Sublunar Photography

The monastery known as St Pius X Benedictine Abbey was formed in 1951 by the Swiss-American Congregation of the Benedictine Confederation. This location was begun as a foundation which sprouted from its parent monastery, the Conception Abbey. The latest record of activity I can locate here is dated 1982.

There are two separate buildings here, both of which are in very poor condition. From what I can gather, the first building pictured is the actual Abbey itself and the second building with the huge fireplace is the residence. The Abbey appears to have suffered a fire at some point long ago and has sat exposed to the elements ever since. All of the rooms have been gutted and the walls are smashed through nearly everywhere. The residence hasn't fared much better. All of this sits on an active golf course and the path which the carts take is literally right outside the front doors.

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.