Mavi Boncuk | Carmelite Sisters Monastery | Lot 33 on the map
The historical Capuchin[1] order monastery building, which was located in the place of Kadıköy Anatolian High School
The Catholic Capucine Sect was founded in Europe in the 16th century. They also established a presence in the ottoman Empire and in Istanbul .. Probably in Kadıköy at the end of the 1800s. They built a monastery in Moda. The flamboyant wooden structure is below the Saint Joseph School. It is a 3-storey building with a garden and roof floors, on a base of around 800m2 on a 30-acre land.
1914-1918 Great War. The building was used as a school for orphans. After the war, the occupation forces removed the Capuchins and give the building to the Carmelite sisters. They lived quietly. They provided their own food by farming in the garden.
Before World War II, the Germans in Istanbul rented the large land of the monastery on the sea side. They used it as a summer camp of Teutonia Club.
In the 1950's T.C. The Turkish authorities decide to establish education colleges to counter foreign colleges.
On February 23, 1955, T.B.M.M. accepts the bill for the first Maarif Koleji / College to be on the Anatolian side in Istanbul, The Mahmud Muhtar Pasha mansion in Kadıköy was considered first. However, a decision was made for the site used by the Carmelite Nuns. However the Capuchin Sect still appears to be the owner of the property.
Capuchins were not included in the list of religious communities to be protected in the Lausanne treaty. Therefore, the land is purchased.
Financial aid was given to the Carmelite Nuns who use the monastery on September 1, 1955. They move to an apartment of Pavlantosa Greek citizen in Kızıltoprak.
The Moda monastery building was restored by the Ankara and Istanbul Building Art Institutes.
On October 31, 1955, Kadıköy Maarif College was opened as a boarding school for boys. Its first principal was Macit Kılıçeri. There were foreign teachers.
The wooden monastery building was demolished in 1974.
In 1975, like other education colleges, MKK re-named as Kadıköy Anatolian High School.
A new building was built in the same location to replace the monastery.
[1] The Capuchin Poor Clares are a cloistered community of contemplative religious sisters who trace their origins to St. Francis and St. Clare. Following in the 16th century reform movement of the Capuchin brothers, Venerable Maria Lonrenza Longo began a movement of renewal within the sisters’ community which led to the foundation of the Capuchin Poor Clares.
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (Latin: Ordo Fratrum Minorum Capuccinorum; postnominal abbr. O.F.M. Cap.) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of two "First Orders" that sprang from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFM Obs., now OFM), the other being the Conventuals (OFM Conv.). The Capuchins arose in 1525 with the purpose of returning to a stricter observance of the rule established by Francis of Assisi in 1209.