Tours

Welcome to the motherhouse of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes. 
The chapel and the lobby are round in shape representing the circle of life. The celebration of Eucharist is at the center of the sisters’ lives as is the location of the chapel. The intention of the design was to create a sacred space for worship by inviting in the beauty of nature. The materials selected are wood and stone, a reminder of the pioneering roots and beginnings of the congregation in Wisconsin. At the entrance of the chapel is a stone water font representing the pouring of water at baptism. The four cornerstones embedded into the stone pillars at the entrance represent the former motherhouses. The cornerstones show that life is a process of letting go and beginning anew. Home for the sisters is not a permanent place but rather who they are as women on a faith journey. 
Incorporated into the chapel are items from previous convents, including the leaded glass doors for the Blessed Sacrament and altar marble used to frame the Tabernacle. The windows were inspired by the springs which flow through the convent grounds and beneath the corridor leading to the chapel. These Springs have played an important role in the physical and spiritual nourishment of the community. The type of glass used has a watercolor like characteristic of opal blue swirls further underscoring the life-giving water and the freeness of God's creation. This glass is carried out into the gathering area and over the entrance doors. The bright horizontal and vertical bands of bubbly glass represent the water flowing underground and coming to the surface. The horizontal bands of red, orange, yellow, and violet may be seen as threads in a tapestry that tied the panel's together and, like the individuals of the community, are randomly unique, but collectively harmonious and orderly. The windows were fabricated almost entirely by women at Derix Glass Studios in Taunusstein, Germany. Circling the inside of the chapel are twelve stone pillars defining a space for communal prayer around the table of the Lord all under a domed ceiling. The chapel is used on a daily basis for Eucharist and prayer by the sisters who live at the motherhouse.

Home is where your story begins. 
For the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes, their story began in 1858 with their first convent in Barton, Wisconsin. 158 years later, members of the congregation have created a home for their stories on two walls that showcase their inspired mission and their invaluable legacy. Ceiling-to-floor wall murals have been constructed and installed. 
The first panels show the life-sized faces of the three founders Mother Agnes Hazotte , Father Caspar Rehrl, and Father Francis Haas. The Legacy and History walls are a testimony to ordinary sisters who did extraordinary things through the grace of God. The selected stories reflect the courage and deep faith of sisters who were passionate in their service to God's people. 
Sister Margaret Lorimer, author of the book Ordinary Sisters: The Story of the Sisters of Saint Agnes, was one of the committee members who created the walls. "I was honored to be asked to help select the material for these wall panels. It has been an experience to walk in the shoes of sisters who lived with the area farm families, who taught immigrant children, and barely survived their ordeals. The average age  of the first 15 members to die was 22 years. These women were not thinking of their legacy; rather they were striving to live their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Later as the congregation grew, members in the Midwest went south to live and work during the Civil Rights Movement. Sisters served on the Indian reservations in the southwest and the sisters were also missionaries to Latin America and Russia. This exhibit shows the historical timeline and also the warmth, passion, and heart of the story of CSA." 
The Legacy and History walls concludes in 2008. The walls bear testimony to the ministries of the sisters in education and health care in the Fond du Lac area, across the United States, and in Latin America.
 

"In light of the growing impact of climate change on the global community, we, the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes, honoring our interdependence with all God’s creation and in a spirit of nonviolence, personally and communally renew and recommit to care for Earth, home of all living creatures.” This is the Corporate Stance of the Sisters of St. Agnes adopted May 31, 2016. 
The 880-panel solar installation on our motherhouse grounds is a tangible reflection of our commitment to care for Earth. Our solar panels generate 50% of our energy needs and substantially reduce our carbon footprint. We invite you to learn more about solar energy by visiting our solar installation and the solar energy walking path. Educational tours are available for school groups as well as a self-guided tour for individuals. You can click on our website for current statistics on our solar energy production. As a congregation, the Sisters of St. Agnes have a longtime commitment to the conservation of the land entrusted to us. We have cared for the soil, tended the woods and preserved the integrity of the springs that flow through the Congregations’ property in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Our solar installation represents our corporate commitment to future generations and comes at a time when Pope Francis is calling upon the church, and the world, to take seriously the threat posed to our human dignity from the effects of climate change. 
The specifics of our installation are:
247 KW
880 Solar panels
Enough to power 32 homes
$35,000 worth of electricity generated each year
Supplying 50% of the electrical needs of the motherhouse
In 2020, when Alliant Energy announced the launch of its first community solar project in Fond du Lac, CSA supported the endeavor by purchasing 538 solar panels (called “blocks”) of the solar garden. This investment means that the entire St. Agnes Convent and the on-site maintenance building are 100% powered by the sun. The Community Solar program provides an opportunity for customers, both residential and corporate, to share the benefits of solar power without having to install solar panels on their property. “Creation is a wonderful gift that God has given us. We must care for and use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude.” Pope Francis “Laudato Si’”
We thank you for taking this virtual tour and hope that some day you may come visit us in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. We’d love to walk our solar pathway with you.