Oblate Weekends
Clyde Oblates and Oblate Candidates gather three times a year for a long weekend of spiritual input and sharing, renewing friendships and feeling the support of the community.

Space is limited and registrations are accepted on a first come, first serve basis. Please register at least 10 days prior to the scheduled weekend.

For information about future retreats, please contact:
Sister Jean Frances Dolan, OSB
Congregational Oblate Director
Phone: 660.944.2221

Please Note: The Heritage Room / Relic Chapel will not be available after October 7, 2008 for tours; due to a renovation project. The Main Chapel, however, will remain open and available for you to visit.

May 26, 2009—Sister shares craft before heading to national soap conference

Benedictine Sister of Perpetual Adoration Cathleen Marie Timberlake, OSB was a guest of the monks at Christ in the Desert Monastery in Abiquiu, N.M., before heading to a national soap conference in May.

Christ in the Desert was founded in 1964 and has followed the Benedictine life with no external apostolates but maintains a guesthouse for private retreats where men and women can share the Divine Office and Mass in the Abbey Church with the monks. A gift shop is also part of the monastery’s income, which includes a mail-order department of books and other religious items.

The monks asked Sister Cathleen Marie if she would teach them the soap-making process so they could add it to their revenue-generating works. “The brothers, along with Rosey Verdile who heads up their craft-making efforts, were great students,” Sister Cathleen Marie said. “It was an honor to get to immerse myself in their life of liturgical prayer outside of our class times.”

Afterward, she traveled to Indian Wells, Calif., for the 11th annual Handcrafted Soapmakers conference. Topics included good manufacturing practices and cosmetic regulations, profit margin killers and trademarking.

“It is a marvelous opportunity for networking among other soapmakers who have honed their skills through years of experience,” Sister Cathleen Marie said. “This was the first time I had attended the conference as a member of the board of directors, so that added a wonderful new dimension for me.”

Benedictine Sister Cathleen Marie Timberlake (far right) enjoyed sharing her knowledge of handcrafted soapmaking with members of Christ in the Desert monastery.

May 20, 2009—Atchison Picnic

The Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica of Atchison, Kan., visited the Clyde, Mo., community in May for a day filled with games, picnics and hayrides.

“It had been years since they had visited as a group, and we had a grand time,” Clyde Prioress Sister Sean Douglas, OSB said. “It just seemed like it would be a great idea to do this again since it had been so long. The weather was great, we did a couple of hayrides out to the back hills where we have the prairie grass planted. It was a chance for old friends to just get together and visit and enjoy the day.”

Hayrides were on the schedule for a fun gathering with the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica when they visited the Clyde community in May.		A badminton squad - affectionately dubbed Charlie’s Angels by spectators - featured the teamwork of (from left) Benedictine Sister Jane Heschmeyer, Postulant Mary Hastie and Sister Rebecca Leis.

May 20, 2009—Irmina’s b-day

The Clyde, Mo., community gathered to celebrate the 102nd birthday of Benedictine Sister Mary Irmina Blatt, OSB during a party held May 7 at Our Lady of Rickenbach.

Sister Mary Irmina, the Congregation’s most senior Sister, enjoyed a cake and punch reception and posed with the numerous cards she received from a variety of friends and family across the country.

Longtime friends Sister Mary Denise McMahon (left) helped celebrate Sister Mary Irmina Blatt’s 102nd birthday in May.		Sister Mary Irmina admires the dozens of well-wishes she received in recognition of her birthday.

May 20, 2009—Nancy runs Abbey Run

Novice Nancy Gucwa (pictured with Conception Abbey seminarian Juan Carlos) won her age group division in the 4th Annual Abbey Trails 5K run at Conception Abbey in Missouri. The event raised almost $8,000 for the Conception Seminary College Wellness Program.

May 20, 2009—Community Days

Celebrating community life is vital to the Benedictine monastic. In April, those living at the Clyde, Mo., monastery celebrated their annual Spring Community Days, a variety of events that strengthen the common spirit shared by Sisters and those in formation, giving them an opportunity to socialize with each other inside and beyond monastery walls.

Events included a visit to the Truman Library in Independence, Mo., and an afternoon social with the Sisters from Our Lady of Rickenbach.

Several Sisters visited a Catholic Worker Farm in Iowa, hosted by founders and Benedictine Oblates Brian Terrell and Betsy Keenan. Strangers and Guests CW includes a large garden, an orchard and animals. The family works hard to emphasize the idea of simplifying oneís life and the importance of community.

