Presentation of the BVM Convent

In 1882, the motherhouse for the first American province of the Felician Sisters was transferred from Polonia, WI to Detroit, MI. By 1926, the Felician Sisters had purchased 320 acres of land in rural, sparsely-populated Livonia, MI. Originally a farm, this one-square-mile property became a campus that includes hospice and nursing care, child care, a hospital, and a university, in addition to the motherhouse. Constructed during the Depression, the convent has a northern Italian monastic style, with light pink brick walls and limestone trim, surmounted with coral tile roofs. The large arched cloister windows look out into the garden and the wooded area beyond, expressing Franciscan spirituality. While the convent was completed in 1936, the chapel remained unfinished until 1961. Built in the shape of a calvary cross, the chapel has spectacular stained glass, a main double altar of onyx Moroccan marble, and a windowed dome that rises directly above the center sanctuary.