The priory is navigated by both the faculty and student body every day and has been for years. Countless people go in and out without thinking twice, and missing the word “cloister” is printed across the door to the priory on the first floor by the library.

In a religious context, cloister refers to an area reserved for religious persons, usually nuns or monks. An area of cloister should not be accessible to all the people who walk through that door everyday. Why would there be cloister on a part of the building that holds classrooms and office space? Is someone secretly living in the priory? Are nuns hiding in the school?

The answer to all these questions can be found in the name of the space and Fenwick’s history. The priory is cloistered, or was, because the space used to be used as a priory. The Friars working at Fenwick have moved many times, but when Fenwick was founded, they lived in a house gifted by the Cusack Family. As time went on, the enrollment at Fenwick rose and the school building became too small for the growing student body. In 1945 a drive was started by the Dominican Fathers to raise $400,000.00 with the goal of making an addition to the Fenwick building which would go on top of where the original Priory stood. The “Priory” was originally built to replace housing for the Fathers and brothers before the old building was leveled for the addition to be built on top of. For a long time this is how the Priory stayed; it was cloistered and off limits to the majority of those who walked through Fenwick’s halls. Since then, the school has changed, and the faculty is no longer dominated by Fathers and Brothers. As the number of Fathers and Brothers teaching at Fenwick declined, so did the need for housing on campus and as such, they moved out. Since then the space has been renovated. The building was renovated into offices for the faculty and classrooms for teaching.

The word cloister on the priory is not an indication to stay away or a sign of secret residence at Fenwick. The cloister on the space no longer stands and that door to the priory on the first floor by the library is just evidence of Fenwick’s past.