This year, the Dominican Nuns at the Dominican Monastery of St. Jude are celebrating the 75th Anniversary of our foundation. On August 17, 1944, “Foundation Day,” our foundresses Mother Mary Dominic and Mother Mary of the Child Jesus left their monastery in Catonsville, Maryland, to travel to Alabama and establish the first interracial cloister in the United States. Archbishop Thomas J. Toolen, along with Fr. Harold Purcell of the City of St. Jude, joyfully welcomed them to the Archdiocese of Mobile. On August 28, 1944, “Enclosure Day,” the cloister of our new monastery in Marbury was officially blessed, enabling the new community to begin living the life of Eucharistic Adoration and Perpetual Rosary, praise of God and intercession for the needs of the world, that continues to this day.
On August 23, 2019, our 75th Jubilee Year officially opened with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated by Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi at the monastery. The Archbishop was joined by Fr. James Dean, Fr. Den Irwin, Fr. Nicholas Napolitano, Fr. Francis Sofie, Msgr. Charles Troncale, Fr. Alejandro Valladares, and Fr. Wayne Youngman of the Archdiocese of Mobile, and Fr. Bryan Jerabek of the Diocese of Birmingham. Many devoted friends of the monastery attended the Mass and enjoyed the following reception with refreshments provided by Chappy’s Deli.
It was such a delight to celebrate our Jubilee with our Archbishop, with so many of our local priests and with friends from the Montgomery and Birmingham areas and beyond. Those who were not here we kept in our hearts, in gratitude to all for their friendship and support of our life of prayer.
A few days earlier, on August 17th, we celebrated our Foundation Day with a Dominican Rite Missa Cantata for the feast of our Dominican apostle to Poland, St. Hyacinth. This was a joyful, small celebration for the nuns, joined by a few members of the Dominican family.
