St. Anthony’s Franciscan Monastery, Kennebunk

St. Anthony’s Franciscan Monastery stands on the western bank of the Kennebunk River in Kennebunk, Maine. The property was developed as Fairfields, a Tudor-style summer estate commissioned in 1906 by industrialist William A. Rogers. Buffalo architects Green and Wicks designed the residence, while the Olmsted Brothers firm planned the landscape.

In September 1947, Mildred V. Campbell conveyed Fairfields to the Society of Franciscan Fathers of Greene, Maine, for $150,000. Lithuanian Franciscan friars established the monastery after the Soviet occupation of Lithuania had dispersed members of their religious community.

The friars constructed the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in 1953 and the Chapel of the Stations of the Cross in 1959. Both were designed by Lithuanian architect Jonas Mulokas. The present St. Anthony’s Chapel was constructed in 1965–1966 and dedicated in 1967. Its final architectural design was developed by Alfred Kulpa-Kulpavičius, while Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas created its stained glass, bas-reliefs, altars, and metalwork.

The property remains an active Franciscan friary and an important center of Lithuanian-American religious and cultural heritage.