First 50 years of the College of Saint Benedict (CSB). The academic dean, registrar, heads of departments and other faculty members advise students concerning their courses, academic progress and future plans. (Gable, OSB; Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Family Films, Inc. (Holy Angels Church, St. Cloud, Minnesota)
Date Created:
1952 - 1954
Description:
"Marks of a Christian Family" identifies family customs and features such as altars, statues and other marks of a Christian home. It asserts that a strong Christian life contributes to building a strong Church. Ronald Altmann, Joyce Latzka and Beverly Bump describe the Christian home. "Marks of a Christian Family" is one of thirty-nine films in the "Christ in the Home" series created in the early 1950s by Family Films for a weekly television series for Channel 11 (WMIN-TV) in the Twin Cities. Each program is based on a feast day, special observance or noteworthy Sunday in the liturgical year. Family Films, Inc. was formed in 1952 and operated out of a studio in Holy Angels Church, St. Cloud, Minnesota. The production team includes Father Edward Ramacher, photography; Father Vincent Huebsch, sound; Father Gordon Mycue, program director; Arnie Pung, KFAN engineer; Dick and Don DeZurik, Cathedral High School students who help with tapes in the library; Sisters Marold Kornovich and Arlynn Haan, teachers at Saint Augustine School; Edmund Linnemann, organist.
Family Films, Inc. (Holy Angels Church, St. Cloud, Minnesota)
Date Created:
1952 - 1954
Description:
"Mary Gardens" highlights flowers that remind the viewer of Mary who has many titles ascribed to her. The conversation includes Mrs. Beacom, Susan Timmers, Judy Derr, Pat Welch and Paul Mero. "Mary Gardens" is one of thirty-nine films in the "Christ in the Home" series created in the early 1950s by Family Films for a weekly television series for Channel 11 (WMIN-TV) in the Twin Cities. Each program is based on a feast day, special observance or noteworthy Sunday in the liturgical year. Family Films, Inc. was formed in 1952 and operated out of a studio in Holy Angels Church, St. Cloud, Minnesota. The production team includes Father Edward Ramacher, photography; Father Vincent Huebsch, sound; Father Gordon Mycue, program director; Arnie Pung, KFAN engineer; Dick and Don DeZurik, Cathedral High School students who help with tapes in the library; Sisters Marold Kornovich and Arlynn Haan, teachers at Saint Augustine School; Edmund Linnemann, organist.
Family Films, Inc. (Holy Angels Church, St. Cloud, Minnesota)
Date Created:
1952 - 1954
Description:
"Mary in Advent" film features Cathy LeRoux portraying Bernadette to whom Mary appeared. The film also references the feast of the Immaculate Conception, blessing of expectant mothers and the importance of choosing Christmas cards with religious themes. The Weller family is lighting the Advent wreath and the LeRoux family is praying the rosary. "Mary in Advent" is one of thirty-nine films in the "Christ in the Home" series created in the early 1950s by Family Films for a weekly television series for Channel 11 (WMIN-TV) in the Twin Cities. Each program is based on a feast day, special observance or noteworthy Sunday in the liturgical year. Family Films, Inc. was formed in 1952 and operated out of a studio in Holy Angels Church, St. Cloud, Minnesota. The production team includes Father Edward Ramacher, photography; Father Vincent Huebsch, sound; Father Gordon Mycue, program director; Arnie Pung, KFAN engineer; Dick and Don DeZurik, Cathedral High School students who help with tapes in the library; Sisters Marold Kornovich and Arlynn Haan, teachers at Saint Augustine School; Edmund Linnemann, organist.
Family Films, Inc. (Holy Angels Church, St. Cloud, Minnesota)
Date Created:
1952 - 1954
Description:
"Mary Shrines" lists shrines dedicated to Mary including Fatima, Lourdes, Mexico and Washington, DC. As a girl portrays Mary of a particular shrine, other students of Saint Augustine School gather round in song and prayer. Sister Marold's girls' choir performs. "Mary Shrines" is one of thirty-nine films in the "Christ in the Home" series created in the early 1950s by Family Films for a weekly television series for Channel 11 (WMIN-TV) in the Twin Cities. Each program is based on a feast day, special observance or noteworthy Sunday in the liturgical year. Family Films, Inc. was formed in 1952 and operated out of a studio in Holy Angels Church, St. Cloud, Minnesota. The production team includes Father Edward Ramacher, photography; Father Vincent Huebsch, sound; Father Gordon Mycue, program director; Arnie Pung, KFAN engineer; Dick and Don DeZurik, Cathedral High School students who help with tapes in the library; Sisters Marold Kornovich and Arlynn Haan, teachers at Saint Augustine School; Edmund Linnemann, organist.
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).
