Pilgrimage to Mt. St. Macrina

After the first few days which were dedicated to orientation, the six of us seminarians set out to a pilgrimage at Mt. St. Macrina.  The Sisters of St. Basil the Great of Our Lady of Perpetual Help live there, and, among other buildings on the mountain, is what used to be known as the Oak Hill Estate.  This beautiful building was built in the early 20th century and was purchased by the sisters in the 1930's.  It has subsequently been converted into a house of prayer, and is sometimes used for retreats.  Unfortunately my opportunities for taking pictures was limited, but I'll include a few below of some of the more memorable sights.  This picture is of the chapel that is just off the main entryway.

Chapel at Mt. St. Macrina

Here is a second chapel, you can see one of the entrances to this chapel in the previous picture; the door on the far right above comes into this chapel.  As you can see, this chapel is a good deal more Roman inspired.  I didn't get too much of a chance to ask about the history of the various chapels, but it looked like this one predated the more Byzantine chapel.

A second Chapel

On Sunday evening we prayed Compline in the chapel below, along with the young adults and youth who were attending, as well as three of the nuns from Christ the Bridegroom Monastery.  Unfortunately I can't remember the name of this shrine, but it was a beautiful place to sing Compline.

The Chapel where we sang Compline

One more picture, this one slightly less Byzantine, is of a shrine to the Immaculate Conception.  It can be a little hard to tell in the picture because the sun was fairly bright, but if you look closely, you'll not the neon sign saying "I am the immaculate conception" along with the neon halo.

Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

I have some more pictures from the pilgrimage that I haven't had a chance to go through yet, but I may try to put them up at some point.  Apparently we will be going back to Mt. St. Macrina two more times this year for retreats, at which time I will have a little more time to explore the grounds and the history, in addition to a chance for spiritual reflection, so I expect to have more pictures then at the very least.