A community of Carmelite nuns and a community of Carmelite hermits, both in Lake Elmo, have undertaken new construction projects in recent years.
The decision to proceed with a renovation project at Carmel of Our Lady of Divine Providence stemmed from a desire to care for aging nuns in the comfort of the cloistered community. Meanwhile, the neighboring community at the Carmelite Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary has also sought to grow, with a new chapel.
Caring for the aging
Four Discalced Carmelite nuns of the Carmel of Our Lady of Divine Providence community — who asked not to be named given their hidden ministry as cloistered nuns — shared that a renovation project to better support their community has been underway since 2024. The project has included renovations to the infirmary, enabling the nuns to better care for aging members of their community, as well as an addition to the monastery to welcome visitors.
Currently, there are 15 members of the Carmel of Our Lady of Divine Providence community. One more is entering the community this summer and a second perhaps later this year. No more than 21 members are allowed at a given time, the Carmelite nuns said — this is to preserve a familial spirit.
The Carmelite nuns referenced the importance that Scripture attaches to caring for those who are aging. Citing the Book of Sirach, which instructs the faithful to show a special respect to old and infirm parents (Sir 3:1-16), one nun indicated that “care for elders is God’s direct will.” Another nun shared that a member of the community who has advanced dementia is “docile and humble” to the care she receives: “She is little, like an infant.”
“(T)he Lord is present there” in this care, another of the Carmelite nuns said; “so much is given back to you” in being of service to those who are aging.
She noted how caring for older nuns, unable to do much for themselves, contrasts with “the modern mentality” which can be hyper-focused on what a person can do, produce, and outwardly contribute to society. Though an ailing member of the community may be physically declining, “her dignity remains unchanged,” the Carmelite nun said. “When I’m with her, I touch God.”
Prayer and discernment about the construction began in 2020, four years prior to the start of the two-phase project with St. Paul-based McGough Construction, the nuns said. With a growing number of aging nuns needing care, the community’s attention turned toward the existing infirmary.
The nuns said that an initial idea was to divide the infirmary in half; however, this would have left both rooms too small to be functional. Another consideration was to add an elevator, to provide the aging with easier access to the monastery’s upper floor. Ultimately, the community determined that renovation work and an addition would provide the best solution.
Phase one renovation and expansion work began with updating existing living space to increase privacy, functionality and accessibility.
Because the renovations utilized space previously used to welcome monastery visitors, the necessary second phase was an addition to the monastery.
Groundbreaking on the addition began in April 2024. Each week, the Carmelite nuns met with the foreman and project manager on progress. Beyond additional infirmary space, the addition included a foyer; a “speak room,” or a room to receive visitors; and an accessible restroom. Additional workspace for the Carmelite nuns was built right below the speak room, a basement to the addition. The monastery’s entrance was also redesigned to be more accessible.
The Carmelite nuns shared that their partnership with McGough Construction has been special: Leo McGough, one of the company’s founders, was the foreman when the original monastery was built roughly 70 years ago. Over the years, he would often stop by the monastery, offering to fix whatever needed fixing. Other members of McGough Construction have since carried on this assistance, the nuns said.
The project was completed by mid-December and Archbishop Bernard Hebda blessed the new addition on New Year’s Eve 2024.
Additional work has since taken place, with members of the Carmelite Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary — a neighboring religious community — laying the pavers of a new walkway outside. (The men had also helped build a retaining wall system for the new construction.) Landscaping work is planned and new workrooms inside await cabinetry and shelving, while other areas await tiling, the Carmelite nuns said.
The Carmelite nuns expressed their gratitude for Archbishop Hebda’s encouragement and his “fatherly love” as they proceeded with the project, as well as their gratitude for McGough Construction and the Carmelite hermits for their hand in the work.
Noting that “Our Lady gives us what we need when we need it,” one of the Carmelite nuns said the community has been managing to gradually pay the more than $3 million project costs invoice by invoice — they shared that they still need about $300,000.
Fruitful prayer
Patty Hooley, 62, and a parishioner of St. Michael and St. Mary in Stillwater, said that if every person who has submitted a prayer request to the Carmelite nuns “would just give $10, the amount of money raised would be astounding, because I think they have affected so many people.”
