By Joanna Gardner
On Dec. 9, 2013 the Monastery of the Perpetual Rosary on Haddon Avenue in Camden shut its doors after 113 years.
When the monastery closed, the four nuns were relocated to the Monastery of Mary the Queen in Springfield, Ill.
Also, 44 nuns were re-interred from the crypt of the monastery to Calvary Cemetery in Cherry Hill, together with their founder Dominican Father Damien Marie Saintourens, who died in 1920. The monument commemorating their lives and service and that of their founder, was blessed by Bishop Dennis Sullivan on Oct. 10.
“I hope the monument can serve as a place where family, friends and benefactors can visit in prayerful remembrance of the nuns, who continue to intercede on their behalf at the foot of the throne of heaven,” said Sister Anna Marie Pierre, vicaress of the closed monastery who was instrumental in arranging for the erection and design of the monument.
In attendance at the blessing were Father Robert Hughes, vicar general; Father Michael Romano, director of vocations; Dominican Father Anthony Cataudo, the monastery’s last serving chaplain; and nuns of the former Monastery of the Perpetual Rosary, vicaress Sister Anna Marie Pierre, and Sister Damien Marie.