Tuesday, May 20, 2014
The Villa Marie Convent was constructed in 1936 on 157 acres along the Mississippi river in Crystal City, Missouri. At its peak, there were reportedly 90 nuns living here simultaneously*. It's not clear when the Ursuline Sisters left, but it had been "long vacant" by the time of our visit. It was sold sometime in 2015 and is now being used as an event space, primarily for weddings.
The Villa Marie Convent was the Provincialate, or Provincial House, of the Central Province of the Ursuline Sisters, a Catholic religious order which was etablished in Italy in 1535. The order first established itself in North America in 1639 when it constructed a school for French and Indian girls in Quebec. In 1727, they founded a school and convent in New Orleans. In 1850, they erected a convent in Saint Louis. In 1925, they sold the old convent property to the St Joseph Croatian Parish and moved to their new location in Kirkwood where they are still active today.
*Technically, this was not a "convent" and these were not "nuns". This was a "novitiate" where candidates spent 1-2 years training to become nuns. I assume that upon graduating, they would move on to serve at the Kirkwood and other locations.
NOTE: Ten years after originally posting this to the blog as simply "The Convent", I have updated this post with the site's real name and historical information.
1 Comment:
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June 13, 2014 at 1:21 AM
This is such a beautiful place - what's its official name / location? Not finding anything by searching "The Convent."
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