Two priests and four nuns trapped in a monastery during Ian. ‘We knew we were in trouble’
When Hurricane Ian’s storm surge breached the eight foot walls of the San Damiano Monastery of St. Clare in Fort Myers Beach where two parish priests and four cloistered nuns sheltered, they knew if they survived they’d tell rescuers of a history-making experience at the 60-year-old Ascension Parish.
The one thing they held on to, beyond faith, as they huddled amid waters that were rising shockingly and unprecedentedly high, essentially trapping them for three days on the island, was the uneasy realization that the building didn’t move when the waters breached that unholy Sept. 28 Wednesday.
Now could they get through the next 72 hours before help arrived to whisk them off the devastated church properties on Estero Boulevard on Fort Myers Beach?
Two weeks later, Father William Adams, pastor of the Ascension Parish that was established on Fort Myers Beach in 1962 — and serves as the only Catholic church on the island — and the Poor Clare sisters who have resided at its monastery on the parish grounds since 1988, were ready to tell their tale.
‘Didn’t believe water could get that high’
“The monastery ground floor is gutted and the Chapel is a mess. But the building is three stories and sturdy. I know because when the surge breached the walls the building didn’t move and everything above the surge is fine,” Adams said on Friday.
Knowing the building didn’t move still wasn’t a salve against the terror that consumed the group that day.
“You just didn’t believe the water could ever get that high,” Sister Mary Frances said for an account posted by the Diocese of Venice in Florida on Thursday, three days after the group returned to the grounds on Oct. 10 for the first time since the hurricane. “During Charley and Irma the water only ever came up to our grass.”
Before the breach, as the nuns prayed the rosary and safety seemed assured given past storms’ inabilities to breach those walls, and with a well-stocked pantry and a working generator, they didn’t overly worry.
When debris started to float through the parking lot the six exchanged concerned looks. This was strange. Charley and Irma didn’t cast debris adrift across the parking lot. Ian was going to be more formidable.
The Gulf of Mexico rose against the monastery’s walls.
The classic 1959 Johnny Cash hymnal, “Five Feet High and Rising,” comes to mind.
How high’s the water, mama?/Five feet high and risin’/How high’s the water, papa?/She said it’s five feet high and risin’
When a big piece of wood floated into the garage but didn’t exit, Sister Mary Frances knew the garage was gone.
“To see what was happening, you just couldn’t comprehend. There was no reference to match what we were seeing,” she said.
Six feet high, seven feet high and eight feet high ...
The Gulf was rising. The walls were breached. Say goodbye to the generator as it sunk under a torrent of water on the ground floor.
“When the water started coming over the monastery wall, we were all in shock. Once the generator was destroyed, we knew we were in trouble ,” Adams told NBC’s WESH2.
Stuck in a storm
The two priests and four nuns were stuck. The situation seemed untenable. They wouldn’t go to the top floor because what if the roof blows off? There was a little concrete stairway that provided a little shelter from the fury. What if all six scrunched in there?
So that’s what the religious leaders did, watching the waters top out inches from the monastery’s second floor.
The water finally crested about five hours after it first became clear that this was like nothing the church grounds had ever absorbed.
The Diocese said the group prayed and “thanked God for their safety and prayed for everyone who continued to suffer from Ian’s wrath.”
Why did they stay
Why did they stay in the first place? It’s so easy to wonder as recovery efforts in Southwest Florida labor onward.
Karen Barry Schwarz, director of communications for the Diocese of Venice, offers an explanation as to why the group didn’t decide to evacuate from Fort Myers Beach ahead of Hurricane Ian.
“Well initially no, remember these are cloistered nuns, they lead a very secluded life and wanted to stay put,” Schwarz said in an email to the Miami Herald. “Previous hurricanes, they had been safe there. But yes, in fact the plan was to evacuate after the worst of the storm had passed, since it looked bad, and the waters had come in faster and higher than ever before. The water breached the eight-foot wall! But after they told the Bishop they were planning to evacuate, cell service failed, and there was no way out for a while.”
Ian’s wrath and tender mercies
A day later, the two priests and four nuns ventured out into the bright sun and found they were not alone.
“Alligators and snakes were roaming in the water and across the property, and in the parking lot outside of the monastery walls were the remains of at least four complete houses piled 15-feet high. The ground floor, which included the garage, offices, apartments for visiting priests, and the chapel, were all a mess with everything tossed into a jumble and covered in a slimy muck,” the Diocese recounted.
The chapel had been designed to replicate one built by St. Francis of Assisi in Italy, according to the Diocese. The surge had little respect for history, sacred or otherwise, tossing the organ upside-down and the altar on its side. But it did leave behind a couple tender mercies: the statue of St. Francis of Assisi floated across the chapel and wedged itself, undamaged, against the gate that separates the sisters from the public, and the statue’s wall inscription amid intact stained glass windows still reads “I Will Always Protect You,” even though it was surrounded by a pile of debris from four nearby houses.
When they were finally able to place phone calls to let people know they made it through the storm, Sister Mary Francis said she had to peel a contact list of phone numbers that had plastered itself to the church’s wall off to recollect the numbers.
“The Sisters and Father Adams went through a harrowing time with Hurricane Ian and are now dealing with its aftermath, like so many in southwest Florida and in the Diocese of Venice,” said the Most Rev. Frank J. Dewane, Bishop of the Diocese of Venice in Florida, in a statement provided to the Herald. “In the midst of total destruction, the Sisters are already worrying about how to get their next monthly shipment of hosts out! Their faith comes first, and they are thankful to God for their safety.”
Where are they now?
Father Adams is currently staying at his sister’s home in Lee County. Father Grzegorz Klich, Ascension’s parochial vicar, is staying at a parish in Port Charlotte, while the Poor Clare nuns are temporarily staying at a home in Ave Maria, Florida, the Diocese said. “The nuns are looking for a place to stay closer to the beach, closer to their monastery because they know they will go back each day to try and clean up a little bit more.”
On Oct. 10, Adams returned to the church property for the first time since his and the group’s rescue by people who came from as far away as Hollywood in South Florida.
Four days later, on Friday, Adams spoke about what he saw and plans for the future.
“Seeing the destruction in person is nothing like seeing it on TV or in pictures,” Adams said. “The Diocese had people out inspecting the damage on Thursday and my thought is that if they can get the Parish Hall fixed — that is the original church — we can have Mass for whoever is left on the island. That will be quicker to fix than the church because everything in the church needs to be repaired and replaced. We are starting from scratch.”
Disaster relief
At the moment the Diocese of Venice said its main concern was on the safety and well-being of all in Southwest Florida.
The Catholic Charities Diocese of Venice’s hurricane recovery plan includes distributing essentials like food and water at various distribution locations for those who remain on the Fort Myers Beach, Dewane said.
“The Diocese is working to assess the possibilities of repairing and rebuilding churches and schools, and we continue to ask for your prayers for all who have lost so much,” said Dewane.
People who wish to donate to the Diocese of Venice’s disaster relief efforts can find information at www.dioceseofvenice.org/hurricaneian.
This story was originally published October 15, 2022 at 4:09 PM.
