Sharing St. Augustine, FL: A Walk Around the Block - Sisters of Saint Joseph Motherhouse

A wall of cochina stone runs the entire length of the south side of Cadiz between St. George and Avilez. On the other side of the wall is the motherhouse of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of St. Augustine. This society was first established in France in 1650 and came over to St. Augustine in 1866. While their acknowledged mission is wisely, to change with the needs and times, their main focus seems to lean towards education. Here is the vision quote from their web site, "Centered in contemplation, we work toward changing patterns of relationships which contribute to alienation, poverty and oppression". That's beautiful!

The cornerstone of the motherhouse was laid on January 15, 1874. The address is on Avilez, but the entrance from St. George looks more like the main entrance.

The cornerstone was laid on January 15, 1874

West entrance to Sisters of Saint Joseph motherhouse

The grounds between us and the motherhouse contains an inlaid stone cross with circles at each of the cardinal points, a circle at the intersection and a circle surrounding the whole thing. A live oak tree is growing from the center. Here is my feeble interpretation of this. If anyone else has other info please, please chime in!

The basic cross symbol is a vertical line representing the spiritual and a horizontal line representing the temporal. (the motherhouse is at the south end of this, representing heaven? If so are we in hell at the north end? Just kidding)
A cross and circle combination is usually labeled as a Celtic cross.
Circles radiating from the center usually refer to a Eucharistic symbol with the radiating circles representing manna.
The four points of the cross can sometimes represent the four basic elements - earth, wind, fire and water. There is a sundial in the eastern circle (sun/fire?) and a bird bath in the southern circle (water?).