A Grateful Transition
Prayer Service Bestows Blessings Upon Mount Assisi’s New Chapter
Administrators old and new gathered on December 12 to bless the transition of Mount Assisi Convent to Mt. Assisi Place, following the property sale in August 2019. Pictured are (from left to right) Kathy Jones, Diane Ott, Sister Kathy Kudlac, Dennis Jones, Michael Ott, Dr. Matthew Coppola, Cindy McCullough, Sister Marian Sgriccia, Kate Guay and Sister Frances Marie Duncan.
Sister Cecilia Jacko places a historic photo of Mount Assisi Convent near the altar.
Sister Gracy Kundukulam, the youngest member of the School Sisters of St. Francis, helps Sister Pat Marie Buranosky set symbolic bricks near the altar.
The original motherhouse chapel, used in recent years as a library, set the backdrop for a celebratory reception.
Queen of Angels Chapel at Mount Assisi Convent in Pittsburgh, Pa., has hosted many blessed events over the decades, but perhaps none so monumental as A Grateful Transition, a special prayer service held on December 12, 2019, to mark the transition of the former motherhouse property to Mt. Assisi Place personal care home.
The School Sisters of St. Francis have called Mount Assisi home since 1928, but aging membership and fiscal realities prompted the Sisters to sell the property in August 2019 to 934 LLC, a group of Pittsburgh-area investors who are committed to carrying forward the Sisters’ century-long mission of service.
The prayer service and reception that followed honored the Sisters’ humble beginnings in the United States and their efforts to build the motherhouse — brick by brick by brick — to house their growing congregation, the thriving Mount Assisi Academy (1928-1978) and, eventually, Marian Hall Home personal care home (1970-2019) and Mount Assisi Academy Preschool (1980-2018).
Several of the Sisters carried bricks to represent the building’s construction and a historical photo of the ‘Gleam on the Hilltop’ in ceremonial procession. Blessings were bestowed upon the continued success of Mt. Assisi Place, the 81-bed personal care home that now occupies the property and that is home to 14 elder members of the School Sisters of St. Francis.
Following the prayer service, those assembled gathered in St. Francis Library — the original motherhouse chapel — for a reception. The evening offered prayerful closure to and celebration of the property transition and the continued care of those in need — in this case the elderly — just as the Sisters envisioned when they broke ground on the Mt. Assisi complex in 1926.
“It is kind of a time capsule,” said Sister Marian Sgriccia, current provincial vicar and former administrator of Marian Hall Home for 19 years. “We hold in our hearts the years our Sisters built upon this hill to the time of rejoicing that our charism and faith can be continued through Mt. Assisi Place.”
The Sisters continue to coordinate daily Masses at Mt. Assisi Place and have an enduring presence there, both in person and through artifacts throughout the building.
Sisters Joyce Burkhart, Virginia Rose Carroll, Rosalia Giba, Geraldine Ann Kasper and Lorita Kristufek enjoy the reception.
Sisters and special guests shared time together during a holiday-themed reception that followed the prayer service.
Sister Marian Sgriccia, provincial vicar and former administrator of Marian Hall Home, leads the prayer service.
Sisters Rosalia Giba and Patricia Ann Mahoney carry symbolic bricks in procession.