BUFFALO, N.Y. — The 103-year-old carmelite monastery in North Buffalo is officially for sale, after all 14 of the carmelite nuns at the Monastery of the Little Flower of Jesus relocated to Florida.
Gary Judkins lives in this North Buffalo neighborhood, and even though the cloistered carmelite nuns were rarely seen outside, he misses the comfort they used to bring to this area.
"It’s really sad that they’re gone, even though we never met them,” Gary said. “The bells used to ring at 7 a.m., noon, 6 p.m. and 9 p.m… no bells anymore.”
Last month, the nuns at the monastery packed their bags and moved to St. Augustine, Florida.
“The move has gone well, and the sisters have been communicating about this over the course of the last year or so,” said Bishop Erik Pohlmeier of the Diocese of St. Augustine.
The bishop took some time to discuss the reasoning for the nuns’ move.
“It was less about Buffalo in general and more about the specific place they were,” Bishop Pohlmeier said. “As the city grew around them, that location no longer provided solitude.”
This group will be their first ever group of cloistered nuns.
“We want prayer, we want the people we feel are closest to God and those sisters fit the bill,” Bishop Pohlmeier said.
But, with the nuns now permanently living in St. Augustine, the question now is what happens to the beautiful building that they have left behind.
Bo Gurney with Gurney Becker and Bourne was unavailable to speak on camera, but he tells 7 News that he is working with the nuns to sell this 103-year-old chapel.
He said that the nuns are actively seeking potential buyers, but there are no plans to put it on the open market.
“It’s very sad to see this building empty,” Buffalo Council Member Joel P. Feroleto said.
Feroleto grew up in this neighborhood and stopped by to discuss what he hopes comes of this property he saw his whole life.
“I’m used to hearing the bells ringing throughout the neighborhood,” Feroleto said. “I hope the building stays intact… any kind of adaptive reuse.”
Gurney tells 7 News that they have spoken to several prospective buyers with multiple ideas about the building’s future, but that the nuns are sticking to their word from their November letter updating people about their move.
They wrote in part,
“We are hoping to pass on this property to a group that will preserve and cherish this chapel, so that it will always be a place where people can come to pray and to be reminded of the Carmelites’ ongoing prayers for everyone here.”
“They will never lose sight of the people they have committed to praying for a long time already,” Bishop Erik Pohlmeier said.
The Discalced Carmelite nuns are the sole property owners and will receive all the profits of a future sale, but they aren’t the sole decision makers.
The Diocese of Buffalo tells 7 News that according to canon law, because the Monastery of The Little Flower of Jesus was an autonomous monastery… Bishop Michael Fisher will have to give his approval to any future sale.
Gurney says that an exact price is hard set, but it will likely go for a few million dollars.
