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St. Joseph’s Mission House opens in Bordentown, NJ

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 In 1941, the Eastern Province sought to build another mission house and believed New Jersey would be the best state for its location. Rev. Anthony Humel SVD, the first provincial superior of the Eastern Province, met with the Bishop of Trenton to request permission to build the mission house in his diocese. The bishop could not give an immediate answer because he had similar requests from other communities. Humel suggested that the bishop should call on the SVDs if he needed priests for working among Black apostolate in Trenton. This quickly led to the Society sending priests to Black parishes in Trenton and Asbury Park.


Since Humel was able to satisfy the bishop regarding the black parishes, he felt that he could now press the bishop on the establishment of a mission house within the confines of his diocese. The bishop gave his approval and came across a property in Bordentown.

One of the earliest owners of this property, which is historically and affectionately known as “Point Breeze,” was Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon Bonaparte’s older brother. After Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in 1815, Joseph fled to America and built his mansion, Point Breeze, in New Jersey. In the following years, the original mansion burned down and the mansion that would come to be the home of the SVDs was built. The previous owner lost the mansion in the 1929 stock market crash and the repossessed property had been unoccupied for 11 years.


The Society purchased the property in June 1941 and the first SVDs arrived in Bordentown in July. The mission house was dedicated to St. Joseph, but as with the rest of the mission houses, it was more often referred to by its geographic location, Bordentown. The first function of Bordentown was as a place for priests to live while providing supply work in the diocese. It was only in 1947 when it began to serve as a seminary for belated vocations.

The first students arrived to attend Bordentown in September 1947. It served this role for 11 years until it began a high school seminary in 1958 and the belated vocations seminary was moved to Miramar in Duxbury, MA. Approval was granted for the construction of new buildings at Bordentown to accommodate new students. The new buildings were completed and dedicated in 1966.

As vocations decreased in the 1960s and 1970s, agreements were made between the SVDs and other religious communities to have other communities send their students to Bordentown, as these communities did not have enough students to continue operating their own high school seminaries. A similar agreement was reached with the Diocese of Trenton as well.

Enrollment declined into the 1980s and the Society was beginning to consider closing the seminary. On February 2, 1983, the mansion, which served as the residence for the community as well as the chapel, caught fire. By May 1983, the decision was made to close the seminary. The mansion was razed as it had been burned beyond repair. The insurance money provided for the remodeling of the former high school classroom building into a residence. A community still resides there to this day.

The text of this page is an adapted version of Communities of the Word, The Bordentown Story by Rev. Raymond Lennon SVD.
 

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  1. Exhibit Timeline Society of the Divine Word Chicago Province Archives

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