We are often asked why we choose a religious name other than our civil name. In the Word of God, being given a new name is tremendously meaningful; it indicates the person’s mission and is a sign of new life. For us, this new name is not just the result of our own choice but comes from the response of the Lord, who has called us to leave the “old man” and, more and more, to put on the “new man” – that is, Christ (cf. Eph 4:24).
My civil name is Marta, and my religious name is Clara Maria Celeste: a name that God inspired me with when I was still discerning between religious life and married life. One day, during religion class, the teacher showed the film of St. Clare of Assisi, who I hadn’t known about until then. The Saint’s life touched me deeply and gave birth to an new and unknown feeling within me: “Who knows if I could also do the same thing she did?” Touched by her example, I made a prayer to God: “If you ever call me to Consecrated Life, I would like my religious name to be Clara.” Then I started thinking about what the third name might possibly be, since in this community everyone has 3 names (the middle name being Maria). At that moment, I went to find the third name of my spiritual guide, Sr. Veronica, who is the mother general of the sisters in this community: I wanted something similar, or even a synonym, in gratitude for all the good she had done for me. One of the synonyms in the dictionary was Celeste (i.e. “celestial,” in Portuguese and Italian)...so there I had it: Clara Maria Celeste! It was an exciting thought, but I ended up putting it aside since I still felt called to married life at the time.
Months of discernment passed, and I finally understood that my calling was to be a “Little Nun” in this community. I decided to leave for Italy to have a vocational experience; initially, I was scheduled to depart in September, but for various reasons I ended up leaving in August. Do you know what day it was? August 11 – which, though I didn’t realize it immediately, is the feast day of St. Clare of Assisi! I still remember the feeling I had when I found out I was arriving at the convent on the day of the saint who had attracted me to consecrated life. Obviously, I couldn’t help thinking about the “coincidence” – or rather “God-incidence,” as a brother would say – considering the prayer I had made some time before!
At that point, I alrady knew my first name, but the third name was still missing. (At that time, I no longer remembered thinking about the name Celeste.)
During the first days of my experience in the community, I started to pray and ask the Lord to give me the third name. One day, while reading the Bible, the word “celestial” caught my attention, since it kept coming up in the pages I was reading. Shortly afterwards, just before Mass, I told my spiritual guide about this “coincidence” with the word “celestial,” asking if it were perhaps a sign. She liked the idea but told me to continue praying for that intention. When Mass ended, I was with another sister who knew nothing of the matter – only that I was praying to find the right name. At that moment she took a key ring out of her pocket and jokingly said: “What could your name be...?” She looked a the key ring (which was sky blue) and said, “Celeste would be a beautiful name!” You can imagine my joy and surprise when she said that! And that’s how I took the name Sister Clara Maria Celeste.
--Sr. CMC