Tour the Monastery
As of January 27, 2018, Tours of the Monastery are no longer available until the completion of the new Monastery building.
St. Scholastica Monastery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places due to its influence in the areas of Education, Architecture, and Religion. The original structure, designed by F.W. Redlich of Oklahoma City in 1923, is a 5-story buff-colored brick building, ornamented with Carthage and Bedford stone with a green clay tile roof. The design for this original wing was accomplished in a Gothic/Tudor Revival architectural style, with extensive treatments of all windows, including dormer windows with decorative cut stone accents. The basement exterior was finished in cut stone having a decorative cap band where brick veneer rises for 3 more stories, and with a cut-stone parapet to receive the clay tile roof.
The purchase in 1925 of an additional 28 acres adjacent to the old “Barnes Place” tract increased the site to a total 67 acres. In 1928, a second wing was added, including a chapel with a seating capacity of 300, and a gymnasium/auditorium. On the west end of this addition is a six-story tower that has two decorated style buttressed towers that rise nearly 7 stories, flanking an elaborate cut-stone Gothic-arched entry to the monastery. (Architectural details courtesy of National Register of Historic Places.)
The monastery welcomes visitors to tour the building and grounds, which offer guests many tranquil places for meditation and relaxation.
The Labyrinth
In September, 2004, 30 volunteers from Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Virginia gathered on grounds of St. Scholastica Monastery to construct a labyrinth. Nationally known labyrinth builders Stuart and Mary Bartholomaus of Knoxville, TN directed the project. An eleven-circuit design divided into four quadrants, patterned after the labyrinth built into the nave of the Chartres Cathedral in the 13th century, was replicated. A natural labyrinth made of stone and wood chips blends beautifully into the peaceful landscape on the south side of the monastery.
Generous donations from retreatants and Friends of the Center were used to construct the labyrinth, which is now enjoyed by sisters, retreatants, and area residents.
In the Chartres labyrinth, the pilgrim walks through each quadrant several times before reaching the center. The winding walk symbolizes the pilgrim’s search for God. It is a wonderful metaphor for the spiritual journey.
New visitors to the St. Scholastica labyrinth can pick up a helpful brochure near the site before starting their prayerful journey. The brochure contains helpful suggestions for walking the labyrinth using St. Teresa of Avila’s three-fold path of contemplation.
Creator and Guide of my life,
surround me with your sacred presence as I prepare to walk this Labyrinth.
Help me to experience the presence of all those who have walked before me.
Remembering the words of Jesus, "I am the way, the truth and the life,"
I ask that each person who walks this path be guided in truth.
Bless their every step and teach us to be paths for one another.
Following are excerpts from the Blessing and Dedication Ceremony
Creator and Guide of our Lives: May those who walk this path seeking wisdom find in you an abundant supply. May all who come here seeking healing open their hearts to the medicine of your presence. May those who come with guilt be set free of their burdens and find a way to reconcile the past and walk into the future with courage and renewed hope. May those whose faith has grown weak find here a beautiful rekindling of their spirits. May all who come as pilgrims seeking a glimpse of your face be touched by your shining presence. May those those who come with hurried steps, leave with a slower pace. You who are our Sacred Path, we ask you to hallow, bless and sanctify this labyrinth. Bless our every step as you teach us to be paths for one another. | The labyrinth is a path of prayer--a spiritual tool to help us become closer to God. We thank you, gracious God, for the many hands and hearts that helped create this sacred path. The twists and turns of the labyrinth are metaphors for our own individual spiritual journeys. As we seek your guidance on this path, accept us, comfort us, and challenge us to be all that we can be. We do not always feel close to the Center. We do not always know if we are on the right path. We know only that we always stand in need of purification, transformation, and renewal. Be with us on our pilgrim journeys. |
Hesychia House of Prayer
Retreatants, please read this COVID Policy Information before visiting Hesychia House of Prayer.
To reserve a reservation for a hermitage please email us at hesychia@stscho.org or call or text us at (479) 938-7375. This is necessary to make a reservation.
Hesychia House of prayer is nestled among the Ozark Mountains in New Blaine, Arkansas. The sisters who staff it live a life of prayer and work, and offer hospitality to adults of any faith who are seeking quiet time alone with God.
