history of Our Foundation
Our community’s first chapel, built in the renovated carport of our cottage at Rosemary Heights Retreat Center.
"My Peace I give to you." These are the words of Jesus in St. John’s Gospel, words that have found a deep resonance in the heart of each one of us here at our monastery in Western Canada, where Master General Timothy Radcliffe, O.P. requested volunteers to found an English-speaking Dominican monastery in Canada.
It all began on November 27, 1999, with First Vespers of Advent when nuns came from different monasteries in the United States with the generous support of the Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament in Farmington Hills, MI as the sponsoring monastery.
We started out in Rosemary Heights in Surrey, where we lived in a very small house. Two years later we were able to acquire a home on Agricultural Land Reserve in the Fort Langley area. We raised sheep to maintain our farm status and tried to support ourselves through the sale of our monastic arts of prayerfully created sculpture, liturgical linens, cards and icons.
The foundation thrived and on October 17, 2009 was canonically erected, meaning that the Holy See, the Order of St. Dominic and the Archbishop of Vancouver affirmed that our community had reached maturity and could be formally recognized and “given the privileges and spiritual favors and obligations which all Monasteries of the Dominican Order legitimately enjoy.”
We soon outgrew our temporary home in Fort Langley and relocated north of Vancouver in the Upper Squamish Valley while construction began on our permanent monastery building. On the feast of St Dominic, August 8, 2012, after 17 months of construction, our Chapel and Monastery were blessed by Archbishop Michael Miller, CSB.
The community has continue to grow in every sense of the word. Sr. Maria Dominica outgrew the earthly life and entered eternal life shortly before our monastery was blessed. Some nuns have gone back to their original monasteries to keep the fire burning. New members have been born. The community and the grounds blossom and bloom. We have a beautiful organic garden from where our neighbour supplies organic produce to the local community, and the proceeds help us maintain our farm status.
Today in 2024 Sr. Claire Marie is the prioress and we have seven members of our community in formation aspiring to become Nuns of the Order of Preachers.