Sister Jayne Erickson (center) made her first monastic profession at Saint Scholastica Monastery in Duluth, Minnesota on September 17th.
Monastic Profession at St. Scholastica Monastery
Benedictine News
Hearts filled with Hope
Centennial Celebration at Mount Saint Benedict Monastery in Crookston, Minnesota
Members of the Federation of St. Benedict were present for the Centennial Celebration of Mount Saint Benedict Monastery on Good Shepherd Sunday. Pictured here are Sister Susan Rudolph, Sister Beverly Raway, Sister Shawn Caruth (prioress of Mount Saint Benedict), Sister Catherine Nehotte, Sister Jacqueline Leiter, Sister Mary Weidner, and Sister Danile Lynch.
Mount Saint Benedict Monastery is a founding member of the Federation of Saint Gertrude and a daughter house of our own Saint Scholastica Monastery in Duluth. The monastery was founded on Good Shepherd Sunday 1919.
St. Paul’s Monastery Installation of Prioress and Blessing of Leadership
With joy our community celebrated the installation of Sister Catherine Nehotte as twelfth prioress of St. Paul’s Monastery and the Blessing of Leadership on May 5. Sister Kerry O’Reilly, Federation President, presided over the installation. We were grateful for the presence of family members, friends, and dear Sisters from our Federation.
Sister Catherine and Sister Kerry
New leadership team of St. Paul’s Monastery: Sister Linda Soler, Sister Mary White, Sister Catherine Nehotte, and Sister Jacqueline Leiter
Sister Catherine shares a moment and a smile with seven of our former prioresses. We are grateful for the many women of wisdom in our community. That in all things, God may be glorified!
With Grateful Hearts
Discernment and Election at St. Paul’s Monastery
The Sisters of St. Paul’s Monastery were blessed during their discernment for election by the presence of three wise women: Sister Lynn McKenzie, election facilitator, and Sister Kerry O’Reilly, Federation President, and Sister Sharon Nohner, election observer. We are grateful for your prayers during our time of discernment.
After prayer and discernment, the Sisters of St. Paul’s Monastery joyfully announce the election of Sister Catherine Nehotte as their twelfth prioress. Installation will take place on May 5, 2019.
Taiwan Accepts a Second Novice
The Sisters of Saint Benedict Monastery, Taipei, Taiwan received a second novice who has taken the name Sister Gratia. She was received on December 7, 2018 joining Sister Benedicta in the novitiate
. Both women are originally from Vietnam.
S. Emmanuel Prioress, accepts Novice Gratia
BEAO in Taiwan
The BENEDICTINES in EAST AFRICA and OCEANIA (BEAO) gathered at Saint Benedict Monastery in Taipei, Taiwan November 26-30, 2018. Representatives from monasteries of this geographical area gathered to discuss topics related to monastic life and their monasteries in this region. Abbot Primate Gregory Polan participated as well as Brother Nicholas Koss of Wimmer Priory in Taiwan, a good friend of the Sisters of Taipei.
October Federation Council Meeting
The Federation Council met at St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, MN. It is the new council elected at the Federation Chapter in July.
The council meets once a year at a monastery and regularly communicate by using teleconferencing Zoom.
This year’s council has two new members.
St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth Helps to Build a School in Tanzania
The Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery have been forwarding money from generous donors to Sister Gaudensia Mwanyika of St. Gertrude Convent in Imiliwaha, Tanzania, to help build her dream of a school for handicapped children.
The latest donations will pay for furniture and teaching supplies so that the school can open on time — January 16, 2017.
In Tanzania, handicapped children are not allowed to attend school. This will be the first school built for these children who have physical or learning challenges.
Annunciation Monastery Year of Mercy Project
On November 19, 2016, the sisters of Annunciation Monastery gathered to wrap gifts and pack bags to be sent to two orphanages and a special needs home for teens and adults in Piedras Negras, Mexico. Sisters Hannah Vanorny and Idelle Badt and others from the Benedictine Volunteers program participated in an immersion mission trip this past May. They worked with Sister Ursula, a Benedictine Sister of St. Scholastica Monastery, Boerne, TX, who resides in Eagle Pass, TX. There was quite a buzz of activity in the community room as sisters sorted, wrapped, and packed gifts while others wrote notes in Spanish for the children and adults receiving the gifts. The project concluded the sisters’ ongoing formation study of the Jubilee Year of Mercy. 
Sister Stephanie, Sister Rita, and Sister Nicole
Sister Stephanie, Sister Rita, and Affiliate Krista
Basilica of St Benedict destroyed in new Norcia earthquake
Norcia, Italy was shaken by another large earthquake today, magnitude 6.6. The monks of Norcia are safe, but the Basilica has been utterly destroyed. They ask for our prayers, not only for them but for the people of the area. While suffering alongside them, the monks are also trying to pray and minister to them.
News footage shows drone views of Amatrice and Norcia. As the image below shows, the Cathedral and Basilica in Norcia have been destroyed.
Reports of this third quake (the previous just 2 days before) in the area in just two months indicate just how difficult this is for the people of central Italy as well as the monks:
Norcia’s 14th-century Basilica of Saint Benedict, built on the reputed birthplace of the Catholic saint, was reduced to rubble.
The church is looked after by an international community of Benedictine monks based in a local monastery which attracts some 50,000 pilgrims every year.
“It was like a bomb went off,” the town’s deputy mayor, Pierluigi Altavilla told Rai News 24.
“We are starting to despair. There are too many quakes now, we can’t bear it anymore.”
Damage was also reported at St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, one of the four cathedrals of the Holy See. It is also home to and maintained by a community of Benedictines.
Monastic Congregation of St. Benedict 