Baulu (Elizabeth) Kuan, OSB

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Baulu (Elizabeth) Kuan, OSB
Saint Benedict’s Monastery
St. Joseph, Minn.
December 24, 1933 – January 23, 2026

The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, February 6, 2026, in the Sacred Heart Chapel, Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, Minn., for Sister Baulu (Elizabeth) Kuan, who died on Friday, January 23, 2026, at Saint Scholastica Convent, St. Cloud, Minn. Burial will be in the monastery cemetery. Friends may call at Saint Scholastica Convent on Thursday, February 5, 2026, for a Prayer Service at 3 p.m. followed by visitation until 4:15 p.m., or for a Vigil Prayer Service at 7 p.m. at Saint Benedict’s Monastery. Visitation continues at 9 a.m. until the time of the funeral on Friday, February 6, at 10:30 a.m.

S. Baulu (Elizabeth) Kuan was born December 24, 1933, to Kwang-Yen Kuan and Kuan Chao Xing-Sheng in Peking (Beijing), China. She attended grade school there and in Shanghai, China, and Provincial Girls’ Middle School in Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. She entered Saint Benedict’s Monastery on March 21, 1955, was received into the novitiate June 19, 1956, made first monastic profession July 11, 1957, and perpetual monastic profession July 11, 1960. She became a naturalized United States citizen on May 1, 1971, and celebrated her Golden Jubilee July 11, 2007.

S. Baulu earned a bachelor’s degree in English and art with a minor in secondary education from the College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph. She earned a master’s degree in studio art from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. She also studied art and aesthetics at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N.Y., Mexican art history at the University Ibero-Americana, Mexico, African art history in West Africa, sponsored by State University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Mass., and art history at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. She attended Harvard University in Boston, Mass., the University of California in Santa Barbara, Calif., and received a fellowship grant from Yale University in New Haven, Conn., to study modern art history. She taught in China, lectured in various universities in Europe and Asia, and was an advisor for several study-abroad tours. S. Baulu was also a founding member of the Benedictine Commission on China.

S. Baulu taught at Saint Benedict’s High School in St. Joseph, Cathedral High School in St. Cloud and St. Boniface High School in Cold Spring, Minn. From 1968 to 2001, she taught at the College of Saint Benedict and was instrumental in establishing the overseas study programs, especially in China. Upon her retirement in 2001, she arranged a number of international art exhibits for the monastery and college studio and was appointed as the curator of the monastery’s permanent art collection.

S. Baulu is survived by her Benedictine community and her brother, James (Medina), as well as nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers, Edward, Robert and Shing, and her sister, Maria (Henry) Chien.

Please direct memorial gifts to the Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict Outreach Ministries.