| Gracemarie (Madonna) Maiers, OSB, Celebrates 50 years of religious life |
| Growing up 15th in a family of 17 gave Sister Gracemarie an early start in community living. Benedictine values of prayer, work, hospitality and stewardship seemed to be in her parents’ genes. In a rhythm of work, prayer and fun, she learned re...[ more > ] |
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| Brian (Connie) Spain, OSB, Celebrates 60 years of religious life |
| Sister Brian (Spain) touched hundreds of lives through her ministry as teacher, counselor, social worker, grade school principal, student development coordinator, residence hall director and community builder. She was born in Grand Forks, N. D. Thoug...[ more > ] |
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| Dolores (Nathan) Super, OSB, Celebrates 60 years of religious life |
| Born in Little Falls, the 10th of 11 children, Sister Dolores joined Saint Benedict’s Monastery in part because “the Sisters looked happy.” Reflecting upon 60 years in community, she says, “I am filled with gratitude for the call, the privilege of be...[ more > ] |
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| Madonna (Mary Ann) Niebolte, OSB, Celebrates 60 years of religious life |
| A native of St. Augusta, Sister Madonna learned from Benedictine Sisters in both elementary and high school. The summer after her junior year at Cathedral High School, she worked in food service at Saint Benedict’s Monastery. “The Sisters were real m...[ more > ] |
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| Adelia (Elizabeth) Sirek, OSB, Celebrates 50 years of religious life |
| Sister Adelia Sirek has spent nearly her entire religious life caring for the elderly. She smiles when she says this. Because of the way her family valued her grandparents, caring for the elderly comes naturally to her. She sees her service as her wa...[ more > ] |
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| Alice (Bernarda) Imdieke, OSB, Celebrates 50 years of religious life |
| Sister Alice’s lifelong devotion to God and her Benedictine community has helped shape her own, personal version of the Alice in Wonderland adventures. After being taught by Sisters for 12 years in Meire Grove and Melrose, S. Alice entered Saint Bene...[ more > ] |
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| Cecelia (Josita) Prokosch, OSB, Celebrates 50 years of religious life |
| Sister Cecelia’s 50 years at Saint Benedict’s Monastery “have gone by very fast.” Although already enrolled at the College of St. Catherine, a visit to the College of Saint Benedict (CSB) with a high school friend changed her plans. “It just felt lik...[ more > ] |
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| Christine (Macrina) Manderfeld, OSB, Celebrates 50 years of religious life |
| Sister Christine Manderfeld is always “thinking music.” This is not surprising given her start: “My mother taught me to sing at 18 months, and by three years she had me singing alto!” She and her older sister, Mary, harmonized together with her mothe...[ more > ] |
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| Elizabeth (Seraphine) Theis, OSB, Celebrates 50 years of religious life |
| Sister Elizabeth taught elementary grades at Assumption for three years and at St. Anthony’s for five years. She was a teacher and principal at St. John Nepomuk until 1972 and at St. Michael’s until 1974. She was then a principal at Red Lake fo...[ more > ] |
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| Georganne (Dolores) Burr, OSB, Celebrates 50 years of religious life |
| Sister Georganne can be called a “trail blazer.” She was the first woman chaplain at St. Cloud Hospital and thirteen years later was a co-founder of the St. Therese Center for Special Ministry. Now she stands on the cusp of a new ministry of “walking...[ more > ] |
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| Geraldine (Beata) Zierden, OSB, Celebrates 50 years of religious life |
| Sister Geraldine has enjoyed the last 30 years in her position in the duplicating center at the College of Saint Benedict, where she enjoys getting to know the teachers and students and is able to fully participate in the life of prayer and work at t...[ more > ] |
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| Ione (Jeffrey) Jesh, OSB, Celebrates 50 years of religious life |
| Sister Ione spent most of her 50 years teaching, and she learned a lot in the process. “Education kind of trains you for anything.” She taught middle school at St. Ann’s, St. Mary’s, Sacred Heart, St. Augustine, St. Paul’s in Sauk Centre and St. Paul...[ more > ] |
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| Jean (Demetrius) Juenemann, OSB, Celebrates 50 years of religious life |
| Sister Jean joined the monastery in 1959 and has worked in health care for 50 years. She began as a nurse at St. Cloud Hospital, then moved to Richfield, Utah, for two years. After Utah she relocated to Queen of Peace Hospital in New Prague, Minn., f...[ more > ] |
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| Joan (Orinne) Schafer, OSB, Celebrates 50 years of religious life |
| Sister Joan was born on a farm near Mayhew Lake, Minn., the seventh of 11 children. Her mother had come to Minnesota on the Orphan Train in 1913. A unique feature on the Schafer farm was the pickle patch. The family raised acres of pickles for a cann...[ more > ] |
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| Katherine (Aquin) Kraft, OSB, Celebrates 50 years of religious life |
| Although drawn to the College of Saint Benedict (CSB) by the Sisters’ hospitality, Sister Katherine didn’t see herself becoming a nun. “I was afraid I might be bored,” she said. Fifty years later, she reflects on a journey that has been anything but ...[ more > ] |
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| Marina (Margaret) Schlangen, OSB, Celebrates 50 years of religious life |
| In 1957, when she entered Saint Benedict’s Monastery, she found that “seeking God” was an extension of that family life. Living with a variety of Sisters, she has taught primary grades, served the retired and infirm Sisters, and worked tirelessly amo...[ more > ] |
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| Marlene (Brice) Meierhofer, OSB, Celebrates 50 years of religious life |
| For Sister Marlene, ministry is about the monastic way of life. As she says, “I’m so grateful to God for being called to be a Benedictine Sister because our life is so full of our daily routine of prayer, work and community—yet it is filled with dail...[ more > ] |
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| Mary (Julian) Mandernach, OSB, Celebrates 50 years of religious life |
| For Sister Mary, religious life was in her genes. “I grew up with it,” she said. Four of her aunts were Sisters; her two older sisters, Leonore and Margaret, joined Saint Benedict’s before her; and two of her brothers became priests.
