Jewels from Jane, Oct. 2

This is the credential which has been placed by me in the foundations of the house of the Sisters of Carondelet.

On the second day of October in the year of Our Lord, one thousand eight hundred forty one [1841], in the pontificate of Gregory XVI, and Joseph Rosati being our Bishop of St. Louis in the occupied state of Missouri, I, the undersigned, Pastor and moderator of this Parish of Carondelet under the name of Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel [Sts. Mary and Joseph], laid the first foundations of this building under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph, and the Holy Angels. The Sisters of St. Joseph who are going to live in this building and I have placed our names and signatures as worthy witnesses.

Ed. M. Saulnier

Soeur Celestine [Pommerel], Spr.
Soeur Felicite [Boute]
Soeur St. Jean [Fournier]
Soeur Philomene [Villaine]
Soeur Marie Joseph [Dillon]
Soeur Febronie [Fontbonne]


Architect - John Pitcher

Taken from the Baptismal Record of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, now SS. Mary and Joseph Parish

This is the oldest section of the convent. Mother Celestine began to build this first section in 1840, just four years after the arrival of the sisters from France. It was completed in time for the 1841 graduation of St. Joseph Academy. At the time this section was built there were 79 day students, 12 boarders, 9 deaf children and 4 orphans, plus the sisters. This building is north of where the log cabin was located. The total cost in 1841 when it was finished was $1050. It has been used continuously since that time.

Jewels from Jane,June 30

From the time that Carondelet was first settled in 1767, a piece of ground was reserved and religiously kept as the site of the future church [Sts. Mary and Joseph] and last resting place of the dead. When the town was surveyed and the blocks numbered, the church site became number eighty-two, and the cemetery ground fifty-seven. These two blocks, together with blocks fifty-eight and fifty-nine, which adjoined the cemetery on the south, were deeded to Father Saulnier [Pastor of Sts. Mary and Joseph Church] by the Trustees of the town on September 10, 1835.

Block number fifty-eight was the lot on which stood the log cottage given to the Sisters by Bishop Rosati. On June 30, 1838, a deed to this block was given to the Sisters by Father Saulnier. He had already sold block fifty-nine, which adjoined it on the south, to a Mr. Solomon of Natchez, Mississippi. This gentleman dying suddenly a short time after, the ground (block 59) fell into the hands of the Public Administrator, by whom it was sold at public auction on July 25, 1840. Bryan Mullanphy bought it, and on December 23, 1842, deeded it unconditionally to the Sisters as a Christmas gift.

Notes from Sister Monica’s diary, Jan, 1922

Jewels from Jane, March 12

Act of Profession

I, Sister Mary Francis Joseph [Dillon], natural and legitimate daughter of P.M. and Ann J. Dillon, married, native of the parish of Portage des Sioux, age 20 years, certify and make faith that by the grace of God, I took the habit of the Sisters of the Congregation of St. Joseph, in our house of Carondelet, the 3rd of January, of the year 1838, and following I made my novitiate in the said house of Carondelet during the space of 2 years and 2 months, during which time having practiced the exercises and observed the rules of the said congregation, I, this day 12th of March 1840, have made my profession voluntarily and freely in the hands of the Monsignor Rosati, in the Church of Mount Carmel [Sts. Mary and Joseph], making simple vows of perpetual poverty, chastity and obedience in the said congregation according to the rules and Constitutions in the presence of + Joseph Ev. De St. Louis [Bishop Rosati], Edm. Saulnier [pastor of Sts Mary and Joseph Church], George Alexander Hamilton [pastor at the Cathedral]

Sister Mary Francis Joseph Dillon [first American to enter the community at Carondelet]