Carmelites Celebrate Centennial in U.S., 1890

THE CARMELITE CENTENARY (The New York Times, October 16, 1890)

Baltimore, October 15.— The Carmelite nuns today celebrated the centennial of the establishment of the Carmelite Order in this country. By special indulgences from Rome ponitifical high mass was celebrated in the chapel of the convent by Cardinal Gibbons. A large number of clergy and laity were present. The sermon was delivered by the Rev. Charles Currier of Boston. The first monastery of the order in this country was established in Charles County, near Port Tobacco, on July 11, 1790, by four sisters, three of whom were Americans, who had taken nuns’ vows in Belgium. One of these nuns was Sister Bernardina, who was first prioress of the order. Her family name was Matthews. The nuns lived on their place in Charles County until Sept. 14, 1831, when they removed to Baltimore and occupied a convent on Asquith Street, upon the site of the present German Orphan Asylum.