Hooley said that she and her husband, Tom, have themselves witnessed the power of such intercessory prayer. Roughly 30 years ago, their daughter contracted a virus while she was in utero. A friend of the Hooleys — who would often bring food and money to the Carmelite nuns — told the Hooleys she had submitted a prayer request to the nuns.
“I received this beautiful letter, it was a personal letter saying that they were praying for me and my baby and there was a Miraculous Medal in there” along with a prayer card of Mary with pink lettering, Hooley said. “We didn’t know the sex of the baby or anything and when I saw it (the card), I said to my husband, ‘I know we’re having a girl.'”
“It brought me so much peace,” Hooley said, her voice full of emotion. “We ended up having a little girl; she was sick when she was born, but then as the months went on, after 15 months, they (the doctors) said, ‘Well, we’re not seeing anything that we saw in the beginning'” related to the virus. “We named her Mary,” Hooley said of their daughter.
When the friend who had submitted the prayer request died, Hooley said, “I thought, I need to take over what she’s doing … . So, I just started helping them with food, with some finances, nothing huge or anything but I tried to be consistent, my husband and I did.”
Hooley said “it just felt so good to be able to give back to these women” in the forms of financial support and prayer for the renovation project. She described the project as “a modest addition, true to their lifestyle, but it is much needed to make it easier for them to serve people through prayer and to help their sisters and hopefully, as they get new postulants into the order, the order will be able to grow and have some comfort in their living.”
“They’re so filled with joy and goodness, and I just love them without ever having met them,” Hooley said. She views the Carmelite nuns’ willingness to forgo “all of the creature comforts” for a life of prayer as a sign of their great love for humanity.
“I just think that they are this hidden gem in the Twin Cities and in the world — a group of women who have dedicated their lives to serve God by serving the world through their prayers of intercession, and they also offer prayers for the souls of those who have died, essentially helping to pray them into heaven. They give so much to society and they rarely, if ever, ask for help or assistance,” Hooley said.
When asked how people can best support their community, the Carmelite nuns requested prayers. First and foremost, they said they want all people to find union with God; they themselves pray for this. They also asked for prayers for the Carmelite community, that they might fulfill their vocations. They asked for prayers for their material needs; as members of a cloistered community, the Carmelite nuns rely on God’s providence for all their material needs and they receive food and other donations from the broader community.
The Carmelite nuns also said that those who are willing can help by funding landscaping efforts on the grounds.
Those who would like to contribute financially, including to help cover project costs, may do so by mailing or dropping off donations at: 8251 Mount Carmel Road, Lake Elmo, MN 55042.
Building for worship
Meanwhile, the Carmelite hermits are overseeing a chapel construction project on their grounds.
Carmelite Father John Mary Burns, prior at the hermitage, said the Chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is being built to “provide adequate space for the celebration (of) holy Mass, the Divine Office and personal prayer.”
“Currently, we use a tiny chapel (20 feet by 20 feet) in our community building. The space has become too small for our growing community,” Father Burns said. “Additionally, we have no room for the public to participate in our liturgical services or to pray privately at our monastery. Many people have asked to participate occasionally in our liturgy, and they seek a silent place for personal prayer. The new chapel will allow the faithful and other visitors to attend our liturgy and have a place for quiet prayers.”
Father Burns said the chapel is being built in an “authentic Roman basilica style, the first architectural style adopted by Roman Catholics after the legalization of Christianity by the Emperor Constantine in 313 A.D.”
Father Burns, who founded the hermitage with Brother Joseph Bubanko in 1987, said that “as far as we are aware, our chapel is the first authentic Roman basilica-style church built in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis since the completion of St. Mary’s Chapel on the campus of The St. Paul Seminary (in St. Paul) in 1905.”
According to the project’s webpage on the hermitage website, award-winning architect Duncan Stroik — a professor of architecture at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana — designed the plans for the chapel. Stroik’s past projects have included the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin; the chapel at Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California; and organ case restoration work at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.
