Though lacking in privacy, the dormitories of 15 or more students per dorm were places for community-bonding and the cultivation of common courtesies. Sister-prefects lived in the dormitories with the students to foster an atmosphere of quiet and respect for others. Moral training was not formally taught in the classroom; it was hoped that it would be absorbed by the atmosphere and tone of the academy as set by teachers, prefects, and older students. There were strict rules about privacy; no student was to enter another student's "cell" (curtained area around each bed and stand) or desk or to borrow or lend clothing. Polite and gentle manners were just as important as intellectual pursuits (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives, McDonald, pages 104-105).
Expansion of Monastery (1880-1909). In 1903 the sisters built a separate house to be used as an infirmary for students on St. Benedict's Convent campus. Because of its segregation from other buildings, it was ideal for isolating patients with contagious diseases; hence dubbed the "pest house." A few years after it was built, more than 100 students and candidates were stricken in the diphtheria epidemic. This building still exists today. It was moved closer to Minnesota Street in St. Joseph and renovated for use as the convent guest house (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
First 50 years of the College of Saint Benedict (CSB). "All private rooms (in Teresa Hall) are furnished in mahogany and have hot and cold water. If desired, a number of students may have a room with private bath" (College Bulletin, 1926).
St. Benedict's Academy (1883-1909). Some students of the class of 1908-1909 at St. Benedict's Academy are identified. Top row: 1. Nellie McCarthy, 2. Theresa Kohl, 3. Winnifred Stevens. Second row: 1. Mary Germain, 4. Eleanor Hilger (Sister Inez), 5. Hildegard Heck, 7. Aurelia Oster. Third row: 1. Donalda LaGrandeur, 3. Agnes Kalscheuer, 5. Agnes Engler, 7. Josie McCarthy. Seated: 2. Carola Bernick, 3. Alice Thomas, 4. Nanita Wimmer, 5. Katie Kierserling. Commencement day was always celebrated in great style. For example, the "Annual Catalogue" of 1883-84 and 1889-1900 record that a graduate might wear a "white Swiss, French Lawn, or Nun's veiling dress neatly and plainly made with a high neck and long sleeves . . . black or white boots and white kid gloves." Commencement guests traveled by wagon, carriage, and railroad from many parts of the West; the bishop of St. Cloud, the abbot of St. John's, and as many as twenty clergymen were present for the occasion. The auditorium was decorated with ferns, flowers and wreaths. There were lengthy orations; occasionally the commencement address was given by a prominent layman. For example, in 1884 the speaker was Honorable John Arctander of Willmar, District Attorney and author. The ceremony, together with the distribution of gold medals for excellence in studies and for lady-like conduct (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, pages 105-108).
St. John's University Photographic Studio, Collegeville, Minnesota
Date Created:
1886 - 1889
Description:
St. Benedict's Academy (1883-1909; St. Benedict's Monastery (convent), St. Joseph, Minnesota. Some of St. Benedict's Academy students in this sewing class are identified as follows: (at the sewing machines:) the Chester twins and Agnes Kalscha; (at the end of the table:) Christainson and Dorothy Hoesch. The academy catalogues of the 1880s included sewing, ornamental needlework and needle-point lace, and various handcrafts in vogue at the time, such as making wax fruit, muslim and wax flowers, and hair wreaths (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
St. Benedict's Industrial School was established in 1884 when St. Benedict's Convent contracted with the U.S. government, through the Catholic Indian Bureau, for support of 30 girls from the White Earth Indian Reservation (White Earth Band of Ojibwe). Since St. Benedict's Convent had sent sisters to teach at the White Earth mission in 1878, recruitment contacts could easily be made. However, the parents were reluctant to have their daughters leave home and the children did not take to the rigors and formalities of institutional life and education. As a result of the resistance of the Ojibwe, most of the students who came from the reservation were of not fully native but of mixed white and Indian blood. Thus, the sisters inadvertently became a part of the suppressive system which disregarded the spirit and culture of the American Indians. "The federal government, aided by church-sponsored missionaries, marched steadily toward its goal of assimilation for Indians. The drive was particularly strong between the 1880s and the 1930s. Their aim was detribalization, individualization and 'Americanization' of the American Indian." (Berg, p. 159) In the boarding schools, students, taken from their homes, were given a new wardrobe, new language and a whole new way of life. It is not surprising that before the turn of the century the government rescinded the contract system. But it has taken almost another century and the experience of assimilating peoples of different cultures for the American people to begin to appreciate the enrichment that multicultural living can offer. (SBMA, McDonald, pages 120-122 and Sister Carol Berg, OSB, "Agents of Cultural Change: the Benedictines in White Earth," Minnesota History, winter 1982, page 159).
St. Benedict's Academy (1883-1909); St. Benedict's Monastery (convent), St. Joseph, Minnesota. While the sisters stressed simplicity in the matter of dress for St. Benedict's Academy students, school dresses could be of any style or color, but black sateen aprons were worn over them during school hours. On Sunday a plain black uniform (with a brooch for the collar) and earrings were to be worn. These regulations made occasions for dressing up something special (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives; McDonald, page 105)
St. Clotilde Music and Art Academy (1890-1906). When the sisters built a new hospital east of the Mississippi River, the former St. Benedict's Hospital was converted to an art/music academy for 40 students. The enrollment of this academy grew to 50. At the same time, the sisters opened a kindergarten in the academy for 26 three to nine-year olds; later that enrollment increased to 57. When a third hospital was built on Ninth Avenue next to the former St. Benedict's Hospital, St. Clotilde's Academy was closed and the building became a school of nursing (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
Schools in north-central Minnesota (1871-1909). In 1881, the Benedictine sisters began teaching in the parish/district school in Luxemberg, averaging 90-100 pupils for a number of years and increasing to 140 as its peak enrollment. In subsequent years the enrollment stabilized to around 100 pupils. The parish continues to support its Catholic school and the Benedictine sisters who have served there for 124 years (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives).
From the fields, the harvested potatoes were taken to winter storage in a huge root cellar (60 feet in diameter) that had been constructed out of the sand pit dug on the campus at the time of building Sacred Heart Chapel in 1911 - 1914.
Sacred Heart Chapel interior, St. Benedict's Monastery. From floor to the ceiling of the dome is over 120 feet (Height of chapel to tip of cross on dome is 135 feet.)
Sacred Heart Chapel interior, St. Benedict's Monastery. This photograph, though flawed, gives an excellent view of the sanctuary as it was built in 1914. The sanctuary floor was Kasota marble in artistically interchanged pink and buff and, in its center, had a dial six feet in diameter of polished Pavanazzo marble surrounded by a scroll of gold mosaic. Around this large dial were four small dials of Numidian African (red) marble. There were also a number of designs in Tennessee marble in the sanctuary as well as in the different aisles which are mainly terrazzo. (Chronicles, ppage141-145) This view also shows the marked elevation of the sanctuary floor.
Sacred Heart Chapel interior, St. Benedict's Monastery. "On entering the chapel, the first object to captivate the eye is the high altar, because of its singular artistic design of which there is no duplicate in existence."
The advisors listed in the 1938 College Bulletin for the years from 1934 to 1940 are: Francis Gross, chairman and former president of the North American Bank, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Frank Mulcahy, secretary of the Northwestern National Bank and Trust Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Joseph Matt, president of the Wanderer Printing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota; and Edward Callahan (not pictured), member of the Law Office of Smith and Callahan, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Sister Ethelbert Krenik (1st row, 3rd from the left), second administrator (1929-1938) of the St. Cloud Hospital, attended the Northwest Hospitals Convention at Eli Lilly & Company.