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1. First class of students at St. Joseph's Academy in the Haarman Building, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1880 - 1881
Description:
Early ventures in St. Joseph, Minnesota (1880-1890). Students and faculty of the first academy class in the Haarman Building (1880-1881) are identified as follows. Faculty upper row: Sisters 1. Flavia Pokowsky, 2. Magdelen Enste, 3. Elizabeth Will (who later became Sister Julia), 4. Bede Linnemann. Faculty - 2nd row: Sister Anotolia Langsford. Faculty - 3rd row: Sister Irminia Kretzer. Students - 2nd row: Anna Burrell, Cecilia Beck, S. Farrell, Katie Rovischer, Emma Otto, Aggie Zingerly, Rose Weiner, Carrie Capser, Iona Owens, Lilly Miller, Katherine Riesgraf, Anna Kapsner. Students - lower 3 rows: Antonette Jennings, Virgina Gerard (later Sister Anastasia), Lena Schlick, Anna Waschenberger, Mary Phillip, Ella Egan, Jennie Kennedy, Katie Loso, Aloysia Zingerly, Adela Jennings, Clara Pottgieser, Lorrina Maurin, Tillie Maurin, Lizzie Beck, Josie Kapser. Because St. Agnes Academy was not flourishing in St. Cloud, Mother Aloysia Bath and the community decided in 1879 to build a new boarding academy at St. Joseph. When the basement walls were nearly completed, the cold weather halted construction; lack of funds prevented more building for another 2 years. The next prioress, Mother Scholastica Kerst, closed the St. Agnes Academy in St. Cloud and rented the Haarman Building across from the church and convent in St. Joseph to open a select boarding academy, St. Joseph's Academy. The Haarman Building was rented for only one year. Because the school was so successful, the earlier plans for a new academy building were immediately resumed and Cecilia Hall was rapidly completed for use in 1882. When the building was blessed, St. Joseph's Academy was renamed St. Benedict's Academy (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives ; McDonald, pages 70-71, 99-100).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

2. First school at St. Mary's Mission, Red Lake, Minnesota

Date Created:
1890
Description:
St. Mary's Mission, Red Lake Indian Reservation (Red Lake Nation). The Benedictine monks and sisters were preceded in the Red Lake mission by Fathers Francis Xavier Pierz and Lawrence Lautischar. These two missionaries had founded the mission in the 1850s and Father Lautischar remained there as its first pastor. After his untimely death in a snowstorm, Father Lawrence was succeeded by Father Ignatius Tomazin, the Yugoslav missionary who was removed from White Earth for antagonizing government agents at that reservation in1878. In 1883, his zeal for the rights of the American Indians once again brought the soldiers from Fort Snelling to the reservation to remove him. For the next five years, the Red Lake mission was without a priest. In 1888, when the Drexel sisters* paid a visit to the reservation and heard the Ojibwe's plea for priests and sisters, Katherine begged the abbot of St. John's Abbey to take over the mission. She offered to pay the traveling expenses and to rent temporary buildings for them. The following year in November 1889, two priests, Fathers Simon Lampe and Thomas Borgerding from St. John's Abbey and Sisters Amalia Eich and Evangelista McNulty from St. Benedict's Convent made the arduous trip to Red Lake; the last lap from White Earth to Red Lake was by lumber wagons. St. Mary's Mission in Red Lake began in some empty buildings on the reservation. The sisters converted an abandoned Hudson Bay Company's warehouse into a school. In spite of its poor condition, the school opened with an enrollment of 25 day pupils. Years later when Sister Amalia was asked how they kept warm in that drafty house, she replied that they didn't keep warm; they froze. The next spring they took in 27 boarding pupils in addition to the day students. St. Benedict's sent two more sisters and a candidate to help. The candidate, Jane Horn, who later became Sister Marciana, was a former pupil of the sisters at White Earth. She was a helpful bridge for building understanding between the missionaries and the Ojibwe at Red Lake. (*Katherine Drexel and her two sisters, daughters of a wealthy banker in Philadelphia, engaged in charity for the American Indian and African American missions.) [SBMA McDonald, pp. 246-249 Sister Owen Lindblad, OSB, FULL OF FAIR HOPE: A History of St. Mary's Mission, Red Lake, (Park Press Quality Printing, Inc., Waite Park, MN, 1997), pp. 15-17, 34-39]
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

