2794: Chapel, Loyola House of Retreats, Morristown, New Jersey, USA

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April 27, 2015

I attended a weekend retreat at Loyola in Morristown a few weeks ago and thought I needed to update some of the history of the house.

The mansion was built in 1904 and was a place of residence for the Foote family. It is located on 33 acres of wooded land. There is a 3/4 mile outdoor path with Stations of the Cross (very pretty in the spring) and also in the backyard is a sunken garden with fountains and a fish pond.

Retreats were popular around 1900 and so the Jesuits began looking for a place to hold retreats in northern New Jersey. A private benefactor bought this mansion from the Foote family in 1927 and gave it to the Jesuits. They have used it as a retreat house since then.

The east wing was added in 1949 (36 additional rooms) and the west wing was added in 1959 (an additional 26 rooms).

The house has a library, two chapels (St Katherines and Christ the Priest Chapel), a bookstore and meeting rooms.

Kat