Ordo Praedicatorum

By: Nicolas Millan
Reporter staff writer for The Hudson Reporter

Echoing the quiet, mostly residential area of 14th Street in Tucked amid the brownstones that line the block are formidable stone walls encasing a Gothic-style building, which is commonly called the Blue Chapel and currently houses five cloistered Dominican nuns who have taken on St. Dominic’s strict practice of prayer.

Locals are grateful for the respite, for just a few blocks up on Central Avenue are coffee shops and businesses reflective of modern times.

Father Saintourens of the Order of Preachers (see sidebar), along with 12 sisters, originally came from France to Union City in 1891 to establish the Dominican Order in a small house on 14th Street. The monastery saw formal construction of its chapel in 1912. Thus, the first American Monastery of the Perpetual Rosary was born, from which 21 others throughout the nation would eventually stem.

There are many indications of the monastery’s ancient descent: stained glass images imported from Germany during the monastery’s construction, a Virgin Mary statue brought by the original 12 nuns on their trip from France, and its original pews from 1918.

The Blue Chapel also has a very rare first-class relic of St. Dominic - a fragment of the original saint’s bone.

Modern day

The Blue Chapel is run by the prioress Sister Mary Gemma who has held the position since being elected by her peers in 2001.

All of the sisters have taken a vow of chastity, poverty, and obedience. Although talk is held to a minimum, the sisters occasionally break for house chores and recreation, though their central focus is prayer, whether for the living or the dead.

Living a devoted life, the sisters seldom leave the chapel, allowing exceptions only for doctor visits, while other ventures outside require permission from the prioress. In addition, family visits are allowed on an appointment basis - their prayer for the outside (and spiritual) world is that rigorous.

After rising at 5:25 a.m. every morning, the sisters pray the rosary at different times during the day specifically for people who don’t pray.

In addition to praying and the daily chores, the sisters’ role in the community is minimal, yet it is something that residents of the block are grateful for.

Though the nuns live a very dedicated, difficult, and isolated life, they are surrounded by beauties unknown to most.

The artwork of one of America’s and England’s most renowned Catholic artists adorns the walls of this century-old monastery. Nearly a dozen paintings rest on the walls that housed the devoted former nun, Sister Mary of the Compassion. Perhaps her most revered work is the nebulous altar in the church constructed with gold. At the forefront of this lies a breathtaking gold mosaic behind the image of Christ.

History of Mary Rowe

The Blue Chapel’s most famous nun would also go by the name Constance Mary Rowe. Born Constance Dorothy on March 17, 1908, she was baptized at the Brompton Oratory in England, London’s second largest Roman Catholic Church.

Constance had special artistic abilities, having been formally trained at the Royal College of Art in London. She also studied in Rome after winning a major international art prize (the Prix de Rome) in 1932.

In 1935, Constance traveled to New York only to find her way to Union City, a place where she would remain for the rest of her life.

After joining the Dominican Sisters at the Blue Chapel in April 1937, she took on the name Sister Mary of the Compassion and embarked upon her Religious Profession, or rite to become a nun, which would follow in the next year.

Throughout her residence at the Blue Chapel, her artistic skills were honed, conditioned, and encouraged.

During this time, she painted one of her major works, a painting of Dominican saints surrounding a crucified Christ. The life-size painting (8 by 4 feet) is currently housed at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.

According to Sister Maria of the Cross of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit; Sister Mary was commissioned by the House of Studies during the ’50s to paint an artwork there. The painting adorns the refectory of the house, regarded by some as the largest, most ambitious painting embarked on by Sister Mary.

Sister Mary also worked with other media types including textile, mosaic, and clothing. Her paintings include use of water colors, oil, and gold leaf (thinly hammered sheets of gold) on textures such as paper and wood. Echoing the style of Renaissance painters before her, Sister Mary painted portraits of the Madonna and important events such as Christ’s removal from the cross.

Sister Mary of the Compassion died in 1977 after a medical checkup a week prior deemed “nothing wrong” with her. She died at the age of 69.

A friend to the sisters

Ron Threm was 19-years-old when he remembered a humorous story on how he first came in contact with Sister Mary.

