Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand Founded 1867

In 1851, Rev. Boniface Wimmer, OSB, superior of the Benedictine monks in America, visited St. Walburga Abbey in Eichstätt, Germany, to ask the Benedictine sisters to begin a foundation in the United States. A year later, on July 4, 1852, three sisters arrived in New York Harbor to start their new lives in America. They settled in St. Marys, Pennsylvania. In 1859, one of St. Marys foundations, a community at Erie, gained its independence. That same year, three sisters left Erie for Covington, Kentucky, to serve in that diocese at the request of the bishop. The Covington community grew rapidly. It was to this convent that Rev. Chrysostom Foffa, OSB, came when he needed teachers for a school in Ferdinand. On August 20, 1867, four sisters: Sisters Mary Benedicta Berns, 21, Mary Rose Chapelle, 19, Mary Xaveria Schroeder, 23, and Mary Clara Vollmer, 33—arrived in Ferdinand. Two days after their arrival, they received their first postulant. From this beginning has grown a vibrant community of sisters, which gave rise over the years to eight additional monasteries and a retreat and conference center that provides a warm and caring haven for the soul’s journey.

(Adapted from the community website)