St. Augustine’s Convent really was a home

Sister Peggy Youngclaus SND

As South Boston NDC makes progress on transforming the former St. Augustine's Convent into McDevitt Senior Homes, we'll be doing periodic stories about the building and the Sisters of Notre Dame who lived there.

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Even though it didn't look like it from the outside, the St. Augustine’s Convent really was a home on the inside.

 “I think the people that lived there … made it a home,” said Sister Peggy Youngclaus SND, who lived in the convent from 1965-1969. 

As South Boston NDC prepares to transform the former convent into affordable senior housing, we are talking with sisters who lived there. “I think that’s wonderful,” Sister Peggy said about South Boston NDC’s plan. “I’m so happy that a convent is going to be used as affordable senior housing. I think that’s a great idea. Otherwise, it’s sitting there.”

The community spirit in the convent was all pluses, all positive, Sister Peggy said. “There were elderly sisters there. This was all during the Vatican Council, so everything was changing. And the older sisters were wonderful. They would do some of the readings and then share it with the younger people when we had an opportunity because there was so much to read in those days to keep up with what was going on in the church.”

The sisters also had a really positive relationship with the rectory. “The priest came daily for liturgy in the convent.”

Sister Peggy’s favorite room in the building was the chapel. “I loved that chapel,” she said. “We were praying together every day, early in the morning and then before we retired at night.”

The kitchen, dining room, and laundry room were on the first floor. In the cellar was a pantry that the younger sisters had to periodically clean out and wonder if they would meet any critters down there, said Sister Peggy, who now lives in the Sisters of Notre Dame’s assisted living facility in Worcester after living in South Boston for 55 years. 

The second floor held the chapel and a great big community room, and floors 3-4 had the bedrooms. 

Sister Peggy’s room, or “cell” as she called it, was very tiny. On the third floor, it had a desk, a chair, and a bed. Sister Peggy doesn’t recall if she had a dresser. But there were no closets.

“We wore Habits, so we didn't have many clothes,” the Dorchester native said. 

What about the roof? 

“We did the laundry … took the elevator to the fifth floor, and hung out our laundry up on the roof,” Sister Peggy said. “Every morning that was part of after breakfast: into the laundry, up to the roof, hang up the sheets and everybody's laundry.” 

Sister Peggy also remembers going up to the roof during a blackout. “It was really scary because on the roof you could see everything; you see the whole city. It was black. I'll never forget that. It was pitch black.”

Sister Peggy, 84, said the building was in fairly good shape while she was there. “We had heat; we didn’t run out of the heat very often. We always had to go out in the street and pull in the kids in the neighborhood to shovel the driveway. That’s how we got the driveway shoveled.”

As far as their own chores, the sisters were assigned different duties, including cleaning the kitchen, the laundry room, and other parts of the house. Every sister was responsible for her own room. During her time at the convent, they had a cook. “She was wonderful,” she said, noting the sisters would take turns cooking on Sundays to give the cook a break.

A typical day for the sisters consisted of waking up at 5 a.m., getting black coffee, going to the chapel for a half-hour meditation and then mass, eating breakfast, doing laundry, and then heading to school to teach. At that time, the Sisters of Notre Dame was a teaching order.

At the time, Sister Peggy taught first grade at St. Augustine’s School, which was just a few steps away from the convent.

After dinner, the sisters would often sit together and listen to music. 

The sisters very seldom used the front yard, Sister Peggy said. “We never even opened the front door. We didn’t use the front stairs, either. It was the back stairs or the elevator. And the elevator used to conk out periodically.”

During her time at the convent, the neighborhood “was slowly becoming more and more depressed. There were several fires,” she said. “I remember us getting up in the middle of the night to watch the fires … That left a lot of people without housing.”

Sister Peggy taught first grade for 15 years, then worked with children with disabilities, working at St. Coletta’s in Braintree and the Kennedy Institute in DC. She taught for 23 years. She then worked 15 years at Franciscan Children’s Hospital in Brighton after she became a licensed practical nurse at age 60. Sister Peggy is still working with the Simon of Cyrene Society, which works with disabled people.

Sister Peggy will always remember how wonderful Christmastime was at the convent. “There was so much preparation and the girls from the high school used to come and help.” The sisters would set up the dining room so the gifts could spread out for wrapping.

Sister Peggy recalled driving out to Worcester and going to Spag’s because gifts were less expensive. “We'd fill up a station wagon and go back and line the gifts up in the first-floor hallway.”

They would have a massive Christmas party at the German Club where Santa would come and hand out gifts.

“Those were wonderful days, wonderful Christmases.”