The Sisters Of Mercy Of St. Borromeo “Stella Matutina” House

The end of the 19th century is a time of quick development of Międzyzdroje; with the influx of tourists and health resort visitors, the need for the development of ministry within the area increased. Rev. P. Volkel, a parish priest from Świnoujście, under whom Międzyzdroje came, decided to solve the problem. He resolved to establish a health resort in Międzyzdroje where Masses for the patients would be celebrated. The permission to open an establishment in Międzyzdroje was granted to the Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo from Trzebnica in the Lower Silesia. The sisters came to the health resort in 1899, and a hospice with a chapel was erected there in the years 1901-1902. The funds were obtained from patients’ contributions. Later, the house received patients and served as a retreat house. After the Second World War, the sisters were deprived of the property, and they eventually won the house back in 1961. 

The “Stella Matutina” house has been erected on an escarpment reinforced with a revetment. Its architecture refers to health resort buildings from the turn of the 19th and the 20th century. The building is rich in architectural details, including a characteristic turret. What has been preserved from the original elements of furnishings and interior decoration is window and door carpentry, staircase woodwork, painted medallions in the chapel that depict saints, Art Nouveau built-in closets and an original wooden coat tree, a tiled stove with geometrical ornamentation in living quarters. The building is in a very good condition.

The building connected with the “Stella Matutina” house, formerly known as the “Villa Martha”, located on 5c Zdrojowa Street, was bought by the Sisters in 1912. After the purchase, it was extended and connected by a passageway with the main house. Earlier, the villa served the older and the lonely; nowadays, nuns live there.