THEY may wear traditional habits and dedicate their lives to God but the nuns of Holy Trinity Monastery, in East Hendred, also have a hi-tech calling.

The sisters have set up their own company, the Veil Press, to providing print and web design services for companies and private clients.

And such is their prowess, the surfing sisters have earned the monastery an award.

Veil Press manager Sister Catherine said: “The computer is the modern scriptorium.

“For websites, we give a complete service that includes design, hosting and maintenance. Our design can be as grand or as simple as a client wishes.”

While their work may be at the cutting edge, the cloistered nuns, who have undertaken solemn vows, live a monastic life.

They follow the rule of their founder, St Benedict, who in the sixth century laid down the ethos of manual work, prayer and worship.

The business supports the Roman Catholic monastery and its charitable work.

The community was only founded in 2004 and was the first to be established in the UK for 50 years.

Sister Catherine managed a printing business while at Stanbrook Abbey, in Worcestershire, and decided to set up a similar business after helping to set up Holy Trinity Monastery.

She said: “I knew something about printing and web design – but one is always learning.

“We have a fair amount of experience in design. In particular, we’re very strong on typography and our forté is really beautiful books.”

The Veil Press deals with business from a wide client base.

Recent commissions have ranged from academic institutions to a dog breeder and the Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.

Sister Catherine said: “We do everything from fine print of books to simple business cards.

“But people come to us rather than we going out to them.”

An important part of the influence of the community is through its website, podcasts and email prayer line.

The objective is to make Christian monasticism more accessible and to share the Benedictine tradition beyond the cloister.

The nuns have been making such an impression in the virtual world that they recently won the Premier Christian Media People’s Choice 2009 award, and a prize of a laptop computer.

The company’s charitable work also includes the production of audio books for the blind covering general titles and religious subjects.

The business has to fit in with the nuns’ religious observance, including celebrating Mass daily as well as prayer and study each morning and afternoon.

Sister Catherine said: “It can be quite hard to fit in the matters of the outside world.

“But the thing about a computer is that you can switch it off and come back to it. There are other kinds of work that cannot be left halfway through.”

For more information, see veilpress.co.uk