Its origins reach back to the time of the apostles. Early Christian women dedicated themselves entirely to Christ, embracing lives of prayer, service and perpetual virginity while remaining among the people they served. Tradition holds that St. Ephigenia was consecrated by St. Matthew during his missionary work in Ethiopia. Many of the Church’s most beloved virgin martyrs, including Sts. Agatha, Agnes, Lucy and Cecilia, belonged to this ancient witness.

Tradition credits St. Matthew with composing the Rite of Consecration of Virgins, the oldest consecration rite in the Church. According to tradition, his ministry of consecrating virgins was among the factors that contributed to his eventual martyrdom.

Though the vocation diminished in visibility over the centuries, it was restored following the Second Vatican Council and has experienced a renewed flourishing throughout the world. Consecrated virgins live in their dioceses rather than in religious communities. They often hold ordinary careers, support themselves financially and serve in parishes and ministries while dedicating their lives entirely to Christ.

It is precisely this combination of deep consecration and ordinary life that captured the hearts of Annie Stangler and Ashley Murr.

Drawn Closer to Christ

For Annie Stangler, the seeds of her vocation were planted early.

Raised in Deer River in what she describes as a typical Catholic family, Annie attended Mass every Sunday and received the sacraments. Yet even as a child, she sensed a desire for something deeper.

That desire intensified when she was 15 years old.

She credits then-pastor Father Anthony Craig with showing her what a life fully surrendered to Christ looked like.

“My 15-year-old self thought, ‘I want to be like that. I want to be that on fire,’” she recalls.

That same year, during a Confirmation retreat, Annie encountered Eucharistic adoration for the first time. Father Mike Schmitz exposed the Blessed Sacrament and invited students to draw closer.

Annie’s heart leapt at the invitation.

“Me! I want to be closer.”

The experience changed her life.

Overwhelmed by Christ’s presence and love, she found herself crying before the Blessed Sacrament. Later that night, after returning to her room, she felt compelled to go back.

“I just needed to be there,” she says.

From that moment forward, prayer became central to her life. She attended daily Mass whenever possible and developed a regular rhythm of prayer. As her relationship with Christ deepened, questions about vocation naturally followed.

Religious life seemed like the obvious path. Friends and mentors encouraged her to explore convents and religious communities. She investigated multiple orders and felt drawn to active-contemplative communities, particularly those serving youth and priests.

Yet something never felt quite right.

“I knew I was being called to something more,” she says. “But it wasn’t fitting.”

Then, while researching Marian consecration online, she stumbled upon information about consecrated virginity.

It felt like discovering a hidden treasure.

Here was a vocation that united the desires she carried in prayer: a life devoted entirely to Christ, rooted in prayer and service, while remaining in the world.

“It was like the vocation of my dreams,” she says.

A Love that Required a Choice

The journey forward, however, was filled with uncertainty.

At one point, Annie questioned whether God was inviting her to date. She carried wounds that needed healing and sensed she was not yet fully free to say yes to consecrated virginity.

After discussing these concerns with her spiritual director, she decided to explore the possibility and began dating. What followed was a beautiful and serious relationship.

“God really had given me the best,” Annie says. “If I was going to marry someone, it would’ve been him.”

As their relationship deepened, the two came close to engagement. Yet despite her happiness and the goodness of the relationship, something remained unsettled.

Again and again, she brought the question to prayer.

Then came a moment she describes as decisive.

During prayer, Annie experienced what she later recalled as a vision. In it, Jesus approached her, knelt before her and offered a choice.

“You can do anything you want,” she recalled Him saying. “You can get married and have children and have a beautiful life, and I will bless you and you can become a saint. But it would please Me very much if you would have Me.”

The invitation revealed something deep within her heart. Annie loved the man she was dating and could see a beautiful future with him. Choosing Christ would mean walking away from that relationship and surrendering a life she genuinely desired.

Yet the more she sat with the Lord’s invitation, the more freedom she experienced. She realized that God was not forcing her hand. She was completely free to choose either path, and He would continue to love her regardless.

In that freedom, her answer became clear.

When she finally said yes to Christ inwardly, she said an overwhelming peace arrived.

“It was just there, and it was instant.”

The next step was sharing that decision with her boyfriend, a conversation she knew would be difficult. Instead, she was met with a response that brought even greater peace.

Looking back, Annie says his words remain one of the memories she treasures most.

“If Jesus wants you, I have no right,” he told her. 

Years of discernment eventually led Annie to Bishop Felton. When he affirmed her vocation and expressed his readiness to consecrate her, the final pieces seemed to fall into place.

“For the first time, there were no more doubts.”

A Childhood Prayer Fulfilled

Ashley Murr’s story begins with a prayer whispered by a little girl.

Growing up in Prior Lake, Ashley attended Catholic school through second grade. The principal of her school, a religious sister named Sister Irene, would occasionally visit classrooms and speak with the students. Ashley remembers Sister Irene explaining that religious sisters are women who are married to Jesus.

The idea captivated her. Even at that young age, something about belonging entirely to Christ resonated deeply in her heart.

“I remember thinking and praying, ‘Jesus, I would like to marry You.’”

Though Ashley had little understanding of what that might mean, the desire never completely disappeared. As she grew older, it remained firmly present in her heart, even as her faith journey took new turns.

