In 1875 Archbishop Lynch of Toronto offered the Carmelite priests and brothers the Shrine Parish of Our Lady of Peace at Niagara Falls along with its mission stations, as well as 100 acres of property on the edge of the Niagara escarpment, with the idea that the Carmelites would develop a retreat ministry at their monastery. During the Civil War in the United States, the Niagara frontier became the terminus of the underground railroad and the haven of Southern exiles and refugees.

   The archbishop, in a pastoral letter, outlined the ministry he expected from the Carmelites: “We desire to have a religious house where those pilgrims could be attracted to adore nature’s God in spirit and in truth, and so would there find, in solitude and rest, how great and good God is.”

   By 1897 a hospice was opened on the escarpment overlooking Niagara Falls for pilgrims with the revolutionary idea for its day that the laity, as well as clergy, would come to Mount Carmel for a spiritual retreat.

Aerial View of Mount Carmel Spiritual Center (red roofed building in foreground) and the Niagara Falls, a short distance away

Aerial View of Mount Carmel Collge (1940)

Mount Carmel Chapel (2010)