This website is intended to help meet the needs of the Conversi community. Membership in Conversi is open to Christian men and women who feel a calling to a contemplative lifestyle in the world and who wish to model that lifestyle on values and practices evident in Cistercian monasteries. The Conversi on-line community is intended for people who feel an calling to a contemplative and Cistercian lifestyle, but who are unable, because of distance or time, to participate in existing associate programs. The Conversi community is associated with New Melleray Abbey and Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey, both near Dubuque, Iowa. To meet the on-going needs of the Conversi on-line community, we must restrict membership to 30 individuals at this time. First Name: Last Name: Password: Forgot Password? Contact Coordinator Information about Conversi and Application Form The Conversi Way of Life Some on-line resources The conversi were the historical antecedents of the Cistercian Lay Brothers. The term was originally applied to those who voluntarily renounced the world and entered a religious order to do penance and to lead a life of greater perfection. The renouncing of the world was known as the conversio a sæculo, which had as its object a reform or change of life, the conversio morum, hence conversi or the "converted" Today more and more lay persons feel a strong attraction to Cistercian monasteries and to the spiritual values and practices they find there. Like the conversi of old, they too are interested in living the Cistercian charism; unlike the conversi of old, they seek to live this lifestyle in the world.