Born in St. Mar...[ more > ] |
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| Mary (Isaias) Reuter, OSB, Celebrates 50 years of religious life |
| Sister Mary, the oldest of nine children, grew up in Medicine Lake, Mont. Her first mission as a Sister was in Hutchinson, Minn. She credits that experience with fostering an appreciation for the strength of community life and helping her to recogniz...[ more > ] |
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| Marilyn (Bernice) Kulzer, OSB, Celebrates 60 years of religious life |
| Sister Marilyn spent many of her 60 years ministering to children in diocesan schools and serving as chaplain to the infirm and elderly in nursing homes and at St. Cloud Hospital. She especially enjoyed her ministry as a chaplain at St. Cloud Hospita...[ more > ] |
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| Mary Ellen (Mercy) Machtemes, OSB, Celebrates 60 years of religious life |
| For 48 years, Sister Mary Ellen ministered to the sick at St. Cloud Hospital and at St. Benedict’s Hospital in Ogden, Utah. She loved bedside nursing but also used her talents in management as nursing supervisor, manager of obstetrics and later as di...[ more > ] |
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| Quidella Kollman, OSB, Celebrates 60 years of religious life |
| Born in St. Cloud, Sister Quidella moved with her family of seven to Cold Spring at age 12. After working at the hospital for two years and feeling attracted to the prayers she heard there, she entered the monastery at 23. Her first community work wa...[ more > ] |
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| Ruth Nierengarten, OSB, Celebrates 60 years of religious life |
| Sister Ruth attended the College of Saint Benedict (CSB), before joining the monastery. She taught art at CSB for one year before moving to Cathedral High School, where more than 60 Sisters lived at the convent. She earned a graduate degree in sociol...[ more > ] |
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| Shirley Frandrup, OSB, Celebrates 60 years of religious life |
| The seventh of 11 children, Sister Shirley had an inner call to join a religious community for as long as she can recall. “It wasn’t hard to hear the voice of God in 1944 when I came to the Scholasticate at the age of 13,” she said.
Although she tau...[ more > ] |
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| Terence (Elizabeth) Nehl, OSB, Celebrates 60 years of religious life |
| Sister Terence, better known as S. Terri, easily names her favorite time as a Sister: teaching girls’ chorus at two local high schools. “I liked music so much and I liked that age level,” she said. She also taught Latin, about which she was less exci...[ more > ] |
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| Berno (Agnes) Flint, OSB, Celebrates 75 years of religious life |
| Born on a farm near Roscoe, Minn., Sister Berno spent one year at Saint Benedict’s High School before economic hardship forced her to return home. She never forgot her time at Saint Benedict’s, and every time she drove by she would say, “I am going t...[ more > ] |
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| Carolinda (Catherine) Medernach, OSB, Celebrates 75 years of religious life |
| Sister Carolinda was called to religious life very early, in elementary school. In sixth grade, her teacher asked all the girls what they were going to do when they grew up, and S. Carolinda answered, “I want to be a nun.” Then, she said, “I never th...[ more > ] |
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| Elvan (Mary) Drayna, OSB, Celebrates 75 years of religious life |
| Sister Elvan was born on a farm near Browerville, Minn., in 1914 and grew up speaking Polish at home and at the parish school, St. Joseph’s (now Holy Angels). She still remembers some of the Polish hymns as her favorites. The second of 12 children, s...[ more > ] |
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| Eulalia (Mary) Siebels, OSB, Celebrates 75 years of religious life |
| When Sister Eulalia joined the monastery after graduating from Saint Benedict’s High School, she joined Sisters in more ways than one. Born near Perham, Minn., the 11th of 12 children, her sisters Henrica, Edwardine and Christophine had already made ...[ more > ] |
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| Hildebrand (Anna Maria) Eickhoff, OSB, Celebrates 75 years of religious life |
| After her first monastic profession, Sister Hildebrand began her years of service as a housekeeper at Saint Patrick’s in Mauston, Wis. In 1940, she moved to St. Cloud Hospital for 22 years of cooking in the main kitchen, then to Queen of Peace Hospit...[ more > ] |
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| Marie (Placid) Weisser, OSB, Celebrates 75 years of religious life |
| Sister Marie was born in Spring Hill, Minn., in 1914, the fourth of 10 children. At an early age she chose the Benedictine way of life; in 1933 she was admitted to the novitiate and given the name Sister Placid. She reclaimed her baptismal name...[ more > ] |
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| Victorine (Leah Virginia) Houde, OSB, Celebrates 75 years of religious life |
| Sister Victorine was born in South Minneapolis, Minn. She worked in health care, primarily as a pharmacist, but also as a registered nurse after completing her degree at the College of Saint Scholastica in Duluth in 1952--18 years after she began col...[ more > ] |
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