Before construction began on the Kenwood site, Duluth Benedictine sisters enjoyed outings to the farm. The young women in black dresses and veiled bonnets are postulants.
Expansion of Monastery (1880-1909). The carriage used by the sisters around 1900 was very likely the vehicle that met students and candidates at the St. Joseph train depot. It had first belonged to the administrator of the St. Cloud Diocese and is still preserved in St. Benedict's Monastery Museum (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
A group of Duluth Benedictine sisters enjoy a picnic outing in 1900 while inspecting work on St. Anthony's Hospital in Bemidji. Left to right, unidentified sister with picnic basket, Sister Benedict Mlynek, Mother Scholastica Kerst in hammock, Sister Christina Johnson with key, Sister Alexia Kerst . The dog is a local visitor.
Schools in St. Cloud (1869-1909). The twenty-five eighth grade graduates of St. Mary's School, St. Cloud, MN, in 1909 are identified as follows: (Top row): Martha Franke, Hyacinth Libert, Eleanor Hall, Olivia Peffer, Victoria Majerus, Veronica Heitzmann, Isabelle Kuck, Mary Zierden, Sybilla Dietrich; (Middle row): Leo Schmidt, Carl Rosenberger, John Hiemenz, Walter Schmidt, Anthony Hunstiger, Floyd McConnell, Leo Heinen, Gretsch, Bernard Schepers; (Bottom row): Appolonia Huf, Rose Danzl, Mary Nickols, Alma Bernauer, Father Alfred Mayer, O.S.B., Hilda Wampach, Hilda Knopp, Magdalen Braun, Sister Chrysostom Sanz, O.S.B. (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Schools in St. Cloud (1869-1909).The sister-faculty of St. Mary's Parochial School in 1900 are identified as follows: (seated from left to right): Sisters Chrysostom Sanz, Wilhelmina Kahl, Cornelia Berg, Raymond Otto, Dionysia Meinhardt; (Standing): Sisters Carmel Fruth, Cleta Kurth, Evarista Stenzenberger, Loyola Kapsner, Rosebia Sieverding. The following summarizes the background of the sisters' presence in St. Mary's Parish, St. Cloud, MN: 1. Although the sisters left St. Cloud in 1863 because of the public versus parochial school controversy, it is not surprising that they accepted the invitation in 1869 to return to St. Mary's Parish which had been their first home when they came to Minnesota in 1857. This time they were specifically invited to teach in the District/Independent School which was located in the former St. Mary's Church adjacent to the convent. This school served as the parochial school for the growing St. Mary's Parish, but it was becoming inadequate. 2. When in 1875 the state legislature endorsed the concept that both the "District" and "Independent" Schools would be supported by local taxation, influential citizens spearheaded the building of a district school near St. Mary's Church. This new school continued its unique position as the district/parochial school and employed some sisters as teachers; the sisters also continued teaching in the original school adjacent to the convent--it became known as the "sisters' school." 3. However, despite the 1875 legislation, school conflicts continued to rage. So the sisters decided to withdraw from their teaching positions in the district school and put all of their energies into the convent school. Because of the rapid growth of the parish, the sisters could not accommodate all the children who wished to attend the convent school. It was at that point (1886-1887) that St. Mary's parishioners, after 25 years of conflict, built their first real parochial school ([Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives Witte, pages 77-78).
Schools in north-central Minnesota (1871-1909). Melrose was settled at a ford in the river on the stagecoach trail between the Red River Valley and St. Cloud. It got its spurt of growth in 1871 as the terminus of the west-bound railroad, making it a marketing center. Melrose (named after Melissa Rose, the daughter of one of the early settlers) soon developed into a strong Catholic community eager to establish its own parish. In 1880, St. Boniface School (parish/district) was built and the Benedictine sisters responded to the pastor's invitation to teach there. By 1894, four sisters were teaching 170 pupils, despite the fact that at first they suffered from the usual prejudice of German communities regarding public versus parochial schools. In subsequent years, the enrollment peaked at 325 pupils even though the Irish parishioners established their own grade/high school and enrolled as many as 166 pupils. When St. Boniface and St. Patrick parishes merged in 1958, the parish and school were renamed St. Mary's School which reached a peak enrollment of 481 (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Expansion of Monastery (1880-1909). Mother Cecilia (Mary) Kapsner born in Prussia in 1859, came to America at age 15 with her family who settled in Pierz. Two years later, Mary entered St. Benedict's Convent and professed vows in 1878. In 1901 she was elected to serve as prioress, a position she held for three consecutive terms. Mother Cecilia was the first prioress whose background was similar to the majority of the members of St. Benedict's Convent as well as the people in the St. Joseph area. With keen perception and ready judgment she led the community through considerable building expansion. Especially noteworthy is the construction of the Sacred Heart Chapel and the Teresa Hall addition to the college, both having been in the planning stages as early as 1909 (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Young women were recruited from Ireland and Canada in the late 1800s and early 1900s to join the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. (Some considered this increase in membership an unnatural growth.) By the turn of the century there were 428 Sisters of St. Joseph in the St. Paul Province to help administer and staff the schools and hospitals in the care of the community. Pictured here, according to note attached to photograph, back row (left to right): Sisters Matthew, Cuthberta, Peter, Blanda. Middle row (left to right) Sisters Oswina, Odelia, Jarleth, Illirius, Salome, Candida, Placidia, Pius. Front row (left to right) Sisters Honorata, Michael, Celsus, Lucy, St. Kevin, Victor, Erma.
