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.
Image of a steam powered shovel sitting on a railroad track. Land is barren, multiple tracks cross the landscape. Town of Virginia extends beyond the boundaries of the mine, separated by a fence. Note the rows of iron ore cars in the background. Oliver Mining Company owned this mine.
In 1887, two years after starting a hospital in Bismarck, North Dakota, St. John's Abbey gave the sisters the minor seminary which was part of the monks' St. Clement Priory building complex of church, rectory and school in Duluth. Encouraged by the success of their hospital in St. Cloud, the sisters converted the seminary to a hospital and named it St. Mary's Hospital (2nd building on the right ). The hospital was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Benedictine sisters in Duluth when they branched off from St. Benedict's Convent, St. Joseph, MN, to form an independent convent in Duluth in 1892 (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
The student body and faculty of Sacred Heart Academy in 1893. When the Benedictine Sisters came to Duluth to establish and independent foundation in 1892, they moved into two rented townhouses in the newly-completed Munger Terrace. They immediately established a school for girls, Sacred Heart Academy, which occupied one of the townhouses. The school enrolled students from elementary through secondary grades. The 1893 students are shown here. In the third row from bottom is Mother Scholastica Kerst, in the fourth row Sister Pauline Dunphy and Sister Florentine Cannon, and in the fifth row Sister Leonissa Sauber.