3. Five of the seven Benedictine sisters from St. Mary's Convent, St. Cloud, Minnesota

Date Created:
1888
Description:
Early years in St. Cloud (1857-1863). In 1863 when the number of sisters in St. Cloud had increased to fourteen, they began to look for a more congenial environment. Seven of the sisters responded to an invitation to establish a Benedictine convent in Atchison, KS. Five of these founders of the Atchison group are identified on the photograph, taken in 1888, as follows: (seated:) Sisters Gertrude Kapser, Evangelista Kremeter, Gregoria Moser; (Standing:) Sisters Armanda Meier, Boniface Bantle;.The remaining sisters in St. Cloud chose to move to nearby Clinton (St. Joseph), a flourishing German community, where three of the sisters had already established a mission and two were teaching in the district school there. The main reasons for seeking a more congenial environment was the controversy of public versus parochial schools. The sisters were caught between the American bishops'/pastors' ideal of establishing a parochial school system and the parishioners' resistance to supporting two school systems. The parishioners also resisted the loss of the kind of control over their parishes and schools that they were accustomed to having in Germany. Besides the school controversy, there was the undeniable fact that the sisters needed time to adjust to their new environment. They had not yet mastered the English language or the school discipline needed in America so different from that of their girls' boarding school in Bavaria. Also some citizens viewed the sisters' appearance in religious dress and teaching religion in the district school as violations of the American ideal of separation of church and state (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 53-55; Terry Jaakkola and Julia Lambert Frericks, Shadows Illuminated, pages75-79).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Cabinet photographs

4. Herbal enterprise at Saint Benedict's Monastery Farm, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Date Created:
1930 - 1939
Description:
Sister Afra Schiesser cultivated, harvested and dried herbs from her herbal gardens. She provided herbal remedies for Sisters and students.
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

5. Mother Aloysia Bath, OSB and nuns at Minnehaha Falls, Minneapolis, MNinnesota

Date Created:
1880?
Description:
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).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Stereographs

6. Mother Antonia Herman, OSB, second prioress of St. Benedict's Convent (1868-1877), St. Joseph, Minnesota

Creator:
Hill, Joseph
Date Created:
1870?
Description:
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).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Cabinet photographs

7. Mother Cecilia Kapsner, OSB, prioress (1901-1919) of St. Benedict's Convent, St. Joseph, MN

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1900?
Description:
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).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Studio portraits

8. Mother Scholastica Kerst, OSB, prioress (1880-1890) at St. Benedict's Convent, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Creator:
Brown, William; Miller; Hill, J.
Date Created:
1880?
Description:
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]
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

9. Mother Willibalda Scherbauer, OSB, St. Joseph, Minesota

Date Created:
1860?
Description:
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).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Studio portraits

10. New school (built by Katherine Drexel) at St. Benedict's Mission, White Earth, Minnesota

Date Created:
1890
Description:
St. Benedict's Mission, White Earth Indian Reservation (White Earth Band of Ojibwe). The school at White Earth was so successful that it was noticed by Katherine Drexel who lived in Philadelphia and had devoted her life to working for American Indians and African Americans. (She later founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for the education of these minorities.) Katherine visited White Earth with her two sisters and was so impressed by the work of the Benedictines there that she made arrangements for the building of a new school that would house 150 orphaned and dependent children. During the summer of 1890, the bricks for this four-story building were made near the mission and in the winter months, the lumber and other materials were gathered. Two years later, February 10, 1892, the school was opened for 100 children with the expectation that government funds were available to educate and cloth them. By 1895, the enrollment had grown to 150; the number of teachers and helpers grew to eighteen over the years. However, when government funding was rescinded by the turn of the century, the school faced the challenge of survival. The Benedictines turned to the charity of the Catholics of the Northwest Territory, of St. John's Abbey and of St. Benedict's Convent, and most of all, to tribal funds that the government had held in trust for them in lieu of the land they had given up. These funds could be requested by the Ojibwe as needed. In this way, St. Benedict's Mission managed to continue the boarding school until 1945. When the tribal funds were no longer available, the school became a parochial day school. [SBMA, McDonald, pp. 241-246]
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

11. Nuns Attending Co-Cathedral Mass, Basilica of Saint Mary, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Date Created:
1966-12-08
Description:
A full congregation of Sisters and Priests, parishioners, attend the Solemn Mass elevating the Basilica of Saint Mary to a Co-Cathedral of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Contributing Institution:
Basilica of Saint Mary Archives
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

12. Poultry hoverer, Saint Benedict's Monastery Farm, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Date Created:
1930 - 1939
Description:
A batch of newly-hatched poultry find warmth under the "hoverer."
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

13. Preparing home-grown flax for spinning (hand spinning), St. Benedict's Monastery Farm, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Date Created:
1930 - 1949
Description:
The small fibers were twisted together and wound around a bobbin by spinning the large wheel.
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

14. Preparing home-grown flax for spinning (scutching), St. Benedict's Monastery Farm, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Date Created:
1930 - 1949
Description:
Sisters Albina and Pretrina Hoeft, who learned this craft as girls in Bavaria, are shown "scutching" the flax to get rid of the chaff that remained on the fine fiber inside the stem after pounding away the coarse straw.
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

15. Preparing home-grown flax (hackling), St. Benedict's Monastery Farm, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Date Created:
1930 - 1949
Description:
After the removal of all the chaff from the fiber inside the straws of flax, the fiber was combed through nails on a board in order to divide the strips of fiber into single strands. This process was known as "hackling." The flax fiber was then passed through hot water so that it would break while being twisted in the final step of "hand spinning."
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

