Books, bricks offer pieces of convent’s history
Community members looking to learn more about the history of St. Joseph Monastery, or to have their own piece of what was the first Benedictine women’s monastery in North America, need look no further than The Benedictine Gift Shop, located at 139 Church Street in St. Marys.
Bonnie Pearson, receptionist at St. Mary’s Church and buyer for the gift shop, explained that a copy of the gift shop’s newest offering, the book “Like A Mustard Seed” by Ephrem Hollermann, OSB, showed up in the mail one day roughly a month ago. The book focuses on the history of the monastery from 1852 to 2014.
According to Pearson, no one at the parish knew that a book on St. Joseph Monastery was in the works.
After seeing the 528page paperback book, Pearson knew that it would be something the community would be interested in, and she wanted to get additional copies to have available at the gift shop. After learning that the Historical Society of St. Marys and Benzinger Township had also received a copy, the two entities decided to work together to make copies available locally.
“We contacted Marcia Bleggi at the historical society and wondered if they were going to sell it, because they sell stuff like that too. We didn’t want to compete with them. We wanted to share it with them, and we didn’t want to charge more than them,” Pearson said.
The historical society made a bulk purchase of the books, and the gift shop was able to buy some of the copies from them. The book is currently available at both locations.
“We’re not competing against each other. We’re just promoting the heritage,” Pearson said.
According to Pearson, from that initial order, 20 copies were available at the gift shop, with the other 80 copies going to the historical society.
“A lot of people around St. Marys are interested in the history of the town and their families and genealogy and all that, and many, many people had links to the convent. This is just a way to keep the memory alive and maybe research into their own family background in it,” Pearson said.
Among the information included in the book is an appendix listing members of the monastery who professed perpetual vows between 1854-2007.
For anyone who misses out on the initial order of books, Pearson indicated that they plan to continue to stock them at the gift shop.
“We have a heritage room in the gift shop for the Sisters, so once the sales slow down, we’ll probably put them back there on a display,” Pearson said.
Joining the books on that display will be commemorative bricks from the monastery that are currently available for a donation.
“We rescued some bricks when they tore down the convent. I believe we had about 200 of them, and we have them individually wrapped. We had people come in and clean these bricks with chisels and things,” Pearson said.
One side of the bricks contains a history of St. Joseph Monastery, one side has a picture of the final 17 Sisters to reside at the facility, and a third side has a listing of the names of those 17 Sisters.
“We thought that was a nice way to commemorate the last Sisters who were in the building,” Pearson said.
Pearson indicated that the bricks have been available since before Christmas last year, and she estimated that roughly half have been purchased.
“We’ve sold over 100, easily,” Pearson said.
Those who stop by The Benedictine Gift Shop for the book or bricks are also encouraged to take a few minutes to check out the Heritage Room, which is dedicated to the Sisters.
“It’s a room in the back. People can sign the log book that they’ve visited. There are a lot of items. There’s a wall of all the prioresses at the convent and the coif-making machine that made slits in their neck coverings,” Pearson said.
Several statues that were originally located at the convent have also now found a new home in the Heritage Room, including one that Pearson noted comes with a noteworthy historical significance.
“The one statue down there, I’ve been told that is the statue that came with them on the ship from Germany, and I was told that the ship had too much weight on it, so they had to throw this statue overboard, but they put a rope around it. It’s a statue of Mary and the baby Jesus. They put a rope around it, and when they got to their dock, they pulled her back up,” Pearson said.
Pearson likened the Heritage Room to a museum and stressed that none of the items in that section of the gift shop are for sale.
“That part is just a part to look at,” Pearson said.
Individuals are able to access the Heritage Room whenever The Benedictine Gift Shop is open.
Additional information can be found on The Benedictine Gift Shop Facebook page.