Before construction began on the Kenwood site, Duluth Benedictine sisters enjoyed outings to the farm. The young women in black dresses and veiled bonnets are postulants.
1914 procession in the sisters' cemetery at Villa Sancta Scholastica. On the feast of Corpus Christi (the Thursday following Trinity Sunday) the faculty and students of Villa Sancta Scholastica went in procession to the outdoor chapel in the sisters' cemetery. Here, the elementary school students in their First Communion dresses, carrying baskets of flowers are followed by the sisters and finally the chaplain with his altar boy assistants.
A group of Duluth Benedictine sisters enjoy a picnic outing in 1900 while inspecting work on St. Anthony's Hospital in Bemidji. Left to right, unidentified sister with picnic basket, Sister Benedict Mlynek, Mother Scholastica Kerst in hammock, Sister Christina Johnson with key, Sister Alexia Kerst . The dog is a local visitor.
In 1892, the first ceremonies were held accepting new members into the Duluth Benedictine community. Back row, reception of novices, left to right, back row: Sister Benedict Mlynek, Sister Margaret Mary Borsch, Sister James Roche. Front row, Sister Leonissa Sauber, perpetual vows, Sister Jeremia Cannon, first vows.
Eight Benedictine Sisters in rounded habits stand in front of a Queen Anne-style convent. They are all facing the same direction, but their gaze is cast slightly downwards. They are all holding their rosaries. The house has 10 steps leading from street level to porch. There are lace curtains in the window. A tall industrial building looms in the background. They were once presumed to be sisters of Notre Dame.
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 In her retirement, she wrote an (unpublished) history of the community to 1924, and a description of the architectural and artistic holdings of the College, All Her Ways.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.
In 1955, Sister Leona Michlitch and Sister Anselma Mahowald, both former officials of the Duluth Benedictine community, take a summer walk to the cemetery.
Duluth Benedictine Sisters at their school mission in Red Lake Falls, MN in 1905. While posing for a formal portrait, they were not above interjecting a note of humor. Back row, left to right, Sister Willibauld Schmitt, unidentified, Sister Adelgundis Beyenka, Sister Patricia Murtaugh, Sister Winnibauld Geres. Front row: unidentified, Sister Joan, Sr. Hedwig Cismowski. Several of these sisters became founding members of the Crookston Benedictine community.
Benedictine Sisters of Duluth picking berries on the western 80-acre parcel of their Kenwood property. At the far left is Sister Amata Mackett, the farm manager.
The Kerst sisters, Mother Scholastica (1847-1911) and Sister Alexia (1856-1915) were among the group of Benedictine sisters to come from St. Benedict's Convent in St. Joseph, Minnesota, to found the new Benedictine community in Duluth in 1892.
In 1900, several Duluth Benedictine Sisters host a tea party for a guest at the original St. Ann's Home. When the original St. Mary's Hospital moved to east Duluth in 1898, the building was converted to first an orphanage and then a rest home. Left to right, Sister Camillus Gretsch, Sister Caroline Scheffold, Sister Madeline Heinen and guest.