The St. Bonaventure Monastery is a complex of religious buildings, built for the
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin,
located at 1740 Mt. Elliott Avenue in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1982.
History
St. Bonaventure Monastery was established in 1882, one of a number of late 19th century
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
institutions established in Detroit.
["Saint Bonaventure Monastery"](_blank)
State of Michigan. At the time, the Capuchin friars wrote to then-
Bishop of Detroit Caspar Borgess, seeking permission to establish a community of the Order in his
diocese
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...
. The bishop responded by suggesting that they could serve as
chaplains for the
Eastside Historic Cemetery District
The Eastside Historic Cemetery District is a historic district bounded by Elmwood Avenue, Mt. Elliott Avenue, Lafayette Street, and Waterloo Street in Detroit, Michigan. The district consists of three separate cemeteries: Mount Elliott Cemetery ...
and build a monastery in the city. The friars accepted the suggestion and were granted permission to start working in the diocese. In 1882 they moved into a small house on the cemetery grounds until the following year, when the monastery, sited across the street, was habitable.
The monastery was originally intended to serve the area's Catholic clergy and churches, but also provided emergency aid to the poor. During the
Great Depression, the monastery was a major source of relief for poor East-Side workers.
By 1931 the monastery was providing as many as 3,500 free meals per day through its
soup kitchen.
Father Solanus Casey
The monastery is also significant because of its association with Blessed
Solanus Casey
Solanus Casey, OFM Cap. (November 25, 1870 – July 31, 1957), born Bernard Francis Casey, was a priest of the Catholic Church in the United States and was a professed member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. He was known during his lifetim ...
, O.F.M. Cap. Father Solanus was a Capuchin friar who served as the monastery
porter
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Companies
* Porter Airlines, Canadian regional airline based in Toronto
* Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets
* Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer
* H.K. Porter, Inc., ...
1924-1946, meeting visitors at the friary door. He also helped out at the Soup Kitchen, comforting the hungry, and was instrumental in obtaining food and supplies for the kitchen during the Great Depression. In 1966 Casey was proposed as a candidate for
sainthood
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Orth ...
.
On July 8, 1987, Father Solanus Casey's body was exhumed and found to be
incorrupt
Incorruptibility is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox belief that divine intervention allows some human bodies (specifically saints and beati) to completely or partially avoid the normal process of decomposition after death as a sign of their ...
.
His body was clothed in a new
religious habit, placed in a steel casket, and re-interred beneath the north
transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...
at St. Bonaventure's, where prayers are offered for the intercession of Fr. Solanus.
[ Fr. Solanus was beatified in Detroit on November 18, 2017.]
Description
St. Bonaventure Monastery consists of three buildings: the 1883 Gothic-influenced monastery (completed in 1913), the 1908 Soup Kitchen, and the 1939 Third Order Hall.
Further reading
*
References
External links
Capuchin Soup KitchenSolanus Casey Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Bonaventure Monastery
Religious buildings and structures completed in 1883
National Register of Historic Places in Detroit
Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan
Capuchin friaries