“We’re Here for the Bodies”: How the Monastery of the Immaculate Conception became part of Maria College

The archival collection at Maria College Library offers a glimpse into the history of Marian Hall, once a monastery for cloistered Dominican nuns. This article presents an historical account of these nuns and how they came to live at the Monastery of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, New York, built in 1929 with a donation from a benefactress named Margaret Brady Farrell. For many years, the nuns lived frugally and followed a schedule of prayer, work, and study. Eventually, the number of nuns in this community dwindled and there were no new vocations. The remaining nuns could no longer support themselves financially and transferred to other existing convents, closing the monastery in 1970. The Religious Sisters of Mercy, a separate order residing next door, founded Maria College in 1958 as a two-year Liberal Arts college for sisters and taught by sisters, with a student body of fifty-two. Maria opened its doors to laywomen in 1964 with a degree program in Early Childhood Education. The college continued to grow, developing several additional programs. In 1970, Maria College leased the monastery, renamed it Marian Hall, and opened all degree programs to coeducational enrollment in 1971. The college purchased the monastery in 1975 and renovated this historic building, transforming it into a state-of-the-art allied health education facility that serves over 1,000 students today.

“We’re here for the bodies,” said the undertaker to the sister who answered the door at the Convent of Mercy Motherhouse in Albany, New York, in October 1967. He had come to the wrong house. The bodies referred to were those of ten cloistered Dominican nuns who were interred in the crypt of the Monastery of the Immaculate Conception on the adjacent property. They were to be reinterred at Saint Agnes Cemetery in Menands, New York.

So begins a story that is both fascinating and nostalgic – the closing of a monastery that was once home to a group of cloistered nuns beginning in 1929, and which later became an institute of learning to both sisters and laity. The actual closing occurred in April 1970. Ten years earlier, there had been twenty-two nuns living there. In 1970, however, there were twelve nuns left. Nine chose to continue monastic life at their mother community, the Farmington Hills Monastery just outside of Detroit, Michigan. The remaining nuns each went to three other Dominican monasteries located in Cincinnati, Ohio; Newark, New Jersey; and Buffalo, New York.¹

Nuns of the Order of Preachers

The Dominican nuns, a religious order originally formed in Rome in the early part of the thirteenth century, base their religious lives on the teachings of Saint Dominic, founder of the Order. Officially known as the Nuns of the Order of Preachers, their purpose is to follow the work of Saint Dominic, and “the end or aim . . . is the salvation of souls, especially by means of preaching. For the attainment of this purpose, the order must labour with the utmost zeal . . . in doing good to the souls of our fellow-men.”² The Dominicans follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, which includes love of God and one’s neighbor, unanimity, sharing or having common property, prayer, fasting, modesty, and reconciliation. “The Rule and the ever-lasting book of Constitutions have together been the written foundation of the Dominican Order for 750 years.”³

Perhaps entering a cloister was a way of reinforcing a decision not to marry at a time when other choices simply did not exist. It may also have been a way of preserving personal safety, as well as commitment to God and a life of service.

Dominican Nuns come to the U.S.A

The community of Dominican nuns in Albany can trace its history back to Oullins, France, where the generous gift of a local noblewoman established a monastery committed to Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Julia Crooks, daughter of a wealthy New York family, went to France in 1872...