With my explicit permission, the Carmelites of the Fairfield Monastery requested the authorization from the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (IVCSVA) to establish a Carmelite monastery in the Archdiocese of Ottawa-Cornwall, in accordance with the particular law of the Carmelite Order. The Holy See has therefore granted permission to establish a monastery in Almonte by decree dated May 25, 2026, Prot. No. 13725/2025.
It is therefore my pleasure to announce the official founding of the Monastery of the Three Hearts in our archdiocese. The Carmelite monastery will be led by Mother Stella-Marie of Jesus, OCD, while initially remaining dependent on its motherhouse (Fairfield, Pennsylvania), and also remaining under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Ottawa-Cornwall in accordance with the Order’s particular law and the Code of Canon law.
We entrust our archdiocese to the prayers of the Carmelite nuns, who remind us of the imperative of their Foundress, Saint Teresa of Avila: “For God alone suffices.”
With our congratulations and our blessing,
Given in Ottawa on the 27th day of August 2026.
Marcel Damphousse
Archbishop of Ottawa-Cornwall
