The community of Monastery is named for Our Lady of Grace Monastery, home to the Contemplative Augustinian Nuns. Begun as
Petit Clairvaux in 1825 by a Trappist monk from France, Fr. Vincent de Paul Merle, the monastery was occupied by Trappist monks until 1919, with the exception of the years 1900 – 1903. After experiencing a major fire in 1892, the present building was built in 1894.
The monastery stood empty until 1938, when group of German Augustinians purchased the property, restored it and, among other accomplishments, opened
Our Lady of Grace Shrine at the Holy Spring in 1952. It is located a short walk south of the monastery in a rustic wooded setting. At the beginning of the trail leading into the shrine are the Fourteen Stations of the Cross. The stations are mounted on wooden posts with small gable roofs covering each one. Each station has a small bronze sculpture depicting the appropriate scene. The trail then leads to the Holy Spring, above which, on the hillside, is the shrine.
A history of the monastery can be seen below. The last monks departed the monastery in 2007 and it is now occupied solely by the Augustinian Sisters.
Our Lady of Grace Shrine, located just a short walk from the Monastery proper, is a place blessed by God. There is a Holy Spring found here which has long been the vehicle of many blessings and graces, including all sorts of healing. Pilgrims are able to pray at this Holy Shrine asking for the powerful and maternal intercession of the Mother of God and to walk the way of the Cross with her.
From Our Lady of Grace Monastery
A Brief History of Our Lady
of Grace Monastery
Our Lady of Grace Monastery, located in the town of Monastery, N. S. – about 25 minutes east of Antigonish – has roots deep in the history of Nova Scotia and is a historic landmark of the region. The Monastery was originally founded in 1825 by a Trappist monk from France: Fr. Vincent de Paul Merle. He called the new monastery “Petit Clairvaux” after the Cistercian monastery in France made famous by St. Bernard. It was the first Trappist foundation in North America.
Trappists lived, worked and prayed at the monastery continuously from 1825 till 1919 with the exception of the years 1900 – 1903. The Trappist community that struggled from the beginning of the foundation was greatly helped by a large contingent of monks from Belgium who arrived in 1857. Under their direction the monastery flourished and saw at one time 45 monks in residence. However two fires, one in 1892 which destroyed the monastery and another in 1896 which destroyed the farm buildings, along with other difficulties, caused the Belgian monks in 1900 to vacate the Monastery and move to Rhode Island. The present monastery building was begun in 1894 to replace the one that burned down.
In 1903 another group of Trappists sought refuge from religious persecution at Monastery. They came from France, but due to the scarcity of vocations and the easing of the persecutions in that country they returned in 1919.
For the next 19 years the monastery remained vacant. In 1938 a group of German Augustinians purchased the property and began the hard work of restoration. This was the first foundation of the Augustinian Order in Canada. The Augustinians restored the buildings on the property and renamed the monastery “St. Augustine’s”.
A retreat house was opened in 1948;
a wayside shrine to Our Lady of Grace, in a beautiful rustic setting on the property was established and opened in May 1952;...
In the Fall of 2000 there arrived a new group of monks to continue the work so courageously begun by the Trappists and carried forward by the Augustinians. They have renamed the monastery “Our Lady of Grace”. The new monks form part of a small monastic order of Eastern Catholics of the Maronite rite which is in union with the Pope. They are called “Monks of St. Maron” after the father of the Maronite Church.
As of June 27, 2007 the Monks of St. Maron are no longer in residence at Our Lady of Grace Monastery.
From A History of the Monastery