Who we are
At the Monastery of the Precious Blood, nestled in the heart of Brooklyn, a life of prayer, silence, and sacred devotion continues each day behind monastery walls. We are, the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará, of the Religious Family of the Incarnate Word, a community of contemplative religious sisters, consecrated to a hidden life of Eucharistic adoration and intercession, drawing down grace for the Church and the world.
A Glimpse into a Life of Prayer
We invite you to glimpse this hidden world through the lens of photojournalist Jeffrey Bruno, whose intimate slideshow captures the rhythm of our days—the quiet beauty of the chapel, the sacred stillness of adoration, the labor of daily life, and the joy of a life wholly given to God.
The History of the Monastery of the Precious Blood
Monastery in the early 1920’s
Monastery current day
The Monastery of the Precious Blood is the first American foundation of the Sister Adorers of the Precious Blood, whose foundress is Venerable Mother Catherine Aurelia. The first Monastery of the Precious Blood in Brooklyn was inaugurated on April 30, 1890, the feast of Saint Catherine of Siena, patroness of the Institute of the Sisters of the Precious Blood. The first Monastery of the Precious Blood was located on Sumpter Street. However, two years after their foundation, due to an increase of vocations, they had outgrown this monastery. Thus on April 30,1892, the sisters took up residence in an interim monastery at St. Francis in the Fields, located on Putnam Ave. Then in the spring of 1894 the Sisters moved into their new monastery at 212 Putnam Ave. The spaciousness of this new monastery still could not provide for what the Providence of God had in mind, such was the growth of the Sister Adorers at this time, that in fourteen years it became necessary to procure a larger Monastery. After much difficulty in finding a community that was willing to trust in Divine Providence and welcome a cloistered community of religious sisters into their neighborhood, Father John O’Neil pastor of St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish on Fort Hamilton Parkway learned about their quest for property, and invited the Sisters to come to his parish and look for a place. The Sisters moved into the Fort Hamilton Parkway Monastery on April 30, 1910. The entire block from 53rd Street to 54th Street and from Fort Hamilton Parkway to 9th Avenue was purchased as the site of the present large Monastery. While the sisters saw the need for future growth, the Bishop at the time limited the property by taking off the 54th Street wing projecting out onto the front lawn, thinking that the plan the Monastery plans the Sisters had proposed was too large in size (see above picture on left). By 1935 the crossed off wing was badly needed, as the Sisters were sleeping in offices, wherever a bed could be set up. Despite the fact that the Country was sunk deep in the Depression and banks were failing on all sides, Bishop Molloy, Brooklyn’s third Ordinary, saw the immediate need of the Sisters and gave the needed permission for the Community to proceed with the building of the wing, thus giving us the Monastery as we know it today. For over a century, the Monastery of the Precious Blood has been sustained by the generous donations of men and women, rich and poor, Catholic and Protestant, who believe that the Precious Blood of Jesus is the world’s and each individual person’s greatest need.
Venerable Mother Catherine Aurelia
Foundress of the Monastery of the Precious Blood
July 11, 1833 - Aurelia Caouette is born in St. Hyacinth, a small village in Quebec, Canada
1845-1850 - Aurelia attends the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame boarding school.
1852 – She received the grace of the Holy Stigmata in her hands, feet, side, and head on Friday’s.
August 15, 1853 – With the permission of the Bishop, she consecrates herself to Jesus by a vow of perpetual virginity adding “Catherine” to her name due to Catherine of Siena’s virginity and devotion to the Precious Blood. From that day on she signed her name: “Catherine Aurelia”.
August 30, 1854 – Catherine Aurelia is admitted into the Third Order of St. Dominic (like Saint Catherine of Siena).
1856 – Mystical Experiences (Transverberation and Mystical Marriage)
April 8, 1858 – Jesus says to her, “You are the one I want to use to spread devotion to my Precious Blood.” It was in this encounter that she understood that she was to be the foundress of a new congregation.
September 14, 1860 - The foundation of the Institute of the Precious Blood.
April 30, 1890 (at that time the feast of Saint Catherine of Siena) - The first American monastery of the Precious Blood was inaugurated in Brooklyn, and called “Bethlehem”, becoming the sixth foundation of the Precious Blood.
July 6,1905 – Mother Catherine Aurelia dies
1984 – Mother Catherine Aurelia’s cause for Sainthood is opened
1993 – She is declared Servant of God
2017 – She is declared Venerable by Pope Francis
“The Blood of Jesus is our Treasure! It is the Blood of the Immaculate Lamb which gives to Christianity the strength to resist the tempests; to the earth, saints and, to Heaven, the elect. ”
“Like the Mother of Jesus and the holy women of Jerusalem, my dear daughters, we must lament the misfortunes which afflict the Church; we must weep with her, clothe ourselves with her sorrows and impress them on our hearts just as during the Passion, the adorable Face of our Savior was imprinted on Veronica’s veil. In imitation of the Cyrenean, we must aid the Church to carry the long and heavy Cross laid upon her. But it is principally by means of prayer, that we must work for the Church.”
