CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - After 83 years, the Sisters of the Precious Blood have bid adieu to Charlottetown.

A farewell Mass and reception was held Aug. 15, the Feast of the Assumption, at St. Dunstan’s Basilica in Charlottetown to honour the Sisters of the Precious Blood as they close their monastery and the remaining Sisters move on to other parts of Canada. The basilica was filled to capacity, and under the direction of Leo Marchildon, a massed choir sang Marian hymns appropriate to the feast.  

Declining numbers and a lack of new vocations were cited for the end to the Sisters presence in Charlottetown, a presence dating back to 1929.

The Precious Blood Sisters, in a statement, said, "We are deeply grateful for the 83 years during which we have carried you and your parents and grandparents in our hearts and held your needs up to the Lord. We are saying farewell, but this is not an ending. Prayer is not bound by time or space or geography. And though we will no longer have a presence in Charlottetown, we will still hold you in our hearts and lift your needs up to the Lord. We will not abandon you. You are etched in our hearts forever."

Charlottetown Bishop Richard Grecco told the audience that the Sisters will be greatly missed in the diocese.

"We shall miss dearly the prayerful touch with which you reached out to so many individuals and groups," said Grecco. "We are grateful that God called you to the religious life, and sent you to us for 83 years. Now as God sends you elsewhere, we ask you to keep us in your prayers, as we will all of you."