Corpus Christi Monastery

Corpus Christi Monastery is the oldest Dominican Order monastery in the United States, a 115-year old branch of the first monastery of nuns founded by St. Dominic de Guzman in Prouilhe, France, in 1206. St. Dominic saw his first daughters as partners in the "Holy Preaching" of the friars, offering them support by their prayers and sacrifices.

Mother Mary of Jesus (Julia Crooks of New York City), having made her formation in Oullins, France, founded the Monastery of St. Dominic in Newark, NJ, in 1880. Nine years later, she and five other Sisters came to the Bronx at the invitation of Archbishop Michael Augustine Corrigan, who requested the presence of a contemplative community of nuns with a special purpose of praying for the seminarians and priests of the Archdiocese of New York. The land was purchased, and by the time Corpus Christi Monastery was built, there were twenty religious.