During their visit, the Sisters had the opportunity to meet many of the farm’s animals, including goats, lambs and even camels.

Goats became new friends with Benedictine Sisters Mary Audrey Jones (on left) and Mary Benita Luetkemeyer when they visited a Catholic Worker Farm founded by Benedictine Oblates Brian Terrell and Betsy Keenan for Community Days in April.		Benedictine Sister Mary Joy Heinlein enjoyed petting lambs held by Don, a neighbor of Brian Terrell and Betsy Keenan, who invited the Sisters to visit their Catholic Worker Farm in southwest Iowa for Community Days.
Clyde’s Community Days included a visit to the Truman Library in Independence, Mo. Pictured (from left) are Benedictine Sister Lynn Marie D’Souza, Novice Clarisa Cutaia, Novice Nancy Gucwa and Postulant Mary Hastie.

April 15, 2009—Benedictine Sisters’ formation group visits former monastery in Sand Springs

In February, those involved with the Benedictine Sisters’ formation program traveled to Tulsa, Okla., to attend a conference and took time to visit with Benedictine Sister Pascaline Coff, OSB during a side trip to Sand Springs.

“We had the opportunity to spend part of the day with Sister Pascaline, go to day hour and have lunch. Then three of us adventured out on trails for a couple of hours,” Novice Clarisa Cutaia said. “My experience at Sand Springs was unforgettable even if we where there for just a few hours. It was a joy to revisit Sand Springs and to spend some quality time with our dear Sr. Pascaline.”

Also attending the event were Novice Nancy Gucwa, Postulant Mary Hastie and Sister Rita Clair Dohn, formation director.

Sr. Pascaline has spent the past year at the Osage+Forest ashram during the time it transitioned from the Sisters’ monastery into a private retreat center.

Stopping by to visit Benedictine Sister Pascaline Coff (seated) were (from left) Novice Nancy Gucwa, (standing) Formation Director Sister Rita Clair Dohn, Postulant Mary Hastie and Novice Clarisa Cutaia.

April 14, 2009—Benedictine Sister Mary Mildred Sobba Passes

Benedictine Sister of Perpetual Adoration Mary Mildred “Millie” Sobba, OSB, 92, passed away Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009, at Our Lady of Rickenbach Health Care in Clyde.

She was born Frieda Adeline Sobba on Aug. 11, 1916, in Pratt, Kan., the oldest of six children and the only daughter of Christopher Sobba and Ruth Ralston.

When she was one year old, the family moved to western Kansas to a farm in Meade County. She attended the parochial grade school in Fowler, Kan., and was taught by the Dominican nuns from Great Bend, Kan. After graduating from the public high school, she stayed home until 1936 when she attended business school in Wichita, Kan. Afterward she worked at the Farm Bureau Office on the Farm Program in Meade, Kan., until 1942.

Her oldest brother, John, went to Tucson, Ariz., for his health, and Frieda went with him. She worked for a construction company for awhile and then was a bookkeeper and accountant for a wholesale plumbing and heating company. During World War II, she did USO work with a Catholic girls group she had joined while in Tucson.  

Frieda was introduced to the Benedictine Sisters after a friend of hers back home in Kansas who was a cousin to Benedictine Sister Mary Gabriel asked her to visit. She then became an oblate of the Sisters’ Tucson monastery in 1947 and volunteered in the library.

After her mother passed away, she returned home to Kansas in 1957 to take care of her aging father. He died two years later, and she started making inquiries about entering the convent. Although she was past the usual age of entrance, she had proven to be a dedicated oblate of St. Benedict and preferred a life of contemplative prayer rather than one of teaching. Her application was accepted, and she entered the Benedictine Sisters at the age of 44 on the Feast of St. Agnes on Jan. 21, 1961. She made her First Monastic Profession on Sept. 12, 1963, and received the name of Sister Mary Mildred. 

As a novice and a junior sister her work assignments were in the veil room, main kitchen and the infirmary kitchen. She transferred to St. Louis in 1968 and worked in the sewing room. She was then transferred to Tucson for 2 1/2 years to do the bookkeeping.  In 1971, she moved to Clyde to be sub-prioress, and in 1974 was assigned to St. Louis to serve as the local bookkeeper and to take care of the Mass intentions for the house and the Congregation. She would also worked many years in the correspondence department at St. Louis before moving to the infirmary.

Some of her many hobbies over the years were reading, embroidery, playing cards and playing pool.

