Photos: Servants of Mary

A rosary and other religious items are among the few belongings in one of the nun’s rooms.

Sister Veronica cares for Sister Iris, who has dementia, in the cloistered area of the Servants of Mary convent in Oxnard.

Bishop Alexander Salazar hugs Sister Brenda after presiding over her first vows ceremony at the Oxnard convent.

Sister Maria Socorro, center, mingles with priests and fellow nuns after a first vows ceremony.

Sister Beatriz Gomez with Bishop Alex Salazar, who was visiting the covent.

Sister Pilar Bedolla works in the appointment book on a quiet night at the covent.

The Servants of Mary nuns pray several times a day in their chapel.

Some of the nuns clean up after lunch.

Sister Ines Ripa, left, and Sister Veronika Hernandez share a laugh.

Sister Mercedes Rodrigues, right, who is assigned to care for the aging nuns at the convent, helps Sister Gloria Torres to her room.

Sister Mercedes Rodrigues checks Sister Ines Ripa’s blood pressure.

Mother Lourdes Garcia Superior prays with Venita Marine over the body of her husband, Henry, who died after a period under hospice care.

Venita Marine watches as the coffin of her husband, Henry, is draped with a flag in tribute to his military service.

Sister Maria Socorro helps Esperanza Calderon, who has a brain tumor, into bed in her East L.A. home.

Sister Maria Socorro gives holy communion to Yolanda Calderon at the beside of her sister, Esperanza.

Sister Maria de Jesus Campos tends to Refugio Vega.