Early ventures in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1880-1890). In the early years, an academy was geared to primary school education and only gradually developed into a secondary school. This photo shows the wide age-range of students attending St. Benedict's Academy before the 1900s. This range of ages may account for the family (community) spirit that developed in the school. It was customary to refer to the younger girls as "minims." The prefect with this group is Sister Ernesta Kranz; the child in the sailor suit is identified as Alice O'Niel (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Early years in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1863-1880). Mother Aloysia (Helen) Bath, the first American-born prioress of St. Benedict's Convent, was born in Addison, WI in 1849. Helen entered the community of the Sisters of St. Agnes in Baron, WI, in 1864 and was given the name Sister Agatha. She transferred to the community in St. Joseph, MN in 1871, changed her name to Aloysia, and professed vows there in 1875. Two years later, she was appointed prioress of the community in St. Joseph by Abbot Rupert Seidenbusch, to fill out Mother Antonia Herman's term. Mother Aloysia resigned shortly before her term ended. However, nine years later, she was elected by the community to serve another term as prioress. Though of frail health, Mother Aloysia led the community in beginning the construction of a new convent and academy building in St. Joseph, in accepting four new schools in Minnesota, the American Indian mission in White Earth, MN, and a school in Bismarck. ND. She was an experienced teacher who had been in charge of several schools, including the large school in St. Joseph's Parish in Minneapolis. Mother Aloysia's greatest efforts were spent staffing schools in the face of school controversies and in developing a teacher-training program in the community so that young sisters would be sent out as certified teachers. Her contemplative spirit inspired the sisters to work for a balance in their work and prayer (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 73-78, 89).
Early years in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1863-1880). Soon after Mother Antonia (Margarethe) Hermann was born in Baden, Germany, her family immigrated to America. In 1857, Margarethe joined the Benedictine Convent in Erie, Pennsylvania. Four years later, 1861, she was sent to found a new convent in Chicago and was appointed prioress there in 1862. In 1868 Abbot Rupert Seidenbusch, without consulting the sisters in St. Joseph, brought Mother Antonia to St. Benedict's Convent and appointed her as prioress of that community. However, after the completion of her first term as prioress, she was elected by the community in St. Joseph for a second term. Mother Antonia, an able leader, helped the community face the challenges of the early years in St. Joseph. She introduced record and bookkeeping practices which are included in the community's archival collection. Mother Antonia lost the favor of Abbot Alexius Edelbrock when she negotiated to have the sisters discontinue doing the laundry and sewing for the monks at St. John's Abbey. She chose to resign as prioress and returned to her former community in Chicago. Later, she transferred to the Benedictine community in Yankton, SD, where she volunteered her services in the Dakota missions (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 65-73).
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).
Besides fostering the mission of education, especially the academy, in which the sisters of St. Benedict's Convent were engaged by 1880, Mother Scholastica Kerst is best known for fearlessly launching the community into the new field of health care. Under her leadership, St. Benedict's Convent flourished as did the hospitals in Bismarck, Duluth and St. Cloud. During her administration of nine years, the membership of the community increased from 57 to 164; the number of parochial schools staffed by the sisters had grown from 10 to 28; the orphanages, schools and hospitals became monuments of her enterprise and executive ability. Mother Scholastica had the spirit of the American frontier in her blood. Mother Scholastica (Catherine) Kerst was born in Prussia in 1847 and came to St. Paul, MN, with her parents in her infancy. She entered St. Gertrude's Convent, Shakopee, MN, in 1862, two days after its establishment. Bishop Thomas Grace, O.P., of St. Paul, required that she spend some of her formation period at St. Gertrude's founding motherhouse in St. Marys, PA. This experience in a well-established, older convent and her own flair for leadership and good business, gave her the impetus to request permission to establish a convent in St. Paul with four other sisters. Instead, church authorities advised her to transfer to St. Benedict's Convent, St. Joseph, MN, which she did in 1877. Three years later Abbot Alexius Edelbrock appointed her prioress of St. Benedict's Convent. [Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives ; McDonald, ppage93-95]
Family Films, Inc. (Holy Angels Church, St. Cloud, Minnesota)
Date Created:
1952 - 1954
Description:
The film "Mother's Day" explains the dedication of the month of May to Mary, the Mother of God. The celebration of Mothers' Day is based on pre-Christian observances. It shows the LeRoux family-Mary, Lea, Ginny and Cathy celebrating Mothers' Day. "Mothers' Day" is one of thirty-nine films in the "Christ in the Home" series created in the early 1950s by Family Films for a weekly television series for Channel 11 (WMIN-TV) in the Twin Cities. Each program is based on a feast day, special observance or noteworthy Sunday in the liturgical year. Family Films, Inc. was formed in 1952 and operated out of a studio in Holy Angels Church, St. Cloud, Minnesota. The production team includes Father Edward Ramacher, photography; Father Vincent Huebsch, sound; Father Gordon Mycue, program director; Arnie Pung, KFAN engineer; Dick and Don DeZurik, Cathedral High School students who help with tapes in the library; Sisters Marold Kornovich and Arlynn Haan, teachers at Saint Augustine School; Edmund Linnemann, organist.
