Home + Mount Saint Macrina
The place now known as Mount Saint Macrina was once part of the extensive 1,000+ acre property of Josiah Van Kirk Thompson, millionaire baron of the coal industry. He bought and built Oak Hill Estate at the eastern end of the property in 1902-03, later acquiring the additional acreage. This mansion was constructed while Mr. Thompson took his bride "Hunney" on a 15-month honeymoon around the world. While traveling, they chose exquisite furnishings, Persian rugs, and even servants for their new estate. At its height, Oak Hill saw elaborate parties, dinners and balls, including imported chefs and orchestras. However, the years of glory were short-lived. After divorce (by 1913) and extreme financial difficulties that bankrupted Mr. Thompson by 1920, he spent many rather lonely years here, though his grandchildren visited from the neighboring Fox Hill. Their father, Andrew Thompson, continued to operate the Thompson diary, (Oak Hill Dairy). Josiah Van Kirk Thompson died here September 27, 1933. He was so respected in the community that he had been allowed to live at Oak Hill for his last years. During his last illness, the Union Trust Company negotiated with the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great, then located near Scranton, for the sale of this southeastern corner of the property. The first Sisters moved here in December 1933, after the November auction which sold the magnificent furnishings. They soon began the necessary restoration and renovation of the building. To make this building into a Monastery, the billiard room was first converted into a chapel. The adjoining Louis Quatorze room was transformed into the Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The other accommodations, halls and dining areas assumed, insofar as this was possible, the aspect of a convent. This renovation, as well as the purchase, were marvels indeed, since the Sisters were almost as poor as Mr. Thompson at the time. Great leadership and good benefactors were the blessings of those years. On September 3, 1934, Mount Saint Macrina, named for Saint Basil's saintly sister, was formally dedicated. The gatherings of hundreds on Labor Day has swelled to many thousands each year for the Pilgrimage in Honor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the largest and oldest event of its kind in the United States. In the years to come, the Sisters established many other forms of service to the people of God right at the Mount. Skilled Sisters sewed ecclesiastical vestments, they sponsored weekend retreats for the laity, they published a small, Catholic magazine, established a girls' academy and boarding school, and founded St. Basil's Personal Care Home in the mansion where Mr. Thompson's son Andrew, raised his family. Other sisters were out in the parishes of the Byzantine Catholic Church; geographically, they spread from Chicago to Connecticut and beyond. These Sisters established parochial schools and catechetical centers. Another group founded Maria Manor Nursing Home in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania. It took until early 1965 to be able to afford to build a larger, more suitable Monastery for the community. The five-story yellow brick building at the north end of the property is home to all Sisters of the Uniontown Province of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great. Being an international Order, other groups of the Sisters of St. Basil are spread throughout the world. The newest building on the property is Mount Macrina Manor Nursing Home, dedicated in 1971. This 120-bed home has an excellent reputation for its nursing care on every level and for its reverence of the sick and elderly. Today, the Thompson Mansion serves as the House of Prayer (formerly the Retreat Center), a place of spiritual renewal and refreshment for hundreds each year. A full-time staff, working here since 1976, provides spiritual and educational programs for Christian growth and fosters a prayerful, hospitable atmosphere wherein one can be with God. In 1999, Mount Saint Macrina was named to the National Register of Historic Places by the Department of the Interior. |
