Category Archives: Emmitsburg

Selected images from our our current exhibit, on display in Gallery 1. All images used with permission of the Daughters of Charity Provincial Archives. If you wish to see the complete exhibit, it is open to the public Wednesday afternoons from 1:00 to 4:30 and will be on display through January 9, 2015.

View and download the exhibit brochure.
View a video featuring memories of three Sisters who moved into the building in 1964.

Design drawing by Maguolo and Quick, architects for the Provincial House, showing three wings which were never built.

Provincial House under construction, May 1963

Sister Isabel Toohey, Visitatrix, breaks ground for the new St. Joseph’s Provincial House

Groundbreaking for St. Joseph’s Provincial House. As part of the groundbreaking the Sisters processed from the old Central House to the site of the new Provincial House.

Aerial view of the former Central House and St. Joseph’s College

Chapel at St. Joseph’s Central House. The chapel still stands; it is now on the property owned by FEMA located just south of our current campus.

Campus scene showing St. Joseph’s Provincial House and grounds. At the time of the move to the Provincial House, the grounds had little landscaping; Sisters remembered getting red mud on their shoes when they went for walks.

A distinctive feature of the new building was its long corridors, such as this one looking down F wing toward the Basilica. Because the corridors looked so similar, getting lost was a frequent occurrence.

Drawing showing plans for the Seton Altar in the Basilica.

Elizabeth Ann Seton altar. Mother Seton’s remains were moved to this spot in 1968.

The Sisters’ Chapel, now the Basilica, opened in January 1965 Sisters are seen here exploring their newly-completed chapel.

As originally installed the crucifix at the main altar in the Sisters’ Chapel (now the Basilica) had a double corpus. One of the corpuses was later removed in response to changing liturgical practices.

Sr. Isabel Toohey, Emmitsburg Province Visitatrix from 1944-1962, began the project to build a new Provincial House.

Sister Eleanor McNabb, Emmitsburg Province Visitatrix in 1964, oversaw the move into the new building

Sister Isabel Toohey, Visitatrix breaking ground for the new St. Joseph’s Provincial House on September 27, 1961 (used with permission of Daughters of Charity Provincial Archives)

On Sept. 27, 1961, Sr. Isabel Toohey, Visitatrix of the Emmitsburg Province, broke ground for the construction of a new Provincial House. There for this “never-to-be-forgotten moment” were sisters who had processed from the old Central House on the original property (now owned by FEMA).
The new Provincial House was considered the flowering of the seed planted by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. She and her first sisters arrived in Emmitsburg in 1809 and on July 31 took possession of their first home, the Stone House. The growing community moved into the White House the following year. In 1826, they took up residence in a larger building that served, with necessary additions, as the Central House for 138 years. The ground breaking for a new Provincial House took place on 27 Sept. 1961 and in less than three years, the building was ready, with sisters moved in on 12 Sept. 1964. Arriving soon after were 69 postulants.

Speaking at the ceremony was Fr. Francis J. Dodd, C.M., who told those gathered, “This is a very simple ceremony, but I hope that it will mark a memorable occasion. We have, by God’s Providence, been able to prepare a place for our sick and ancient Sisters. We are faced at home now with an acute problem of providing for the members of the Community itself. The buildings you occupy have served wonderfully well, many of them for more than a century. They are not now adequate. Besides that, the maintenance is growing year by year. So, the economic thing to do is to prepare a new Central House. A few years ago, we had Seminary Sisters for a few months; the Postulants did not come here; we did not have a Juniorate. Now we have Postulants, Seminary Sisters and the Sisters of the Juniorate. And the Juniorate will soon be for two years…. So a larger building is needed. That is why we meet on this occasion to turn the first spade of ground in the work to be begun.”

One of the most memorable aspects of the new Provincial House was the “big chapel,” as one of the sisters called it. Originally meant as a private place for the sisters, it would become the Basilica of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

To remember these events, the Provincial Archives traces the planning and building of this house in a new exhibit, “called “’We Saw the First Spade of Earth Turned….’: The Building of St. Joseph’s Provincial House.” Featuring photographs, architectural plans, artifacts, and a special video of some of the sisters who were the original occupants, the exhibit will be open through January 9, 2015. Watch for a virtual tour of the exhibit here on our blog!