Orgins of St. Benedict's Monastery (convent), St. Joseph, Minnesota. Mother Willibalda Scherbauer, OSB, led four sisters and two candidates, ranging in age from 18 to 26, from St. Marys, Pennslyvania, to the Midwest frontier (St. Cloud, Minnesota) in 1857. Mother Willibalda (Franciska) was born in Kastel, Bavaria in 1831. At an early age, her family took her to St. Walburg Convent in Eichstätt to be educated. There she professed her vows in 1851; four years later, she volunteered to join the sisters in America. Then in 1857, she volunteered to venture to the Northwest Territory and was appointed prioress of the St. Cloud community by Boniface Wimmer, OSB. Mother Willibalda was an accomplished musician of whom Jane Swisshelm, editor of a local newspaper, wrote, "The Lady Abbess is small, slight, delicate, graceful, and as accomplished a lady as you could meet in any circle...waking the first echoes of those broad prairies in a call (daily ringing of the church bell) to bow regularly at an altar of Christian worship..." (McDonald, page41). Mother Willibalda's able administration as leader gave the Benedictine sisters a firm monastic foundation, not only in St. Cloud, but also in St. Joseph, the nucleus of St. Benedict's Monastery. She is lovingly remembered for accepting Mother Benedicta Riepp into the St. Cloud community when she was misunderstood by authorities and some community members for upholding the rights of the sisters in America (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 12, 15-16, 19).
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 1877, the sisters of St. Gertrude's Convent in Shakopee* were asked to care for orphan children in temporary quarters on Ninth and Robert Streets in St. Paul. Sisters Benedicta Klein and Agatha Nachbar assumed the responsibility for six orphans. For this they received a salary of $10.00 a month. When this photograph was taken in 1880, Sister Placida Heine had replaced Sister Agatha Nachbar. Because the number of orphans grew to 17 by 1879, a new building was constructed near the Assumption parochial school so that the orphans could be educated there. After St. Gertrude's Convent was amalgamated with St. Benedict's in 1880, the orphanage came under the jurisdiction of St. Benedict's Convent, St. Joseph, MN. For information about St. Gertrude's Convent, see SBM.03e or sbm00016 (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
A 1930 photo of Sister Agnes (Catherine) Somers. Born in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, in 1875, she entered the Duluth Benedictines in 1900 at the suggestion of her cousin, Sr. Celestine Sullivan. She was instrumental in the creation of the College of St. Scholastica in 1912. She was prioress of the Duluth community from 1924-1942, and under her administration the College became a four-year institution in 1924, Tower Hall was completed in 1928, Stanbrook Hall and the College library and chapel were constructed in 1938. In her retirement, she wrote an (unpublished) history of the community to 1924, and a description of the architectural and artistic holdings of the College, All Her Ways.
An 1885 photograph of Sister Alexia (Mary Martha) Kerst (1856-1916), the sister of Mother Scholastica. She was born in St. Paul, MN, and entered St. Benedict's Convent in St. Joseph, MN, in 1878. She was the first administrator of St. Alexius Hospital in Bismarck, ND. She came to Duluth with the other foundresses of the Duluth Benedictine community in 1892 and was instrumental in the foundation of St. Mary's Hospital there. When Mother Scholastica died in 1911 she was elected prioress, a position she held until her death in 1916.
A 1924 photo of Sister Chrysostom (Margaret) Doran (1875-1959, fourth prioress of the Duluth Benedictine Sisters . She was born in New London. WI and started teaching at age 17 and entered the Duluth Benedictines in 1906. In 1919, Bishop McNicholas appointed her Prioress of the community. She embarked on an ambitious building project: added a tower and wing extension to Villa Sancta Scholastica, a gymnasium for the college and an extension to St. Mary's Hospital. She had the old Sacred Heart Institute converted to a residence for nursing students , and oversaw the foundation of an independent Benedictine community in Crookston. She was Prioress from 1919 to 1924.
An 1878 photograph of Sister Scholastica Kerst in the St. Benedict's convent habit. Catherine (Sister, later Mother Scholastica) Kerst (1847-1911) was born in Meuringen, Prussia, and came to St. Paul, MN, in 1852 with her parents. She entered the Benedictine community of St. Gertrude in Shakopee, MN, in 1862 and in 1877 transferred to St. Benedict's Convent in St. Joseph, MN. She was prioress there from 1880-1889. In 1892, she led the foundation of what is now St. Scholastica Monastery and was prioress there until her death in 1911.