For a period of time, her family attended various churches, and much of her faith formation came from her mother. Then, in middle school, Ashley encountered Jeff Cavins’ The Great Adventure Timeline program and became captivated by the story of salvation history.

“Wow, this is all so incredible,” she remembers thinking. “But what do I do with it?”

The answer began to emerge after high school during a Catholic Heart Work Camp mission trip. Part retreat and part service experience, the trip would become a turning point in her spiritual life.

One night, Ashley found herself wide awake long after everyone else had gone to sleep. Exhausted from the demanding schedule and frustrated that she couldn’t fall asleep, she began pouring her heart out to God. With a hallway light shining into the room and another early morning looming ahead, she recalls asking the Lord: “Why am I here? What am I doing? If I can’t sleep, I’m not going to be able to do this tomorrow. How will I have the strength to do what I have to do?”

In that moment of frustration and honesty, something unexpected happened. A profound awareness of God’s presence settled over her. She sensed that Christ would provide everything she would ever need and sustain her through whatever lay ahead.

The encounter left a lasting mark. Sitting awake at 2:30 in the morning, Ashley made a resolution: to pray every day. She started with a commitment to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet each day that summer, which began a daily habit of prayer.

That same year, she attended a Steubenville conference, where she encountered a description of consecrated virginity for the first time.

As the vocation was described, Ashley felt a flame ignite in her heart.

Though she could find little information about the vocation, the attraction remained. The more she grew closer to Christ, the more her heart was drawn toward belonging entirely to Him. Over time, that initial spark of interest became a persistent desire that stayed with her through the years.

Later, while studying at the University of Minnesota Duluth and growing in faith through ministries connected to Father Mike Schmitz, that childhood prayer of wanting to belong entirely to Jesus resurfaced with renewed strength. Yet Ashley still wondered whether God might be calling her to religious life.

Hoping to discern that possibility more deeply, she entered the Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus in New Ulm in 2023. There, amid daily prayer, community life, and regular time before the Blessed Sacrament, she began to gain greater clarity about the desires God had placed in her heart.

Each morning at Mass, she noticed something surprising. While she loved the community and its way of life, her heart longed not for the convent but for the people in the pews. She wanted to live side by side with others in the ordinary rhythms of daily life while belonging completely to Christ.

As her discernment deepened, she realized that the consecrated life she desired was not religious life, but consecrated virginity.

One attachment remained: her desire to wear a religious habit. In prayer, she felt the Lord gently addressing that longing. Just as He veils Himself beneath the ordinary appearances of bread and wine in the Eucharist, she sensed Him calling her to a hidden witness within ordinary life.

“He would provide me with the veil of ordinary life,” she says with a laugh. “I guess I couldn’t ask for a better veil.”

Brides of Christ in Ordinary Life

Though their journeys differed, Annie and Ashley arrived at the same destination.

Both will continue living much as they do now.

Annie teaches history and religion at Stella Maris Academy, where she sees herself as a spiritual mother helping students learn how to pray and grow closer to God.

Ashley works as a wastewater engineer, joking that even wastewater treatment can become a place of prayer.

“The Lord probably isn’t being invited into an environment like this by too many people,” she laughs.

Both already pray the Liturgy of the Hours. Both strive to attend daily Mass. Both seek to live with an ongoing awareness of God’s presence in ordinary life.

And both have become close friends throughout the formation process.

“She’s my best friend,” Annie says of Ashley. “Of all the people to go through this with, this is phenomenal.”

Yet they are careful to note that their vocation remains intensely personal. The consecration is ultimately a spousal union between each woman and Christ.

On Oct. 30, that union will be publicly sealed before the Church.

For Annie, the long years of discernment have led to profound gratitude.

“How lucky am I? I get to be a bride of Christ,” she says. “By my very existence, I get to bring His people into the mystery of God’s love. How blessed am I?”

For Ashley, the moment represents the continuation of a calling that first stirred in her heart as a little girl listening to a religious sister speak about belonging entirely to Jesus.

Together, they are helping revive a vocation that once seemed lost to history.

And in doing so, they remind the faithful that some of the Church’s oldest traditions are still capable of inspiring new hearts today. 

A Unique Calling:

What Is a Consecrated Virgin?

A consecrated virgin is a woman who dedicates her life completely to Jesus Christ through a solemn consecration by her diocesan bishop. Through this vocation, she commits herself to lifelong celibacy, prayer and service to the Church while living as a bride of Christ.

Unlike members of religious orders, consecrated virgins live in the world rather than in a convent or religious community. They typically support themselves through their own occupations and remain active in parish and diocesan life.

The vocation is centered on an exclusive relationship with Christ and a life of prayer. Consecrated virgins are encouraged to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, participate frequently in the Eucharist and offer their lives in service to the Church and the people of God.

During the Rite of Consecration, a woman publicly expresses her desire to live in perpetual virginity for the sake of God’s kingdom. The bishop then prays the Church’s ancient prayer of consecration over her, formally setting her apart for this vocation. She may also receive a ring as a sign of her spiritual union with Christ.

Consecrated virgins are called to be a visible witness of God’s love and a reminder that every Christian is ultimately called to communion with Him. Through lives of prayer, fidelity and service, they offer a unique witness to Christ’s presence in the midst of everyday life.