160-year-old St. Patrick's Convent closing in St. John's

The St. Patrick's Convent that has served a west end, working class neighbourhood in St. John's for 160 years will soon be no more.

"We have been told the convent will be closing but we haven't been given a date for that," says Anne Walsh, executive assistant to the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. John's.

The convent's beginnings stretch back to Jan. 10, 1856, when four Presentation Sisters established a convent at what was then known as Riverhead, in the city's west end.

The nuns have been also been a presence at St. Patrick's Parish since it opened a few decades later, in 1882, but all of that will change in about eight weeks' time, when the building closes for good.

Walsh says she doesn't know how many nuns currently live at St. Pat's convent, except to say, "very few, right now".

'A love of learning'

For much of its long history, the convent has been involved in education.

The sisters initially taught both boys and girls at St. Patrick's Convent School, later teaching only girls at the institution, before it finally closed its doors in 1999. The building now houses a private school.

One alumna recalls the "mystery" of the nuns.

"We only saw them in the school setting," said Jacinta Mackey-Graham, who came to the school as a third grader in 1963 and stayed through to the end of Grade 9.

In the early years, she remembers the nuns in their full, old-fashioned uniforms, "where you never saw their hair and it was full, to-the-floor habits. They carried a huge presence."

In Grade 3, Mackey-Graham took piano lessons from Mother Gerard Walker and would practice in the passageway that connected the convent to the school.

But when time came for testing, they could go in the convent to practice — a big thing for the little girls.

"[It was] something that rarely anybody ever saw," said Mackey-Graham.

"We got to do our piano practice on the good piano that was in the nun's parlor. And that's where the examiners would come from England for our Trinity College piano examination."

Mackey-Graham, now a retired teacher, music educator, theater director and vocal coach herself, said that environment continues to influence her years later.

"They instilled a love of learning and, for me, my mentoring in music came from St. Pat's," she said.

"The sisters taught us about pride and demand for excellence."

An artistic legacy

But the convent school wasn't just about teaching the ABCs and educating youth in the area.

The nuns also had an impact on the cultural scene in Newfoundland and Labrador, with their emphasis on the arts.

"The music that came out of St. Patrick's Convent and school — vocal, choral, instrumental and piano, has been a really significant contribution to the arts life of the province," said Walsh.

Even though she didn't attend St. Pat's, she remembers that musicality fondly.

"I went to Mercy Convent and we were always in competition with St. Patrick's," said Walsh.

"[The sisters] had big choirs in those days and we were in fierce competition, but it was wonderful competition to be in, with the beauty of music and choral music."

With the convent closure imminent, no one is commenting on what the future holds for the building. The sisters told CBC that an announcement on that will come when the convent closes the end of October.