"Our hearts are
filled with wonder
as we contemplate your works, O Lord!"
(From the Liturgy of the Hours)
Remembering the past gives rise to prayer and gratitude. Sixty eventful years have passed since five founding Nuns arrived on Benita Avenue in 1946 to begin Passionist contemplative life in the Owensboro diocese.
For 50 of these years, our little "Passion Vine" was cultivated by the Divine Gardener on four acres of urban solitude in the heart of Owensboro. The foundresses never could have imagined that the vine would eventually outgrow this tiny plot of land, and be transplanted to 170 acres of natural wooded solitude in Whitesville, 12 miles southeast of Owensboro.
Led by the Holy Spirit, and protected by the heavenly patronage of good St. Joseph, our community has lived through six transforming decades, each richly blessed by joyful and sorrowful mysteries, as well as by the faith-filled friendship and assistance of bishops, priests and laity who have helped us spiritually and materially.
A 60th anniversary invites us to pause, and to reread our community’s history in the light of salvation history. The memory of our past discovers the guiding presence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit acting in our midst, and leading us through six decades of dying and rising with Jesus.
With Mary, it is time to treasure up and ponder anew in our hearts the memory of these interventions of God, and to bow down before Him with thanksgiving, honor and glory.
With Mary, we proclaim the greatness of our God and His creative power continually renewing our community by His interventions in our history:
Oct. 7, 1946 - St. Joseph’s Monastery is founded
Dec 4, 1946 - Jesus comes to dwell with us, as the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in our chapel
Mar 7-9, 1947 - Retreats for the laity are begun; Fr. Alfred Shalvey, C.P. was the retreat director
Mar 19, 1949 - Oak cross was set in concrete in front of the monastery; on Wed of Holy Week, the sculpture of the Suffering Christ was attached to the cross; the same crucifix stands at our front entrance on Crisp Road
1953 - The first wing is built
1960 - The chapel and second wing is built
1963 - Vatican Council II opens in Rome
1965 - Meetings to update our rule and constitutions are begun
1965 - First renovation of our altar to facilitate the participation of the Nuns in Holy Mass according to the Church’s revised liturgical norms
1966 - First member of our community goes home to God: Sr. Mary Dunnigan
1968 - Retreats are discontinued
1970 - The original house is razed to make way for the work wing
1970 - A second and greater renovation of the chapel altar was made, to allow greater visibility for the Nuns to see the Mass. The tabernacle was made visible to the Nuns
May 3, 1971 - The Papal Legate together with Bishop Soenneker and other bishops and priests and laity attend the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the foundation of the Congregation of the Passionist Nuns
Oct 7, 1971 - 25th Anniversary of the foundation of the Passionist Nuns in the Owensboro Diocese
1974 - The founding superior, Mother Mary Agnes Roche, dies
1976 - Third renovation of the public and cloistered sides of the chapel
1975 - Work continues on the revision of the rule
1977 - Regional meetings for the final revision of our rule and constitutions
1978 - International meeting of Passionist Nuns in Lucca, Italy
1979 - Holy See approves our revised rule and constitutions
1980-1987 - The new rule is clarified and gradually
implemented
1988 - Another of the founding nuns, Sister Jeanne Marie Wehmhoefer,
dies.
1990 - Plans begin to resume retreats and to renovate the chapel so that guests may more easily participate in the Liturgy of the Hours; these plans fail due to lack of space
1991 - Decision to relocate the monastery and fundraising begins
1992 - Schematic design is completed; fundraising continues
1993 - Groundbreaking ceremony plants a wooden cross on Crisp Road
1994 - 1995 - Construction of new monastery and chapel
Nov 1995 - New monastery is blessed
Dec 21, 1995 - Community moves into monastery
Dec 22, 1995 - First Mass is celebrated and the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in our temporary chapel
Mercy Sunday, 1996 - New chapel is blessed; retreats are resumed after 18 years
1997 - Chapel foundation fails; Nuns go into "exile" from the chapel for two years; retreats are temporarily discontinued
1997 - Foundation of the Passionist Oblates
May 1998 - Another of the founding nuns, Sr. Frances Marie Livoti, dies
Feb 1999 - Restored chapel is blessed and retreats are resumed
2001 - First group of Passionist Oblates make their commitment
2001 - Sr. Mary Cecilia Taylor, one of the original foundresses, dies
2001 - New members for our community begin to arrive
2003 - Second group of Passionist Oblates make their commitment
2003 - Arbitration ruling in our favor closes the 7-year lawsuit
2004 - Sr. Rose Mary Boteler, the first member from this diocese, dies
2006 - Community concentrates on vocation animation and formation
Our Holy Founder, St. Paul of the Cross, wrote in our primitive rule that his Nuns were to respond with prayerful gratitude to all their benefactors. A witness who testified in his beatification process even went so far as to say that gratitude was Paul’s characteristic virtue!
On his deathbed, St. Paul of the Cross gave his blessing to all his spiritual children and all the benefactors of the Passionist Congregation, present and future, promising to pray for us in heaven:
"I depart from you, and I shall be waiting for you in paradise. There I shall never cease to pray for the Holy Father, for Holy Mother Church whom I love so much, for the whole Congregation, [and] for her benefactors....I leave to all of you, present, absent and future, my blessing."
We who have inherited his spirit, humbly and warmly thank each and every one of you who have helped us in any way, and we renew our promise of prayers for all your needs and intentions.
May Our Dear Lord, who promised a reward to one who would give even so much as a cup of water to one of His little ones, richly reward each of you for your continuing kindness and help. Through your faith in the value of our Passionist contemplative life, the ongoing miracle of St. Joseph’s Passionist Monastery continues on into the future.
"Give thanks to God the Father
always and for everything
in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ!"
(Ephesians 5:20)
Passionist Nuns
8564 Crisp Road
Whitesville, Kentucky
