Welcome to the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America, located in Washington, D.C. The Monastery of Mount St. Sepulchre, designated a National Historic Site in 1991, has been a place of worship and pilgrimage for thousands of visitors since the church's dedication in 1899. We invite you to visit us when you are in the nation's capital. Directions to the Monastery
When Brother Simon McKay, OFM, of the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land, was still in high school in Washington, D.C., he decided to try to do something a little special for his parents on Valentine’s Day, particularly for his mother. And so he constructed his own Valentine’s Day card, imaginatively decorated with paper lace and beads and inscribed with a poem. Little did he know at the time that this began a tradition of making more and more elaborate valentines that would become a display in a museum.