“As a Catholic architect, there’s nothing better that I like to do than to serve God, first, and his people. And what’s better than to serve his sons?” Stroik said in a video highlighting the chapel construction progress. “I hope that other people will come here and experience the beauty and the goodness of God and of his house and of the prayer of these men.”
Father Burns explained that the chapel consists of a main nave with two aisles on either side of the nave. The sanctuary, on the east side of the nave and aisles, consists of the transept and altar as well as three apses — two smaller apses on either side of the main apse. Two chapels, one dedicated to Mary and the other to St. Joseph, will be on either side of the sanctuary. A partition will separate the monastic choir from the general seating section. The chapel will provide seating for 44 people.
Father Burns said construction began in 2023, with the Stillwater-based George Siegfried Construction Company as the general contractor. The columns, capitals and arches were installed the summer of 2024. The chapel’s columns and arches were made from marble in Italy. The walls and roof had gone up by the fall of 2024. During the winter, mechanical and electrical systems were installed, and the concrete subfloor was poured.
Currently, work continues on the chapel’s interior, including a plaster finish on the walls.
Father Burns shared that the chapel’s first mosaic, for the shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is being fabricated in Italy according to a design from Brother Christopher Burnside, “our artist.”
“The subject will be the Annunciation,” Father Burns said.
Father Burns said the hope is that construction will be substantially completed in 2026.
“Because our financial resources are limited, we have had to pace the construction more slowly in order to raise funds as we continue to build,” Father Burns said. “From our own income and from donations, we have raised about $3 million. We still need to raise another $2 to $3 million in order to substantially complete the chapel.”
Hence, the creation of the Brick Legacy Guild, which invites those interested to purchase a brick to help raise the money needed. The Carmelite hermits have also held five open houses to allow visitors to become familiar with the chapel construction project, Father Burns said.
Father Burns said that as work continues on the chapel, the community is considering other future construction possibilities.
“We currently have nine hermitages at our monastery. We will eventually need to build a few more in order to accommodate new members,” Father Burns said, adding that no timeframe has been established for this type of project.
“By choice, we intend to remain a small monastery because the life of contemplative prayer flourishes best in an atmosphere of silence and solitude,” Father Burns said.
More information, including donation information, can be found online at carmelitehermitage.org.
CARMELITE COMMUNITIES
A group of Latin hermits built a small chapel dedicated to Mary on the slopes of Mount Carmel in northern Israel — the place of Carmel’s origins. These first Carmelite hermits built a life of solitude and prayer, marked by a special devotion to Mary. Then, in the 16th century, St. Teresa of Ávila encouraged the renewal of monastic life and she helped to reform the Carmelite order, establishing the Discalced Carmelites along with St. John of the Cross.
In 1952, at the request of then-Archbishop John Murray, four Carmelite nuns who were part of the order’s community in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, traveled to St. Paul to introduce the order to the archdiocese.
The foundresses moved into a house on Maria Avenue in St. Paul, and it became their first monastery, known as the “Ave Maria” monastery. Two years later, McGough Construction broke ground near Lake De Montreville in Lake Elmo for a permanent monastery. The original statue of Our Lady of Divine Providence, which sat on the porch of the Ave Maria monastery, now sits in a newly renovated space that is part of the Carmel of Our Lady of Divine Providence monastery in Lake Elmo.
Members of the Carmel of Our Lady of Divine Providence community participate in the apostolate of prayer. One Carmelite nun shared that it is like the heart, protected by the ribcage, pumping blood to other parts of the body; members of this Carmelite community, from within their cloistered environment, pray for the mystical body of Christ.
In addition to their life of prayer and participation in the Mass, the Carmelite nuns cook, clean, sew and garden — some of what they grow, such as tomatoes, they also preserve by canning, for use throughout the winter months.
Meanwhile, in 1987, the Carmelite Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary was founded as part of the Order of Carmel. Consisting of priests and religious brothers, the semi-eremitical (or semi-solitary) community lives at a monastery neighboring Carmel of Our Lady of Divine Providence in Lake Elmo and their lives are centered on prayer and spiritual study as well as manual labor.
In addition to their life of prayer and daily Mass celebration, the hermits participate in gardening, carpentry, leatherworking and sacred art creation among other activities; they also run a gift shop.