“There was a painting with St. Dominic and an angel dressed in red and I said ‘why did she paint St. Dominic with the devil,” said Threm. “I found out then it wasn’t the devil but an angel,” he laughed.

Threm has known the sisters and has been involved with the Monastery of the Perpetual Rosary since the 1953. As a member of Jersey City’s Third Order of St. Dominic, Threm helped the sisters maintain the gift shop. He fondly remembered Sister Mary and her paintings, holding the utmost praise for her.

Occasionally, Threm forwards prayer requests from locals throughout the community to the sisters and clerks the gift shop most famously known for its Mass cards once a week. Until four years ago, Threm would help out the sisters on a daily basis.

The monastery’s future

Despite some ignorance throughout the community regarding the monastery’s status, Threm invites locals to enjoy what it has to offer the community.

“We have a community Mass everyday at 6:30 a.m. open to the public,” said Threm.

Community participation is highest though during holidays such as Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter, Christmas Eve and Day, and Holy Thursday.

The sisters humbleness and dedication to prayer is so devout that Threm recalled an instance in which members of the community from different religions requested prayers and Mass cards.

“I had Muslim and Jewish people come in for Mass cards and ask for prayers,” said Threm.

Funding for the monastery also comes from sales of vestments, rosary beads, and other religious articles.

Nicolas Millan can be reached NMillan@hudsonreporter.com.

SIDEBAR:

DOMINICAN ORIGIN -The father of the Dominican fellowship, sometimes also referred to as the Order of the Preachers, is St. Dominic de Guzman (1170-1221), born in northern Spain. During a diplomatic mission to Denmark, Dominic traveled through southern France where a popular trend of heresy and Catharism - a religious sect adopting theological dualities - existed. Upon his return, Dominic sought to convert the ailing theological climate of southern France. In 1215, Dominic, together with six followers, established himself and his followers to follow the strict practice of prayer and penance. Around January 1217, Dominic was given official permission by Rome’s Pope Innocent III for his order to be named the Order of Preachers O.P., also known as the Dominican Order. In the O.P., the rosary also holds high esteem; legend tells of an apparition of the Virgin Mary appearing to St. Dominic when the Madonna gave him the Rosary. According to Sister Maria of the Cross of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary located in Summit, the rosary isn’t the rigid type known among Catholics today, but rather the loose foundations for what would eventually develop into the rosary. The understanding of its vehicle for salvation is key to the Dominican Order and is something commonly practiced at the Blue Chapel. - NM

See Br. Pius’ post on Constance Mary Rowe.

Recently, a man from England contacted our house enquiring about a painting that has long hung in our refectory. It is an image of Christ crucified surrounded by a host of Dominican Saints, seen in the image above. Each night, after formal meal, we sing the “Ecce Fidelus” (an antiphon in honor of St. Joseph, the patron of our Province) facing this image of the cross. It seems that this particular work of art was painted by a woman who hailed from his parish in Pinner, England. He was writing a book on the history of the parish and some of its noteworthy members. This summer, he completed the book and sent us a copy. Below is the section of his book on this painting and on the artist who made it, known in the world as Constance Mary Rowe.

St. Luke’s Catholic Church, Pinner, The Story of a Parish
By Mr. Bernard A. Harrison
From Chapter 7, “Artists”

