SUNLIGHT TOUCHES the valley as far as the eye can see from atop the Cumberland Plateau. Sister (Sr.) Hannah, Community of St. Mary, takes breakfast with her Sisters at the Community of St. Mary Southern Province in Sewanee, enjoying the view through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Sprawled at her feet is Sophia: the convent’s well-loved feline (who even has her own Instagram account). The Sisters here live a peace-filled, sustainable life passed down through history.
The Sisters of St. Mary’s were founded in New York on Feb. 2, 1865, by Bishop Horatio Potter. He received the vows of Harriet Starr Canon and four other women, creating the first Episcopal monastic community in the United States.
By 1873, Bishop Quintard of Tennessee, a friend of their foundress, Mother Harriet, invited the community to send Sisters to Memphis to begin a school for girls and establish a church for the underprivileged.
Four of the Sisters went on this mission, but were visiting the Motherhouse in New York when the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 devastated Memphis’ population.
“The Sisters immediately got on the train back to Memphis,” Sr. Hannah said. “All but one died caring for yellow fever victims. The sole survivor was Sr. Hughetta Snowden. The four Sisters and two priests who died are remembered as the ‘Martyrs of Memphis.’”
Sister Hughetta then moved to Sewanee. In 1888, she and other Sisters established the Southern Province of the Sisters of St. Mary. They founded “St. Mary’s on the Mountain,” a school for mountain children unable to reach county schools, which became a boarding school for girls until 1968. In 1988, the Sisters built the present convent nearby. Their friend, Robert Ayres, purchased the retreat center property, and it became “St. Mary’s Sewanee: The Ayres Center for Spiritual Development.” It is a separate organization with no legal or financial connection with the Sisters of St. Mary. However, the Sisters continue to have a relationship with the center as board members.
The convent is currently home to five Sisters and their new postulant, Sydney. The Sisters adhere to a daily schedule, including chapel services four times a day. They craft, read, watch movies, and garden, but also enjoy quiet time and silent lunches. Meals are eaten in the dining room overlooking the valley.
“This is the most beautiful room in the building, where we have our breakfast and lunch,” Sr. Hannah said. “People are welcome to visit here for any of our worship services.”
A deck offers visitors the view and fresh mountain air, and as Sr. Hannah said, “an amazing spot for selfies.” Their Hermitage cabin sits next door and is available for rent. Inside the convent, the nuns’ rooms are upstairs, while a library, offices, an inviting living room, and a gift shop are below. The convent’s chapel is designed for worship and prayer. Within the entrance is a beautiful statue of Mary and Child, original to the St. Mary’s on the Mountain School. To the right of the altar hangs a banner depicting St. Mary’s history. The marble baptismal font dates back to 1885. Sr. Hannah said the ambury (a wall-mounted cabinet housing reserve sacraments) was used by the Sisters in Memphis in the 1870s. A bell, rung at each service, hangs in the tower.
“Because we’re a Benedictine order, we follow the rule of St. Benedict,” Sr. Hannah explained. “One of those teachings is that if you’re the bell ringer and you see your brother coming from a distance, don’t ring it aggressively. Out of love for your brother, ring it slowly and give him time.”
Benedictine nuns uphold the call to a communal life consisting of prayer and work, known as “ora et labora.” It centers around balance and sustainable living.
“Benedictines are known for their good stewardship of the land, not wasting goods, and treating everything with reverence,” Sr. Hannah said. “Benedict believed in the sacredness of everything, and that ‘the divine presence is everywhere.’”
This mission is evident at St. Mary’s, especially in its sustainable gardens. The 40-acre property includes “a boxwood labyrinth, lavender (their primary crop), blueberries, and big hoops containing muscadine grapes and wine raspberries,” according to Sr. Hannah. There is also a 6,100-square-foot garden where gardener Paul Steiner grows vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
“There’s lemon balm and tons of chocolate mint,” Steiner said. “There are also several varieties of basil: lettuce leaf, basil, and Genovese basil.”
Steiner also grows vegetables such as butternut squash, Japanese eggplant, red currant tomatoes, and shishito peppers.
St. Mary’s Organic Prayer Program intern, Emily Tess, assists Steiner. Since 2012, the Sisters have invited college students and recent graduates to experience a summer or gap year living alongside the community, rooted in Sacramental, Organic, Intentional Living, sharing the rhythm of daily prayer, working in the convent and garden, and representing the community to the world. Their interns live by the Benedictine values of prayer, work, study, rest, and exercise — an intentional lifestyle that seeks harmony with the natural world and the greater Sewanee community.
Tess said she will learn to nurture a sustainable garden, cook with what she grows, and sell at farmers markets, though they always grow surplus to donate.
From the 1880s to today, the Community of St. Mary Southern Province has helped others and honored creation through their stewardship and faith. GN
For more information, visit https://www.communityofstmarysouth.org. To follow the Sisters on Instagram, search @stmarysconvent; to follow Sophia the cat on Instagram, search @thatconventcat.
