Mount Grace Convent offers Jubilee pilgrims the chance to join their prayers with the Pink Sisters
On a hot summer afternoon, the only sound inside Mount Grace Convent is the steady hum of the air conditioner.
A regal gold monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament sits above the altar, brightly illuminated in the otherwise dimmed chapel. Behind the tall gate separating the space for the congregation from the sisters’ pews and the altar, a lone sister dressed in a bright rose-colored habit kneels, gazing up at Jesus.
During the Jubilee Year of Hope 2025, the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters continue to do what they do best — intercede for the world’s intentions in the presence of the Eucharist.
Visitors to the chapel often submit prayer requests for the sisters’ intercession, said Sister Louise Mary Alindayu, SSpSAP, superior of the St. Louis community.
“When people come to submit their petitions, they also come to thank us. They send (a note saying), ‘Thank you, sisters, for your prayers — they’re all answered,’” she said. “So they find hope when they come to pray and ask help from the Lord. It’s so very consoling to know that prayers are being answered.”
Mount Grace Chapel, the home of the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters, is one of nine Jubilee Pilgrimage sites in the archdiocese designated by Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski for the 2025 Jubilee Year. The faithful can obtain a plenary indulgence — remission of the temporal punishment due to sins — by visiting any of the nine sites for a pilgrimage or pious visit, in addition to the usual conditions for an indulgence.
The Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters congregation — also known as the “Pink Sisters” because of the distinctive color of their habits — was founded on Dec. 8, 1896, by St. Arnold Janssen. St. Arnold was a German diocesan priest and a mathematics teacher. Early on, he became involved in the Apostleship of Prayer, which awakened his interest in Christian unity and eventually in the mission to non-Christian countries.
St. Arnold founded a congregation of missionary priests and brothers in the town of Steyl on the Dutch-German border, the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), in 1875 and another of missionary sisters, the Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters (SSpS), in 1889. His third foundation, the cloistered sisters, was to be the powerhouse of prayer behind the active missionaries, since St. Arnold understood that all work for the kingdom of God was firstly and decisively a work of prayer.
The Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters opened their first convent in the United States in Philadelphia in 1915. As the congregation grew, Mother Mary Michael, co-foundress and the congregation’s first superior general, founded convents in the Philippines, Germany and the Netherlands. She was also looking to make a second foundation in the United States.
Theresa Kulage, a wealthy St. Louis widow, had a desire to establish a convent of perpetual adoration in her native city. Kulage learned of the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters through the Society of the Divine Word and traveled to Philadelphia to meet the sisters. She approached then-Archbishop John J. Glennon and offered to establish an adoration convent in St. Louis. Kulage personally oversaw the construction of the chapel and the cornerstone was laid on Oct. 30, 1927.
According to Kulage’s wishes, the new foundation would be called “Mount Grace Chapel of Perpetual Adoration.” From the convent overlooking the Mississippi Valley, the sisters would ask the Lord to pour a constant stream of graces on the world. Perpetual adoration was begun on that day and has continued ever since.
The Legion of One Thousand Men, whose members pledge a weekly visit to the Blessed Sacrament, was established in 1958. Later, the Legion was expanded to include women and is now known as the Legion of 1,000 Adorers.
There are 18 sisters currently at Mount Grace Convent, including many of the orders’ elderly and infirm members.
During the Jubilee Year, the Pink Sisters are praying especially for peace in war-torn countries and for an increase in vocations to the consecrated life, Sister Louise Mary said.
“We pray for the young people, that God will touch their heart, that they will be able to see the value of a consecrated life,” she said. “We are doing that in the framework of this year of hope, that more young people will answer the call of the Lord.”
The Jubilee Year is a special time to remember the true source of our hope, she added.
“People now, it seems, are losing their hope because of what is happening right now in the world,” she said. “But if only they will cling to the Lord and increase their faith, God, I think, will answer our prayers, and God will help us find meaning in our life. We hope that this life is only temporary, and we are hoping for the best place to come, when we are going home to meet our Lord.”
This is the seventh in a monthly series featuring each of the nine designated pilgrimage sites in the Archdiocese of St. Louis during the Jubilee Year 2025. To read other stories in the series, visit stlreview.com/Jubilee-2025-sites.
>> Visit Mount Grace Convent
1438 E. Warne Avenue in St. Louis
Hours: Open daily from 5:45 a.m.-6 p.m.
Mass: 7 a.m. every day
Evening prayer and Benediction: 5 p.m. daily and 4 p.m. Sunday
Liturgy of the Hours: 5:45 a.m. morning prayer, 8:30 a.m. Office of Readings, 11:45 a.m. midday prayer, 1 p.m. midafternoon prayer
Learn more about the Holy Spirt Adoration Sisters and Mount Grace Convent at mountgraceconvent.org.
Jubilee Indulgences
Options to receive a Jubilee indulgence:
Pilgrimage to a sacred Jubilee site, where the faithful participate in Mass, another liturgical service such as Morning or Evening Prayer, or acts of piety such as Stations of the Cross, praying the Rosary or a penitential celebration.
Pious visit: Individually or in a group, devoutly visit a Jubilee site and engage in eucharistic adoration and meditation, concluding with the Our Father, the profession of faith from Mass, and a prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Those who are unable to take part in pilgrimages or pious visits for serious reasons, such as cloistered religious, the elderly, the sick and those who care for them, or the imprisoned, may obtain the indulgence by uniting themselves in spirit with those making pilgrimages or pious visits, reciting an Our Father, a profession of faith, and other prayers in harmony with the purpose of the Jubilee Year, and offering up their sufferings and hardships to the Lord.
Works of Mercy and Penance: This includes participation in formational activities on the documents of Vatican II or the Catechism, initiatives that put into practice the spirit of penance, and performance of corporal or spiritual works of mercy. For the full details on Jubilee Indulgences, read the papal bull: stlreview.com/3POKFln
Help the souls in purgatory
The faithful who have carried out an act of charity on behalf of the souls in purgatory, if they receive holy Communion a second time that day within Mass, can obtain the plenary indulgence twice on the same day, applicable only to the deceased.
Usual conditions for a plenary indulgence:
• Be in a state of grace and have the interior disposition of complete detachment from sin
• Sacramental confession (can be received several days before or after)
• Reception of holy Communion
• Prayer for the pope’s intentions
Designated Pilgrimage Sites in the Archdiocese of St. Louis
The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis | St. Louis
Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France | St. Louis
Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters | St. Louis
The Carmel of Saint Joseph | Ladue
Saint Mary’s of the Barrens – National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal | Perryville
Monastery of St. Clare | Oakville
Passionist Nuns of St. Louis | Ellisville
Immaculate Heart of Mary | New Melle
Immaculate Conception | Union
