Our history
History
Land acknowledgement
We respectfully acknowledge that we are on the traditional, ancestral lands of the Osage Nation. The process of knowing and acknowledging the land we stand on is a way of honoring and expressing gratitude for the ancestral Osage people who were on this land before us.
Sister Pascaline Coff, OSB, was inspired by the charge of the second Vatican Council to “go back to the sources.” When she read an article in June 1977 about Fr. Bede Griffiths, an English Benedictine monk living in India at an ashram called Shantivanam (shanti, peace; vanam, forest), something clicked inside. She traveled to India and studied with Fr. Bede.
Sister Pascaline nurtured the seeds that had been sown in India. In June 1979 the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration purchased the property. The Sisters were led to create a sacred place of prayer, which they named Osage+Monastery – Forest of Peace, after Shantivanam.
In 2008 the Benedictines realized that they could no longer staff the monastic community at the Forest. A Benedictine layman and local philanthropist stepped forward and purchased the monastery to continue the mission and vision of Sister Pascaline and to save the land from development. Following the Sisters’ departure, a nonprofit corporation was established to preserve the Forest of Peace.
Get your copy of Forest history!
One + Heart: The Story of the Osage Monastery Forest of Peace, written by Sally Dennison, is available for sale in the Forest Store! You can buy a copy onsite in our Main House, or order one online here to be shipped to you.
