Kaiser Wilhelm Sends Portrait to Virginia Nuns, 1913

KAISER’S  GIFT TO VIRGINIA NUNS

Special to the New York Times

The New York Times, June 7, 1913

RICHMOND, Va., June 16— The Sisters of St. Edith’s Academy, near Manassas, have received from Emperor William a large oil painting of himself with the Emperor’s autograph. The academy is under the direction of Benedictine nuns, most of whom are German. They recently wrote to the Kaiser, congratulating him on his jubilee, and asking him for an autographed photograph. Instead of a photograph, the Emperor sent a fine oil painting.

NOTE:  St. Edith’s Academy, founded by the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia in 1894, closed in the early 1920’s. The school was relocated to Richmond in the early 1920’s as St. Gertrude’s Academy. There’s a pretty good chance the Sisters got rid of the picture after the U.S. declared war on Germany in April 1917.