Since the October 2024 announcement that the Sancta Maria in Ripa campus in St. Louis was listed for sale, there have been many shared memories, special reflections, and heartfelt goodbyes. There has also been much hard work and heavy lifting to prepare the property for its next chapter. This includes carefully organizing, cataloging, moving, and displaying thousands of items for an upcoming estate sale. Taking place Thursday, Oct. 15 through Saturday, Oct. 17, the sale, which is open to the public each day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., is one more final step in this process.

“I want to have a lot of people come to benefit from this because it is a treasure that has been growing over the years,” said one sister who has been assisting with sale preparations. “We take a vow of poverty, so the objects themselves, we don’t own them and we don’t try to hold on to them, but it’s good to be able to share them if they are an inspiration or a usefulness to someone else.”

With a history stretching back more than 100 years, and once home to thousands of sisters throughout that time, Sancta Maria in Ripa has accumulated a significant collection of both everyday household items alongside one-of-a-kind antiques, collectibles, and religious pieces. This includes artwork, liturgical valuables, and decorative items, as well as furniture, dishes, small appliances, bedding, and countless ordinary and extraordinary finds.

Strolling the rooms where the sale is being set, one can find statues and figurines ranging from palm-sized to several feet tall. Artwork—paintings, sketches, pottery, wooden carvings—run the gamut from traditional to modern to abstract. There are paintings which depict everything from the St. Louis skyline to flowers and nature-themed landscapes to portraits of Blessed Theresa and religious scenes, some of which are the creative works of sisters themselves. There are many crosses and crucifixes, from small and simple to large and ornate. There are even a few nun dolls, one of the more popular items at past estate sales of other SSND properties.

“There is artwork and beautiful memory items from the different places around the world where our province has been—Africa, Central America, Honduras especially, and Japan. Beautiful things. All of those were from real people,” said a sister.

Furniture includes plenty of sofas, chairs, tables, desks, shelves, and curio cabinets mixed in with a select number of specialty pieces such as rocking chairs and even a card catalog. Any possible kitchen need can be found—everyday dishes and fine china place settings, glass and crystal serving bowls and platters, small appliances, punch bowls, drinkware and mugs, utensils, bakeware, pots, pans, and industrial size coffee carafes. Floor and table lamps mix with exercise and gardening equipment, office supplies, outdoor benches, piles of baskets, clocks, a few sewing machines, holiday and everyday décor, and even live plants.

The shelves of the former library of Sancta Maria in Ripa now hold dozens of blankets, comforters, and other bedding—all just washed, folded, and stacked in preparation ahead of the sale.

Sisters themselves helped move the small and fragile items from upper floors to the two lower levels where the sale will be held.

“We had to go to each bedroom and take the little crucifix off the wall, any little pictures or statues, or small thing,” said the sister. “That too is what makes this sale special, it’s a gift of our prayer, our meditation, and our sharing because that is what our decorations centered on.”

Starting Oct. 8, a preview of a selection of items for sale will be available at estatesales.net. The preview will feature 200-300 of the approximate 6,000 items available. There are no online sales though, and all items can be purchased in-person only on a first-come, first-served basis.

There are currently no pending offers for the Sancta Maria in Ripa property, and it remains on the market. A reminder that the Sancta Maria in Ripa real estate listing does not include the School Sisters of Notre Dame Cemetery, Notre Dame High School, or the school’s sport fields. Notre Dame High School, St. Louis, is not for sale or closing and just recently celebrated a significant expansion to their building. The high school remains a sponsored ministry of SSND. Notre Dame High School is also not participating in the estate sale in any way.

All sisters who had been living at Sancta Maria in Ripa have finished moving and now reside at The Sarah Community in nearby Bridgeton, or smaller groups living in homes, apartment complexes, and even a former rectory. No matter the address, the local legacy of SSND remains and the sisters continue in their active ministries and purposeful presence across the community.