There are four hermitages available for a stay as long as a day up to a couple months or so. All guests are to provide all their own food and do all their own cooking. The hermitages are provided with a small-sized but full frig and stove. Each hermitage has a microwave, Mr. Coffee, cabinet oven, toaster, and cooking utensils. Linens are also provided.
Guests using any facility at Hesychia are welcome to join the sisters for the community prayer which consists of the Eucharist and praying the Liturgy of the Hours. They are also welcome to use the chapel for private reflection, the deck of the main house, and the library. The sisters are willing to meet with guests for spiritual direction if asked to do so. Adventurous folks may be interested in using the hiking trails in the 200 acres of wooded area or walk the country roads.
Internet/Wifi at Hesychia
Our internet capacity is limited. Therefore, before your arrive at Hesychia, we ask that you download any spiritual digital books, videos, or music to your electronic devices with the WIFI at your home. Cellular service from AT&T is available. However, cellular service from other carriers may or may not be available. As cell phone carriers adapt and cover more of rural America, this could change and evolve service may improve.
The suggested donation for the hermitages is $50/night for the first week and $35/night thereafter; a $20 donation is requested for a day only. However, if a short-term guest (one staying for one week or less) is unable to pay the requested amount, a lesser amount can be arranged, as we do not want anyone wishing to spend time with God here to stay away for financial reasons. Donations can be made by clicking here.
About the Retreat Center
The St. Scholastica Retreat Center, sponsored by the Benedictine Sisters and a member of the Association of Benedictine Retreat Centers, is located in next to the St. Scholastica Monastery, and is also used for Trinity Schools and Project Compassion. Part of the building is used for retreatants, where we have rooms for stay for both private and group retreats. Visit the Facilities page for more information on availability. Meet our retreat presenters here.
Our Mission
The overall goal of St. Scholastica Retreat Center is to provide a Christian atmosphere where all who receive service or are employed here may grow in an awareness of who they are as well as in the knowledge of the Good News that we have been redeemed and forgiven through Christ out of God's immeasurable generosity. We strive to nourish the whole person by enabling quality education, spiritual growth, and development, by caring for the beauty that surrounds us, by providing a sense of order and harmony, by sharing our resources, our selves, and our way of life.
History
The Benedictine Spirituality and Conference Center (also called the Retreat Center), sponsored by the Benedictine Sisters, shares a 66-acre wooded area with St. Scholastica Monastery which is located in the heart of Fort Smith, Arkansas, a city with a population of 80,000. When originally built in 1958, St. Scholastica Academy was a boarding and day school for girls.
When the Benedictine Sisters closed the Academy in 1968, the building was adapted and remodeled for multi-purpose uses. Among those uses are Center-sponsored and Center-hosted retreats, workshops, days of recollection, an office for Project Compassion, and meeting rooms for educational, humanitarian, recreational, and religious purposes. The classroom section is now rented by Trinity Junior High School.
The residential section of the building was converted into a Retreat Center during the mid-1970s when Sister Macrina Wiederkehr, author and well known retreat director, and several other Sisters began the retreat ministry at the Center. The Center can house 53 people in private rooms or 89 people in semi-private rooms. The Center policy is to provide a private room for all Center-sponsored retreats. Bath facilities are common for each nine rooms. There are a few rooms with shared or private baths.
Regular Lease Groups
Trinity Junior High, grades 7-9, is co-sponsored by the Catholic parishes of Fort Smith, Barling, and Van Buren under diocesan auspices. Father Andrew Hart is the administrator; Dr. Jim Hattabaugh is the principal. This school moved from very cramped quarters downtown into the Academic Section of the building in the fall of 1990 after the asbestos had been removed. St. Scholastica Monastery and Trinity Junior High have a 50-year lease agreement.
Phone number: 479-782-2451 or web site: TrinityCatholicJH.org
Project Compassion, Inc rents office and storage space in the Center. This one-to-one nursing home visitation program was begun in 1972 by Gloria White, a Benedictine Oblate now deceased. Observing that some residents had no family, Gloria and others who believed in her dream established the program so that not one of the residents would be without an occasional visitor on whom they could count for friendship and conversation. Project Compassion, Inc., is a non-profit United Way Agency and also receives some assistance from the Area Agency on Aging. The program has an outreach to 34 nursing homes and retirement centers in western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. Marian Conrad is Director.
Phone number: 479-783-2273 or web site: ProjectCompassionInc.com