From this beginning in the 13th century, there are now over 3000 Dominican nuns seeking God in the monastic contemplative life in 200 monasteries around the world. In the late 19th century, some Dominican nuns came from Europe to make the first foundation in our country. There are currently 15 Dominican monasteries in the U.S.
Mother Mary, Foundress and first Prioress
The Monastery of Our Lady of Grace was founded by 14 sisters from the Dominican Monastery in Summit, New Jersey. They came to North Guilford in 1947, forming the first monastery from the farm house and barns on their property. The entire structure burned to the ground in 1955 in a fire which took the lives of three of the sisters. The community lived together in West Haven in an unused county home (provided by the state) until 1958 when the new monastery was completed and they were able to return to North Guilford.
It is of special interest that after the devastating fire in 1955 there was found in the debris of the destroyed farmhouse-monastery a burnt page from a Missal used at Mass on which the only remaining legible words were Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus. When the time came to carve words over the entrance of the new monastery chapel, the sisters remembered the scrap of burnt paper, and those special words seemed a most appropriate choice for the inscription: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus.