Assisi Heights

During the years of expansion, plans to build a new motherhouse (the current Assisi Heights) were established, leading up to the 1949 purchase of 138 acres on a hill in Northwest Rochester. Of these 138 acres, 25 acres made up an orchard with 1,375 apple trees growing 41 different varieties of apples. The property also included seven acres of woods with linden and walnut trees, which the Sisters decided to name Walnut Hill.

The Sisters renamed the motherhouse to Assisi Heights “to express their resonance with Saint Francis of Assisi, who sought out hills with wonderful panoramas in order to aid his prayer and praise of God.”¹ The first Sisters moved into Assisi Heights in 1955. At the time, the main building could accommodate 500 people in its single, double, and triple rooms. Rooms were available for “permanent administration staff, the retired Sisters and the elderly requiring assistance… the novices and postulants and small rooms for Sister retreatants who would return in the summer for their annual retreat.”²

According to Sister Lois, who joined the Congregation in 1959, the current motherhouse looks the same as it did 55 years ago. Her first time visiting Assisi Heights, she walked through the same front door as one would walk through today.