McNamara's Blog
Born in 1839 to a wealthy New York family, Julia was raised Catholic and attended private schools. As a young woman, she moved about freely in New York society and made frequent trips to Europe. It was there that she discovered her vocation to the contemplative life. At age 34, she entered a Dominican monastery in France, taking the name Sister Mary of Jesus.
Her superiors soon encouraged her to start an American foundation. The opportunity came when Bishop Michael A. Corrigan of Newark, New Jersey (and a relative of Julia) invited her to start a monastery in his diocese. In 1880, she arrived in Newark with three sisters and founded St. Dominic Monastery (which closed in 2003). When Corrigan became Archbishop of New York, he invited them to join him.
Corrigan wanted a contemplative community that would pray for his priests and seminarians. John D. Crimmins, one of America’s first Catholic millionaires, donated land and an old mansion in the Bronx. Mother Mary of Jesus and seven sisters lived there until Corpus Christi Monastery was completed in 1890. It was erected in memory of Crimmins’ wife. (They are buried together on the grounds.) In 1908 the Catholic author Henry Coyle described Corpus Christi as a place where “the primitive Rule of St. Dominic is observed”:
In this monastery the devotion of the Perpetual Adoration is observed and the Blessed Sacrament is exposed day and night. The Sisters lead an austere life, observing the rigorous fasts of the Rule, and rising at midnight to recite the Divine Office. 
Julia Crooks (seated, center) served as the first prioress (leader) for 35 years until her death in 1924. For over 120 years, her sisters have maintained an apostolate of unceasing prayer in a Bronx neighborhood that has undergone significant changes over the years.
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