“If we have faith, why should we not see God in the least of our obligations? Then, although these may appear to us at times very unattractive, we shall pursue them with ardor, we shall pierce through the mists and the clouds in order to meet Him Who is the true Light, the Light uncreated. ”
“I have tried to give the Victim Jesus, what little I could to make His bloody and unbloody sacrifice better known and better loved. ”
Rt. Rev. Msgr. Joseph F. Stedman
Chaplain of the Monastery of the Precious Blood (1925-1946)
Msgr. Joseph Stedman was chaplain of the Monastery of the Precious Blood for almost 21 years (June 1925 - his death). In June 1925 when he received the appointment as chaplain of the Monastery of the Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood, he had been a priest for just four years. Typically, the assignment of chaplain of a monastery was reserved for older priests who were in delicate health. But the Providence of God as history has shown, has ways that our not our ways. At this time of his life, his spiritual life was evolving more richly; his penetration of the mystery of Redemption was becoming more profound as he discerned more poignantly the call to the apostolate of Reparation, symbolized by the Precious Atoning Blood of Christ, the immolated Lamb. Msgr. Stedman began a movement for liturgical renewal. Under his leadership the Confraternity of the Precious Blood was reorganized leading to the enrollment of hundreds of thousands of lay people all over the world who desired to make supplication and reparation through devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus. Through Msgr. Stedman’s books, conferences, retreats, and novenas devotion to the Precious Blood grew rapidly. During Msgr. Stedman’s lifetime 13 million daily missals which he compiled and edited were sold. The best known of these being “My Sunday Missal”.
The artwork in the church of the Precious Blood Monastery is due to the redecoration efforts of Msgr. Stedman. During his time at the Precious Blood Monastery, the Sacrifice of Calvary and its daily unbloody renewal in the Holy Mass burst upon him with a new and blinding brilliancy. He had always believed in the infinite value of the Mass; now this belief made all other factors in life pale in comparison. The Mass was not merely the focal point of all life, it was life. Thus, he dedicated his entire life to making the The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass better known and loved.
In January 1946, Msgr. Joseph Stedman confided to his brother, Father Edwin Stedman, that in the last conference he had given in the Monastery, before making a trip to Florida, he had offered himself as a victim kneeling at the altar steps of the Monastery chapel. He said that he had a dream the previous night that he had offered the Holy Mass and as he raised the host, it suddenly broke into a thousand pieces scattered all over the world. Within a week, on March 23, 1946 he died of brain cancer. Msgr. Stedman’s last words were to the nurses who showed concern for him saying, “this is nothing compared to what he suffered for me.”
Rev. Msgr. Philip J. Reilly
Chaplain of the Precious Blood Monastery (1991 - 2019)
Born June 21, 1934 and ordained to the Priesthood May 28, 1960. Msgr. Reilly’s heart was never far from the poor and marginalized. Since his ordination he was actively involved in many apostolic programs and charities.
Msgr. Reilly served as chaplain of the Monastery of the Precious Blood from 1991-2019.
In the mid-1960s with the rise of the movement to legalize contraception and later abortion Msgr. realized that if the right to life is not respected, all other programs, however well intended, are secondary to protecting life particularly at its earliest stages. As a result, Msgr. was at the forefront of almost every aspect of the pro-life movement. In the late 1960s Msgr. Reilly began involved in lobbying efforts in New York State to prevent the legalization of abortion. When, in 1970, a law was passed legalizing abortion New York State, he spent the better part of the next two years organizing pickets, demonstrations, and lobbying efforts to repeal the law.
In 1974 Msgr. helped to organized the first National March for Life in Washington, DC the year following the Roe vs. Wade decision. In 1975 he began conducting all night prayer vigils in the Archdiocese of New York with the blessing of the Servant of God Terrance Cardinal Cooke. 1978 he took part in the first 100 mile walk for life through the desert in Death Valley, California. The theme was “Which way America? Into or Out of the Valley of Death?”. From May 1988 to September 1989 he participated in the National Rescue Movement which sought to save unborn children by blocking the doors of abortion facilities. Proving his fearlessness, he was arrested on more than one occasion for these activities.
Realizing that confrontation was not the answer, on October 7, 1989, the Feast of the Holy Rosary he, along with others, founded The Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, a pro-life apostolate which teaches a non-confrontational approach to abortion minded individuals and emphasizes the importance of maintaining a loving and prayerful presence outside of abortion mills. In June 1992 he persuaded John Cardinal O’Connor to lead a prayer vigil in midtown Manhattan which attracted well over 2,500 prayers and a large number of protestors. Reports on this vigil were carried by the three major television networks at the time and all major newspapers in New York. The facility that Cardinal O’Connor prayed in front of that day is now closed. In fact, over 25 abortion mills in the New York City area have closed after Helpers vigils.
Cardinal O’Connor would later ask Msgr. to help him in starting the order of the Sisters of Life, which Msgr. was asked to teach and provide formation for this new order. At the time of Msgr. Reilly’s death there are Helpers chapters in over 40 states in the US and on 5 continents.
Msgr. Reilly died on November 30, 2024 after a long battle with skin cancer, most likely contracted from his long hours praying at outside of abortion clinics.
During Msgr. Reilly’s last years at the Monastery of the Precious Blood, he was known for his great supernatural joy during years of very intense pains. As he shuffled down the monastery halls, the sisters could see his pain, but when asked “How are you doing?” He would respond, “WONDERFUL!”
