Olivetan Benedictine Sisters of Holy Angels Convent | nunnery, monastery, Order of Saint Benedict, Roman Catholic church

 nunnery, monastery, Order of Saint Benedict, Roman Catholic church

The community of the “Jonesboro Benedictines” had its origins in the Convent of Maria Rickenbach in the Canton of Unterwalden, Switzerland.Five Sisters were sent to make a foundation in 1874 near Conception, Missouri, in a little village named Maryville.Because the railroads bypassed Pocahontas, and also, because many of the Sisters contacted typhoid fever from the drinking water, the community officially moved from Pocahontas to Jonesboro. The transfer was made on July 4, 1898, when the farmers could use their wagons to haul the Sisters’ belongings. The new convent in Jonesboro was completed and named Holy Angels Convent.One year later (1899), malaria fever broke out in Northeast Arkansas and the Sisters were asked to help take care of the sick.The need for more room for the convent and needed hospital expansion caused the community to make the decision to relocate to a tract of land north of Jonesboro. In 1974, the community relocated to the new Holy Angels Convent.The Sisters also minister at local womens prison./
Holy Angels Convent
P.O. Box 1209
Jonesboro, Arkansas
72403-1209