St Anthony Monastery in Kennebunk

St. Anthony’s Franciscan Monastery Retreat Center

The St. Anthony’s Franciscan Monastery Retreat Center and Franciscan Guest House are pleased to offer retreat facilities for a wide range of groups.

The Franciscan Guest House

The Franciscan Guest House is a non profit hotel.  The proceeds go to the friars’ many charities.  The lawns and gardens are beautiful and close to the river, beach and the downtown shopping area.  In keeping with Franciscan tradition, the hotel is of simple décor.  Guests come from all over the world to find spiritual and physical renewal.

Opening times Gift Shop 10.00 a.m to noon and 1.00 to 4.00 p.m daily from March 1st to December 31st.

FROM THE SOUTH:
Heading north on I-95, take the New Hampshire Turnpike, then the Maine Turnpike. Leave the Maine Turnpike at Exit 2 (Wells). After paying the toll, turn left and take Rt 1 North for a few miles. Then take Rt 9 (Right) to Kennebunkport. At the second light (or blinker, Junction Rt 35) turn right towards the beach. Follow a few hundred yards until the road begins to bear right. The Monastery entrance is located to the left, in the turn, as indicated in the map below.

FROM THE NORTH:
Heading south on I-95 (Maine Turnpike): Take exit 4 to Biddeford. If you miss it, go to exit 3. If you take exit 3, follow signs to Kennebunk, then Rt 35 South. If you take exit 4 (Biddeford), after the Toll House, continue straight until you come to Rt 1 intersection. Turn right on Rt 1 (So) and continue to Kennebunk. At the intersection (square) in Kennebunk, turn left and you will have the Police station on left and Fire station on right. You will be on Rt. 35 South. Stay on it for about 4 miles. At the busy intersection, don’t make any turns (on left will be Sunoco Service Station; if you turn left you will go to Kennebunkport). Continue through the intersection straight for a few hundred yards. When you see a stone wall, look for gate where it says “Franciscan Monastery”. On the grounds the Guest House is on the immediate left. The Monastery proper is further down.

• Weekdays: Daily 7:30am; Wednesday & Friday 7:30pm
• Saturdays: 8:00am
  Sundays: 8:00am, 10:00am, 11:15am

Confession Available whenever requested.

Adoration Fridays: following 7:30pm Mass

St. Anthony’s Franciscan Monastery

In southern Maine, St. Anthony’s Monastery is situated about four miles from the town of Kennebunk on the western side of the Kennebunk river which issues into the Atlantic at lovely Kennebunk Beach.
Kennebunk – probably the name of an indian chief; the name may be formed by the union of three words: KEN – meaning long, NEB – meaning water at rest, and UNK – meaning land or place; some indian linguists think Kennebunk means, “The place where he thanked Him.”

The area was discovered by the French explorer Samuel de Champlain in the year 1604. The first white settlers, arriving in 1614, were wiped out by Indians 1689-90. Later on, these indians were vanquished by the famous lieutenant general Sir William Pepperrell who repossessed the land. In 1740, he sold 200 acres of it to John Mitchell, a professor of the Christian religion and a seaman of liberal education who loved God, people, and the wide ocean. His family controlled the estate until 1900 when it was purchased by William A. Rogers, Esq., a Buffalo industrialist. He commissioned Green and Wicks, architects, a Buffalo firm to have built upon the property a splendid house in Tudor style. This fine estate was sold in 1937 to William N. Campbell, a gentleman of entrepreneurial fortune, who was pleased to keep a home also in Fisher Hill and in Brookline, MA, in Bal Harbor and in Miami Beach, Florida.

On September 8, 1947, the estate was purchased by Lithuanian Franciscans. In 1952, the house was embellished with the Shrine of St. Anthony. In 1953, the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, an imposing and unique shrine, was constructed on the estate grounds and, in 1959, the graceful Chapel of the Stations of the Cross. Both of these shrines, monuments of Lithuanian architectural art, were designed by Jonas Mulokas, winner of the First Prize of the American Architects Association. For the Chapel of the Stations of the Cross, individual stations and two angels were sculptured by Vytautas Kasuba who was decorated with the Gold Medal for art at the 1937 Paris World’s Fair.

The new St. Anthony’s Chapel was constructed between 1965-66. It combines the old tradition with modern expression in a very beautiful way. The chapel’s architect was Dr. Alfred Kulpa of Toronto, Canada. The interior decorations, including the bas-relief, the altars, the stained glass windows, the candlesticks and chandeliers, were magnificently designed, produced, and arranged by Professor Vytautas Jonynas, master of graphic arts, who has been honored with Gold Medals for his achievements at various international art competitions. He is the same artist who decorated the Vatican Pavillion at the 1964 New York World’s Fair with a very meaningful sculpture of the Militant, Suffering, and Triumphant Church. For the enjoyment of visitors, this monument now ornaments the grounds of St. Anthony’s Monastery.

Passing through the stone gate, you enter the gracious English park, embellished with gardens. In a refreshing view of sweeping lawns, you are pleasantly greeted by magnificent and unique shrines of Our Lady of Lourdes and the Way of the Cross, both in Lithuanian style. In the background, you behold the monastery itself, a fine Tudor edifice.

Scanning right, your gaze is arrested by the imposing white Vatican Pavillion Monument of the Militant, Suffering and Triumphant Church, from the New York World’s Fair, 1964, that currently needs some restoration work.

Thousands come to enjoy these peaceful and expansive grounds of St. Anthony’s Franciscan Monastery every year, especially in summer. Everybody is most welcome to visit, to rest, to meditate, and to pray.