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).
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).
Expansion of Monastery (1880-1909). Sister Gertrude Flynn, OSB, was the prioress (in the 1870s) of a small, struggling community, St. Gertrude's Convent, Shakopee, MN, which (like St. Benedict's) had originated in St. Marys, PA. St. Gertrude's was the community of which Sister Scholastica Kerst, OSB, became a member in 1862. However, in 1877 Sister Scholastica transferred her membership to St. Benedict's Convent and within three years was appointed the fourth prioress of St. Benedict's. One of her first official actions was to negotiate the merger of St. Gertrude's Convent with St. Benedict's despite the disapproval of Sister Gertrude and her community. The merger of this English-speaking community introduced other nationalities that enhanced St. Benedict's community and provided it with a group of zealous religious whose professional experience assisted in meeting the demands of its academy and other apostolates. Sister Gertrude served St. Benedict's well in her role as community secretary and in her hope and encouragement for the full restoration of praying the Divine Office, a privilege denied the community by Abbot Boniface Wimmer, OSB, for the sake of the teaching apostolate (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 95-99).
Schools in north-central Minnesota (1871-1909). Some of the sisters teaching in Duluth before the separation of the Duluth sisters from St. Benedict's in St. Joseph are identified as follows. Top Row - left to right: S. Catherine Siefner, Clementine Jastrzenska, Florentine Cannon, Augustine Terhaar, Margaret Dellwo (Delleveaux); (Bottom Row - left to right): S. Bertha Cherrier, Regina Otto, Cornelia Berg, Anastasia Gerard, Magdalen Walker. Duluth was first settled because of a short-lived rumor in 1854 that copper and ore were found on the North Shore. It was not until 1869, when Duluth was connected to St. Paul by railroad, that the population began to grow. Though Duluth experienced a five-year set back in 1873 when Jay Cooke's (financier of the railroad-to-the-Pacific) financial empire collapsed, it became the ore capital and the grain and lumber harbor of the Northwest. Parish communities and schools began to flourish and the Benedictine sisters from St. Joseph, MN, responded to invitations to teach there: in 1881, five sisters from St. Joseph opened Sacred Heart School for over 200 children in an old carriage shop, but the pastor closed that school; in 1883, seven sisters returned to Sacred Heart Parish and taught in a public school building until a new school (St. Thomas Aquinas) was built; in 1885 sisters began teaching in St. Stanislaus School in the Polish parish, St. Mary Star of the Sea; in 1887 they opened St. Clement School and also the Store-Front School on Garfield Avenue for the French parish; in 1891 the sisters opened St. Anthony's School. All of these mission schools, as well as St. Mary's Hospital, were transferred to St. Benedict's new daughterhouse which was established in Duluth in 1892. Prompted by her deposition as prioress in St. Joseph, it was the energy and the independent pioneer spirit of Mother Scholastica Kerst that effected the separation of the sisters in Duluth from the motherhouse in St. Joseph. While only 20 of the 43 sisters in Duluth opted to join the newly-formed community, Villa Sancta Scholastica, the separation strained the resources of both communities. However, both rallied and flourished in Minnesota. The Benedictines in Duluth today conduct the College of St. Scholastica and a Benedictine Health Care System (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; Olsenius, pages 23-24).
Studio portrait of Reverend Nels Forde (1849-1917) and Nora Erickson Forde (1862-1924). Rev. Nels [Nils] Forde was ordained in 1876 serving congregations in Clay County, Minnesota (1876-1881), Amherst and Stevens Point, Wisconsin (1881-1892), and Indherred, Immanuel and St. John's Congregations in Pope County (1892-1917). Nels and Nora were married in 1882. Nora contributed her musical talents and leadership to the Young Peoples Society and church choirs.
Revered Albin N. Osterholm, a seminary student at Carleton College, served at Swedish Christian Mission Church during the summer of 1897. This is a portrait of Reverend Osterholm and his wife taken during the summer of 1897. Portrait once belonged to Mrs. Sundquist.
Reverend J.E.Seth, pastor of the West End Mission Church (now First Covenant Church, Duluth, Minnesota), filled the Svenska Missions Kyrkan pulpit from time to time. This family portrait was taken in 1897.Reverend Seth served the West End Mission Church from 1895-1898.
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).
Reverend Albert Johanson, pastor of the West End Mission Church (now First Covenant Church, Duluth, Minnesota), filled Swedish Christian Mission Church's pulpit from time to time. This portrait was taken on his wedding day.
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).