Our next artist is someone we shall hear more about in the chapter on St. Philomena and her shrine. She was Constance Mary Rowe, the daughter of Victor Weston Rowe, a Music Hall Artiste and Melfredine Josephine Fournier Rowe (nee Kershaw). In fact the name our artist was given at birth (17th March 1908) was Constance Dorothy but, when we meet her at St. Luke’s she is known as Constance Mary and lives in East End Way. She showed great promise as an artist and, after the Clapham School of Art, studied at the Royal College of Art in London. While there, she took instructions in the Catholic faith at Brompton Oratory and was baptised at the Oratory on 8th September 1931 as Constance Dorothy Mary Rowe.
Constance had a particular talent for mural painting, as we shall see later when we come to the shrine of St. Philomena. In 1932 she won a major international art prize, the Prix de Rome, for mural painting. In addition to a cash award, the prize gave her a further two years’ tuition in Rome.
But what became of Constance Mary Rowe? In the course of my researches I saw vague references to her having joined a religious order in the U.S.A., but nothing specific. Then I found a newspaper cutting from 1935 with a picture showing a stylish young woman waving good bye from a train window. The accompanying story said this was the brilliant young English artist, Constance Mary Rowe, leaving Waterloo Station on the boat train to Southampton en route to New York where she had been commissioned to paint a number of pictures.
Some time later, I came across a postcard containing a pen and ink drawing of Blessed (now Saint) Martin De Porres, O.P., with Constance Rowe’s name below the picture and an address in New York. A picture of a Dominican — could this be the lead I was looking for? Yes, it was. First, a search on the internet came up with a Dominican monastery in Summit, New Jersey, with a telephone number. My call there was answered by a most helpful Sister Maria of the Cross OP, who had actually known out Constance Mary and told me how she had entered an enclosed Dominican monastery in Union City New Jersey as Sister Mary of the Compassion OP
A letter to the Prioress of that monastery was followed by a long period of silence, after which I learned that this lady, aged 93, had died shortly after I had spoken and written to her. My informant was a man, now a teacher and a professional Librarian, who had known the Union City monastery since he served in the chapel there as a young altar boy. He had recently been asked to sort out papers left by the Prioress where he became aware of my interest. He actually found me through the internet where he looked up the web-site of the Pinner Association who pointed him in my direction. I owe a huge debt to Clifford Brooks who has fed me with all I could wish to know about Sister Mary of the Compassion, as we must now refer to Constance Mary Rowe.
Sister Mary never returned from that 1935 visit to New York. She became an enclosed Dominican Sister, entering the Community of the Dominican Nuns of the Perpetual Rosary, Union City — known as the Blue Chapel - in April 1937, making her Religious Profession in 1938. There, she had the good fortune to come under the authority of a Prioress who encouraged her to continue the development of her artistic skills. In subsequent years, she produced a range of high quality artistic work. She studied mosaic design and produced a beautiful mosaic reredos for the monastery chapel. Another major work was a picture of the Crucified Christ surrounded by Dominican saints. This work, which measures 8 ft. x 4 ft., hangs in the refectory of the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. (see the reproduction below).
Sister Mary’s talents did not end there. She had paintings and embroidered panels exhibited in galleries and undertook commissions for institutions and private individuals. Pictures of hers were included in a 1939 New York exhibition of work by Catholic artists staged for the benefit of refugees who had arrived in the USA from Germany. Another of her ventures was the design of costumes and sets for an opera performed by the Music Department of Hunter College, New York. She also wrote a short book (60 pages) in which she gave her thoughts on how art should be approached and how she approached it, offering occasional comments on the work of some artists. The book, An Artist’s Notebook was dedicated TO MY MOTHER AND FATHER MELFREDINE AND VICTOR ROWE AND TO ENGLAND MY COUNTRY.
Later in life, she learned silver smithing and set up a workshop in her cloistered monastery where she designed and made jewellery, some of it in silver and occasionally gold, which was sold on the commercial market to help the finances of her monastery. This aspect of her work was pursued in some detail in an article published in the New York Times on 14lh March 1972, based on an interview she had given through the grille, when she had explained that members of her order did not do teaching or nursing, so they had to find other ways of earning their living. Other comments also reflected this practical approach to the religious life. The report commented on “her brisk British accent”. Sister Mary of the Compassion (our Constance Mary Rowe) died aged 69 on 6lh December 1977, just a week after her annual medical check when she had been told that she was in good health. Reproduced here are some pictures which sum up her remarkable life.

We offer our gratitude to the author, Mr. Bernard Harrison, for his work on this story and his generosity in sending us a copy of his book. To obtain this book, please contact the publisher or the parish in Pinner, whose addresses are below:

Published by Mark/Lucy Enterprises
2, Ashridge Gardens, Pinner HA5 1DU
Tel. 020-6666-7719

St. Luke Church
28 Love Lane, Pinner, HA5 3EX
England
Tel. 020-8866-0098

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