16. Red Cross work in the early 1940s, College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, Minnesota

Date Created:
1940 - 1945
Description:
Faculty and students work for the Red Cross at the College of Saint Benedict.
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

17. Saint Benedict's Monastery Farm: Turkey caretaker, Sister Carolinda Medernach

Date Created:
1930 - 1939
Description:
Sister Carolinda Medernach tends to the turkeys.
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

18. Sister Cunegund Kuefler in nursery at St. Cloud Hospital, St. Cloud, Minnesota

Creator:
Molitor, Robert C.
Date Created:
1940 - 1949
Description:
Sister Cunegund Kuefler oversaw the nursery in the St. Cloud Hospital. She began her 64-year career in obstetrics at St. Raphael's Hospital in 1904.
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

19. Sister Gertrude Flynn, OSB, from St. Gertrude's Convent, Shakopee, Minnesota

Date Created:
1880?
Description:
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).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Studio portraits

20. Sisters and pupils at St. Henry's School, Perham, Minnesota

Creator:
Wetzel, Conrad Jr.
Date Created:
1880?
Description:
Schools in north-central Minnesota (1871-1909). Perham marks the beginning of the Lake Park region of Minnesota. In 1873 the town was platted by the Lake Superior and Puget Sound Land Company and named after Josiah Perham, the first president of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The early businesses were the Glove Milling company and the Schmidt Wagon Works. Within ten years the Catholic community developed a school system, at one time having the three following Catholic schools in the area: 1.) St. Henry's - the Benedictine sisters opened a school in a section of the convent but when the enrollment increased, the former public school and a harness shop were utilized; enrollment there reached a peak of 269 pupils with 5-6 sisters teaching in subsequent years. 2.) St. Joseph - the Benedictine sisters began teaching in a district school (Ottertail County), three miles from Perham. (In 1885 St. Benedict's Convent built a large dwelling there intended to serve as a sisters' health resort; instead, it became the residence for the 5 sisters at St. Joseph's School. The dwelling was later sold for $1,100.) 3.) St. Stanislaus - in 1902, the Benedictine sisters from St. Joseph's also staffed this small school but three years later it closed because only 38 students enrolled. However, the pastor reopened it seven years later and the Polish-speaking Felician sisters staffed it for another twenty years (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

21. Sisters Demetrius Keller and Catherine Siefner teaching at St. Mary's School, Long Prairie, Minnesota

Date Created:
1896?
Description:
Schools in north-central Minnesota (1871-1909). As early as 1880, three sisters took charge of the parish school in Long Prairie, but within four years the sisters withdrew because of misunderstandings with the pastor. Ten years later, the sisters re-opened the mission and the school's subsequent enrollments grew to 280. Pictured are S. Demetria Keller (on left) and Catherine Siefner (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

22. Sisters of St. Benedict enrolled in St. Raphael's School of Nursing, St. Cloud, Minnesota

Creator:
Saint John's Abbey (SJA), Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1909?
Description:
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).
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Studio portraits

23. Sisters Philomena Ketten and Lioba Brown with an orphan girl at White Earth Mission, White Earth, Minnesota

Date Created:
1878?
Description:
St. Benedict's Mission, White Earth Indian Reservation (White Earth Band of Ojibwe). Survival was the sisters' prime challenge during those first years of exposure to cold and scarcity of food in White Earth. But even so, they took two orphan girls (the younger one only four years old) into their home. The care of orphans was to become an important work for them at St. Benedict's Mission as White Earth developed. Sisters Philomena and Lioba, unlike in temperaments, proved to be well-suited to work together among the Ojibwe. Sister Philomena, young and vivacious, had volunteered for missionary work; Sister Lioba, deliberate and more conservative, was fearful of venturing that far into the northern region. They learned to rely on each other's strengths and persevered through 50 years of mission work at the White Earth Indian Reservation (White Earth Band of Ojibwe). Records indicate that, when a fire destroyed the school just a few weeks after their arrival, Sister Lioba felt justified in going back home, but Sister Philomena suggested fixing up the barn to serve as the school, which they did at a cost of $35.00. [SBMA, McDonald, pp. 232-237]
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Studio portraits

24. Sisters praying in hospital chapel at St. Cloud Hospital, St. Cloud, Minnesota

Date Created:
1940 - 1949
Description:
Sisters praying in the chapel at St. Cloud Hospital.
Contributing Institution:
Saint Benedict's Monastery
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Black-and-white photographs

25. Three nuns, two women and five children posing in front of windows, Springfield, Minnesota

Creator:
Gmeiner, John Reverand, 1847-1913
Date Created:
1902 - 1910
Description:
Three nuns, two women, and five children posing in front of windows. One child is African-American. Two girls have their heads shaved.
Contributing Institution:
St. Raphael Catholic Church
Type:
Still Image
Format:
Negatives (photographic)
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