5:30 a.m. each morning, followed by Lauds and Mass. After breakfast, there is time for personal prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. The community gathers again at 5:00 p.m. for Adoration, Vespers and the rosary. After dinner and recreation time, they finish their day praying the Compline and the Salve Regina together and then observe silence, starting at 8:00 p.m.
The other focus of Sister Raphaela’s time is school. She is in her second year of study toward a Master of Arts in Teaching in Elementary Education at Aquinas College in Nashville, which is owned and operated by the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia.
Founded in 1860, the Apostolate, or mission of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia, is Catholic education. “With love for the Truth and dedication of the Church, our sisters have brought generations of young people the message of Christ,” their website states. While the congregation is based out of its Motherhouse in Nashville, where Sister Raphaela lives, the community of 310 Sisters serves in 52 schools, located in 37 U.S. states and 12 countries.
The Sisters live in smaller communities while they serve in Catholic schools around the world, teaching “every subject under the sun,” according to Sister Raphaela. Next year she will receive her assignment and is hoping to teach fourth grade.
“I think 10-year-olds are the best people in the world.”
“Do the best you can with the time you have for the love of God,” is a phrase Sister Raphaela has focused on during her formation. “That is not something that our world would abide by,” she said. “It tells us to do more and to do it to get ahead. My formation has been in joy and in hope of eternal life, which means living with a supernatural lens.”
Sister Raphaela concluded, “Life is such a gift, and I’m grateful for Him. And for the Diocese of Boise!”
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