August 7, 2013
The Franciscan Monastery is located 4 miles (6.4 km) from the town of Kennebunk in southern Maine. French explorer Samuel de Champlain arrived in the area in 1604. In the 1700s, it became a farmland owned by Lieutenant Sir William Pepperrell. After a series of transfers of ownership, in 1947 owner Mildred V Campbell sold the land to the Society of Franciscan Fathers of Greene, Maine for $150,000.
In 1952, the Shrine of St. Anthony’s was built inside the Tudor style house. A new St. Anthony’s Chapel was constructed between 1965-1966, featuring bas relief and stained-glass windows from Lithuania.
The 66-acre grounds feature English gardens, walking paths and the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. Designed by Lithuanian architect Jonas Mulokas, the grotto was constructed in 1953. A statue of Bernadette Soubirous, the 14-year old peasant girl who witnessed the apparition in Lourdes, France, is the focal point of the miraculous scene.