Schools in south-central Minnesota (1876-1909). In 1900, two sisters and a candidate opened a school in the German parish (Assumption) in Richfield (originally Bloomfield). In spite of the fact that two other parishes had been established in Richfield, the Assumption School could boast of an enrollment of 202 students and 6 sisters teaching in subsequent years. By 1909, the Benedictine sisters from St. Joseph, MN, had staffed 20 schools in the Twin Cities and south-central Minnesota -- mainly in the German communities but also in the Montgomery-New Prague area, a stronghold of Czechoslovakian culture and heritage. For most of these 20 schools, St. Benedict's Monastery archives has no early photographs (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Schools in south-central Minnesota (1876-1909); St. Benedict's Monastery (convent), St. Joseph, Minnesota. Known for its bee-keeping industry, St. Bonifacius became a typical small town German settlement with its own church and school. In 1885, sisters opened a school there which in time reached an enrollment of 180 (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives, Richard Olsenius, Minnesota Travel Companio, A Guide to the History Along Minnesota's Highways, page 154).
Schools in north-central Minnesota (1871-1909). The first settler, John Schwinghammer, came to this oak and maple-wooded area in 1862. When the St. Paul-Minneapolis-Manitoba line was constructed in 1871, a railroad station and hotel were quickly built and the town of Albany began to grow. The Catholic community invited two sisters to teach in the Albany District School #111 in 1884 but the public versus parochial school controversy soon relegated them to the church sacristy. Because the sacristy could only accommodate 15-20 pupils and because the resident pastor was recalled from Albany, the sisters withdrew in 1888. In 1904 the sisters returned to re-open the school in the old church. In subsequent years, a new school, Holy Family, was built and enrollment peaked at 325 (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Schools in south-central Minnesota (1876-1909). The German community of Hastings, the second oldest settlement in Minnesota, at first had the Sisters of St. Joseph as their teachers. In 1890, four Benedictine sisters from St. Joseph, MN, replaced the Sisters of St. Joseph teaching the 140 students in the parochial school provided by the German parish. This was due, perhaps, to the fact that the Benedictines were primarily a German community. In subsequent years the enrollment increased to 335 students. Though the photograph shows only boys, girls were also enrolled (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives, Shifra Stein's Day Trips: Gas-saving Getaways Less Than Two Hours from Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul, page 149).
Schools in south-central Minnesota (1876-1909). In 1882, the new German parish in Stillwater, MN, invited Benedictine sisters from St. Joseph, MN, to teach in their school, St. Mary's. Because there was another parochial school, conducted by the Sisters of St. Joseph in the older English-speaking parish, the German parish school had only 85-100 pupils. In the subsequent 66 years of service given by the Benedictine sisters at St. Mary's School, the enrollment of this grade school remained steady between 100 and 125 and, for some time, high school classes were included for a small number of students (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 108-109).
Duluth Benedictine Sisters at their school mission in Red Lake Falls, MN in 1905. While posing for a formal portrait, they were not above interjecting a note of humor. Back row, left to right, Sister Willibauld Schmitt, unidentified, Sister Adelgundis Beyenka, Sister Patricia Murtaugh, Sister Winnibauld Geres. Front row: unidentified, Sister Joan, Sr. Hedwig Cismowski. Several of these sisters became founding members of the Crookston Benedictine community.
These five sisters and four lay nurses formed the first group to be trained by Ms. Wilma Johnson, a superintendent of nurses from Chicago engaged by the School of Nursing. Fom left to right seated: Sisters Julitta Hoope, Leobina Gliszhenski, Standing: Sisters Natalia Schmidtbauer, Cunigund Kuefler, Salome Amschler (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, page 258).