Records Relating to Local Administration  Ender... | Saint Michael's College Archives & Special Collections

In 1954, Alys E. Enders conveyed to the Society of Saint Edmund a 12-acre island near Mystic, Connecticut.  This island, which is now known as Enders Island, was given to the Edmundites for use as a novitiate and a retreat center. On November 2, 1954, Rev. Eymard Galligan arrived on the island as the first Superior. Although the island had a mansion as well as outbuildings, the Edmundites undertook a number of improvements to make it suitable for the novitiate.  Members of the House worked at St. Bernard’s School in New London, CT, and administering  St. Thomas More and Sacred Heart parishes in North Stonington and Groton, in addition to running a novitiate.  For a time, the island was the home base of the Edmundites Seminary Guild, a fund-raising wing of the society.  The Society of Saint Edmund, Connecticut, Inc. is the temporal branch of the Mystic works. From 1976 to 2003, the Society ran the Edmundite Apostolate Center on the island.  The Center was the home of successful retreats and spiritual programs including spiritual development, adult education and sacred art programs.  Saint Michael’s Institute of Sacred Art was launched in 1998 and has offered workshops in Early Christian Iconography, Traditional Iconography, Gregorian chant, Stained Glass, Manuscript Illumination & Gilding, and Fresco. In January 2004, control of most programs on the island reverted to the Diocese.