Noviciate
During the liturgical celebration of her entry into the noviciate, the novice receives the cross of Saint Andrew, which from now on she will wear as a sign of the Congregation.
The noviciate is a 'time-apart' lasting between two and two and a half years. Priority is given to deepening the spiritual life, to discovering the place of religious life within the context of the Church and to the process of discerning a vocation to the Sisters of Saint Andrew.
Life in the group with the other novices, together with the accompaniment of the sister in charge of their formation, allows the novice get to know herself better not only through her fragility and her wounds, but also with her gifts and aptitudes which religious life will allow to mature and grow, if her calling to this way of life is affirmed.
The noviciate is marked by the making of a 30 day retreat according to the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, and by several "experiments" (different types of experience) made outside of the formation community. These "experiments" will for a short time plunge the novice into a completely different cultural or social context.
The novice, whose desire has been tested and affirmed during the course of the novitiate, may ask to pronounce her first vows.
