A community of nuns from New York relocates to Florida for “silence” after 103 years.
After 103 years in North Buffalo, the cloistered of Carmelite Nuns, who had spent their whole lives in upstate New York, has now relocated to Florida in search of “silence and solitude.”
They claim that throughout the years, too many changes have occurred in the neighborhood surrounding the Monastery of the Little Flower of Jesus, where they have lived for a long period.
“This was a quiet area on the outskirts of the city when this monastery was built,” the community said in a statement released late last year. But these days, the seclusion and quiet that are necessary for a closed community are gone.”
The Carmelite Nuns said that acquaintances had promised to assist them in locating a “spacious property” in Florida inside the borders of the They anticipate that the Diocese of Saint Augustine will serve as their next “ideal location for” a “life of contemplative prayer.” “We are confident that this is a blessing coming to us from the hand of Divine Providence,” the sequestered community declared.
Growing up a few blocks from the Monastery of the Little Flower of Jesus, Pamela Jacobs, an upstate New York resident, told Scripps News Buffalo that “we’d come to the Carmelites and get a prayer card, and we had faith it would change the course of things anytime anything of stress or even happiness happened.”
Ann Brighton, a resident of New York who has lived in the same area for almost 50 years, expressed her sadness for them.
“I feel sad they’re leaving, but I understand everything is shifting nowadays,” Brighton added.
Despite their relief at the relocation, the Carmelites expressed their gratitude to their new neighbors in a statement that read, “Our new monastery felt like home from the very first moment, already embellished with many of our beautiful statues and holy images— thanks to the hard work of many kind and generous friends who prepared for our arrival.”
Brighton expressed her happiness about having them in her neighborhood. “They’re busy praying all the time when I don’t pray all the time,” she stated.
Many said they were surprised by their departure and never thought they would go.
City Councilman Joel Feroleto, who was born and raised a few blocks away from the convent, expressed his sadness at the sisters’ relocation to Florida, as reported by Scripps News Buffalo.
The fate of the two-story brick building that the nuns had called home since the 1920s remains unknown to North Buffalo authorities.
“I think it’s important that whoever does purchase the property, has robust community engagement and talks to the neighbors,” Feroleto stated. “Everybody is used to it being the church.”
The Erie County property records indicate that the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Buffalo possess the majority of the New York property located at 94 Shoshone St. The property was valued at approximately $1.2 million.
The Buffalo Diocese sent its best wishes to the sisters but refrained from commenting on their departure, citing their status as a “independent order from the diocese.”
When contacted by Scripps News Buffalo, the Diocese of Saint Augustine likewise declined to comment, stating that “more details to work out.”
The monastery wrote in a letter, “Words cannot express the profound gratitude we have in our hearts for all the love and generosity which the people of Buffalo have shown to our community for these many years!”
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