With more than 40 warm, welcoming women surrounding her, Nebechi Concepta Chukwu couldn't stop shaking Saturday as she officially started a long journey to become one of them: A Franciscan Sister of the Poor.

        At St. Clare Chapel in Hartwell, Miss Chukwu, a psychologist who is originally from Nigeria, appeared somber as she went through a simple pre-novitiate ceremony.

        A shy, quiet woman, her hands quivered as she sang, answered the sisters' questions and signed documents that marked her as an initiate into the tiny religious order committed to helping the poor.

        The 41-year-old only smiled when the one-hour ceremony was over and she could look ahead to several months of getting to know the sisters and working at St. Francis Seraph School in Over-the-Rhine.

        As a pre-novitiate, she must determine whether she's suited — mentally, spiritually and emotionally — for the order. The Franciscan Sisters must determine the same.

        Saturday's ceremony was a rarity because the Franciscan order has become so small. There are 176 Franciscan Sisters across the globe, compared with about 400 in the 1950s. Seventy-five sisters live in Greater Cincinnati.

        “It was special, seeing the sisters to start my journey of life,” said Miss Chukwu, speaking in the slow lilt of her native West African country. “I was kind of nervous, like when you get married. It's not going to be easy but I'll look to Jesus all the time. I pray to God to give me the strength. I pray for strength and perseverance to work helping the poor.”

        The Franciscan Sisters started the order in Germany in 1845 and came to America in 1858, when they founded a house in Cincinnati to help poor German immigrants.

        It will take almost a decade before Miss Chukwu becomes a Franciscan Sister. But Miss Chukwu, whose first and last name means “Look at God” in Nigerian, has wanted to be a nun for most of her life.

        She expects to become a novice within six months and take her final vows sooner than most. She is anxious to wear the simple gold ring that sisters receive at the last final vow ceremony, which can be as grand as some weddings.

        Upon becoming a sister, Miss Chukwu aims to start a Franciscan Sisters of the Poor Home in Nigeria.

        On Saturday, Franciscan Sisters from Cincinnati, New York, Italy and elsewhere gathered to see her take the first steps. “It's a journey,” said Sister Mary Jacinta Doyle, the Franciscan Sisters' regional minister. “And when some one takes that first step, it initiates them into a life with us.”

        Miss Chukwu grew up poor in a Nigerian village. Every evening, about 60 village members would gather at the Chukwu residence to sing and say the rosary together.

        Miss Chukwu, a diminutive 5-foot-2, sacrificed a scholarship at a Nigerian university to join a convent but never took her final vows. Instead, she came to the United States to pursue an education.

        She has a doctorate in psychology and was running a mental health agency in New Orleans when she began corresponding with Sister Mary Maloney, a vocation minister in New York, about the Franciscan Sisters.

        She decided to join after visiting them and seeing their work in Brooklyn.

        “They have a love for the poor,” Miss Chukwu said. “They are patient with them.”

        The Franciscan Sisters, based in New York, assigned Miss Chukwu to Cincinnati. She arrived three weeks ago. On Saturday, Sister Mary Maloney embraced her.

        “(Miss Chukwu) is a very joyful person and her one great desire is to work with the poor,” she said. “She likes community and sharing with people. People who enter have to have the love of the poor. She knows that's what she wants to do.”

        Sister Therese Martin Hessler, a native Cincinnatian, will help guide her through the pre-novitiate stage.

        “It's a day to celebrate when a new member joins us,” Sister Hessler said. “We are happy to walk the path with her. We wish her many years of service as a Franciscan Sister of the Poor.”

        As a pre-novitiate, Miss Chukwu will live with four Franciscan sisters on the Mercy Franciscan Hospital campus in Mount Airy.

        She will counsel impoverished students at St. Francis Seraph School in Over-the-Rhine and tutor children after school.

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