Settled in 1846, the Maria Stein Shrine location was the third convent of ten established by Fr. Brunner in the new world. Governed by the Missionaries of the Precious Blood; Sisters, Priests, and Brothers lived on the property. Sisters lived in the brick convent and men lived in what was the gatehouse which stood in front of the Shrine south of the drive until the late 1990s.
The first convent was replaced with a permanent brick structure in 1860. This convent’s size can be seen yet today, forming the courtyard located west of the Shrine.
This convent served the Sisters well for years. However, when a new collection of relics was given to the Sisters in 1875, the building needed to be changed a bit to accommodate this collection of relics. With the influx of pilgrims, a stairway on the outside had to be added so that pilgrims had access to the relics in order that these guests would not violate the rules of the cloister. These stairs allowed access to the chapel without having to pass through the Sisters’ living space. The short tower is still visible on the north side of the courtyard.
Twelve years passed and another change occurred at Maria Stein. In 1887 the Vatican ordered communities of men and women to be separated into two separate communities. Mother Mary Kunegunda was the first Mother General and was now the superior of the Sisters of Precious Blood. The simple Maria Stein Convent became the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Precious Blood. This site housed the Congregation administration as well as the formation center for new members of the Congregation. The usual ministries of convents, like host-making, farming, and statue-making remained.
The Motherhouse was the heart of the Congregation. It was where the community came together to make big decisions. The Sisters gathered in its chapel for prayer, Eucharistic Adoration, and vow professions. In 1892 the number of pilgrims coming to venerate the relics grew so large that the small room in the convent area was not sufficient to accommodate them. So two new chapels were constructed: one for the Sisters’ use and a smaller one to house the relics and accommodate the pilgrims were constructed to replace the cramped 1860 convent chapel.
In 1901 a new Motherhouse, much larger and modern, was completed. It is the present building that houses the museum, gift shop, and offices of the Shrine today. This was a nice change for the Sisters, as some had private rooms and it provided a large kitchen and dining room for the Sisters.
However, it would only keep its status as "Motherhouse" for twenty-two years. Mother Mary Emma Nunlist realized that a community active in teaching and other ministries was outgrowing what the Maria Stein Motherhouse was offering. Many of the ten large convents were closed so Sisters could live in smaller convents next to the schools in which they worked. Many Sisters needed to be state-certified teachers (because the community worked in both public and parochial schools) and so Mother Emma knew higher education was important. The Motherhouse was moved to Dayton in 1923. Sisters had a more spacious building near the University of Dayton as well as being located in a more urban area so perpetual Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament could be possible in the Motherhouse chapel with laity joining the Sisters in their adoration.
This caused things at Maria Stein Convent to change again; Maria Stein was now simply a house of the congregation. It was where the older Sisters spent their retirement in peace; many might have reflected on their youth which was spent under the same roof. Pilgrims came to visit the Relic Chapel, welcomed by the Sisters' generous hospitality, for prayer and a peaceful moment in God’s Presence.
Life changed again for those in the Maria Stein Convent in the 1950s. A new wing was built at the Motherhouse in Dayton where Sisters could live out their retirement. There was no longer a need for them to stay so far away from the Motherhouse.
This new development could have brought about an end to the Eucharistic Adoration which had been happening on site for over a century. But the local people, knowing how important those prayers had been to their success, began coming to the Adoration Chapel at Maria Stein for hours of adoration. In 2017 this group, formally called the Adoration Guild, celebrated its sixtieth anniversary.
Now that many of the rooms in the Maria Stein building were vacant, some of the Sisters who remained got creative with the extra space. They decided that one part of the convent could be used by laywomen wishing to make a retreat. In 1953 the first lay women’s retreat was held on the property. These retreats became very popular for women’s sodalities, high school girls, and other groups, so much so that they were outgrowing the space.
In 1962, less than a decade after the first retreat, a new retreat house building was dedicated. This had been a special project of Mother Mary Nathalia Smith, who was the visionary behind the retreat movement at Maria Stein.
By the late 1960s and early 1970s, the former Motherhouse and its chapels along with the retreat house became known as the Maria Stein Center. This mainly was to show that the retreat house and the former convent worked together in ministering to guests. It was also around this time that Sisters ministering at the Maria Stein Convent moved into the retreat house, leaving no Sisters housed in the historic third convent foundation established by Fr. Brunner.
The Maria Stein Center hosted many retreats and pilgrims. The Sisters opened a Swiss Coffee Shop in the old west wing of the convent building to offer hospitality and a gathering space for guests. They also opened a gift shop, not only for visitors to buy a memento of their time at the Center but also for local people to buy gifts for loved ones celebrating a sacrament.
The Center was approached by the local community in the early 1990s asking if space might be made available for a preschool. This would be quite a change from the usual life in the former convent, but the Sisters have always responded generously to the needs of the community in which they minister. For about a decade preschoolers came to the Center for learning, faith, and fun, thus continuing the Sisters' ministry in the field of education. It was housed in the former Sisters’ dining room of the convent building. The preschool at the convent was closed and became part of the Marion Local School District just before work began on the 2002 renovations.
The Sisters realized they could not continue the outreach of the Maria Stein Center in the late 1990s; it was simply too large for them to manage with diminishing numbers of Sisters. All the older outbuildings, in disrepair and no longer needed for farming, were razed. It was also decided that the Sisters would need to let go of their beloved retreat house and consolidate resources to run the Relic Shrine.
The new millennium saw the Maria Stein Center become two separate institutions, as it is today. The retreat house was sold and is now the Spiritual Center of Maria Stein and governed by a lay board. The former Motherhouse is now the Maria Stein Shrine of the Holy Relics and, until recently, it was under the leadership of the Sisters of the Precious Blood. In 2016 they announced their desire that the people of the area also take over this ministry. In December 2017 that became a reality.
On December 8, 2017, the Sisters of the Precious Blood gathered in the Adoration Chapel of the Maria Stein Shrine of the Holy Relics to sign the transfer of the land deed to the laity. This process began nearly a decade ago and was solidified in October 2016 when the Sisters announced their intent for the future of the landmark. “After nearly ten years of planning and with the help of many people from the local area, the Sisters of the Precious Blood know that the ministry of peace, prayer, and hospitality at the Shrine will be able to continue into the future without the direct involvement of the Congregation,” stated Sister Joyce Lehman, C.PP.S. President of the Congregation at that time.
“The letting go of such an important part of our history is difficult but is made possible knowing that the MSS Board of Directors and the administrator and staff at the Shrine are committed to keeping the Shrine a place where the faithful and seekers can find inspiration from the lives of those men and women who lived and died in service to God. The Sisters are grateful to all who have helped make this happen,” stated Sister Joyce.
“It is a humbling and awesome responsibility for us to follow in the Sisters’ footsteps by accepting the duty of care for the Shrine,” said Don Rosenbeck, President of the Shrine until 2022. “We will continue to maintain it as a holy place for the faith nourishment and spiritual renewal of people from near and far.”