A Mass of Christian Burial will take place Thursday, April 16, in the Adoration Chapel, Clyde. Burial will follow in Mount Calvary Cemetery, Clyde. Memorials can be sent in care of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 31970 State Highway P, Clyde, Mo. 64432-8100.

Sister Mary Mildred Sobba, OSB

February 24, 2009—Artist gives impromptu painting demo during Benedictine Sisters’ visit

Artist BillyO O’Donnell (left) gave an impromptu painting demonstration when he visited the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, and his inspiration was Clyde Prioress Sister Sean Douglas, OSB (seated). O’Donnell and author Karen Glines recently visited the Benedictine Sisters’ community to discuss their book “Painting Missouri: The Counties in Plein Air,” in which the Clyde monastery appears. Photo courtesy of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.

February 3, 2009—Benedictine Sister Miriam Humbel remembered for humor and intelligence

Benedictine Sister of Perpetual Adoration Miriam Humbel, OSB passed away Jan. 29, 2009, in Clyde, Mo.

She was born Mary Margaret Humbel to Fred and Katherine Seman Humbel on Sept. 8, 1924, in Cleveland, Ohio. Her father was a cabinet maker from Cleveland, and her mother was a homemaker born in Austria. Mary was the oldest of four children, two brothers, Carl and Fred, and a sister, Dorothy.

Mary attended St. Vincent de Paul grade school and St. Stephen Commercial High School where she studied typing, shorthand and bookkeeping. She did housework to help pay tuition.

After graduating from high school, Mary worked as a bookkeeper for a manufacturing company. When the United States entered World War II, Mary worked at a bomber plant for six months before enlisting in the Women’s Army Air Corp.

She served stateside for two years then transferred to the WAC, arriving in Paris on V-J Day. She was a driver for a general and was assigned as a clerk-typist during the 10 months she was stationed in Vienna, Austria, and received an honorable discharge at the war’s conclusion.

Returning to Cleveland, Mary worked as an accounts payable bookkeeper in the business office of a hospital and attended night classes at college. During this time, Mary and her brother (who was also a veteran) bought a house for their parents using the G.I. Bill.

Feeling a call to contemplative community, Mary discovered the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration through one of the booklets found in the vestibule of St. Mary’s Church, a Jesuit parish in Cleveland.

She entered at Clyde as a postulant on Feb. 2, 1950, and was invested as a novice later that year on her birthday, Sept. 8. She became Sister Miriam when she made her first monastic profession on Sept 15, 1951.

After several years as a junior sister in Clyde, Sister Miriam was transferred to the monastery in Tucson, Ariz. In 1956, she returned to Clyde for her final monastic profession and remained there until 1966 when she was transferred to the monastery in Kansas City.

She was a typesetter in the Clyde printery, baked altar breads in Tucson and Kansas City, and handled the monastery bookkeeping in Clyde and Kansas City. In early years, she worked the Clyde Farm and was responsible for all the correspondence for the pedigree Holstein herd. She also served as prioress of the monastic community in Kansas City.

In 1974, Sister Miriam was appointed treasurer general for the Congregation and moved to St. Louis where she served in that position for 22 years until she retired. Sister Miriam then became the monastery bookkeeper until the finance offices were consolidated. She spent a short time in Tucson before she returned to Clyde as a resident of Our Lady of Rickenbach, the Sisters’ healthcare facility.

She possessed a keen financial mind and was a fierce, competitive card player. When dealt an unlucky hand she would stand up and circle the chair to change her luck.

She enjoyed watching sports, playing chess and winning at Scrabble. In later years, she was able to play chess and Scrabble with her computer. The machine gave her some tough competition, but the victory was made sweeter for her when she won.

Sister Miriam was an intelligent and dynamic member of community and enhanced every place she lived and worked. She will be fondly remembered for her humor, her sense of adventure and for her love of the Lord and contemplative life.

She is survived by her monastic family; a brother, Fred Humbel; a brother-in-law, Raymond Palascak; nephews and a niece.

Sister Miriam Humbel, OSB

February 3, 2009—Clyde Benedictine community receives surprise donation

The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, Mo., were a surprise beneficiary during a theatrical performance in January in nearby Maryville.

Several of the Sisters attended “Late Nite Catechism,” an interactive comedy that is part stand-up and part audience participation. The one-woman play evokes memories of Catholic school and features a benevolent “sister” who teaches class to a roomful of “students,” also known as the audience.

Before the performance began, Benedictine Sister Lynn Marie D’Souza, OSB overheard the play’s producer asking if there was a religious community of sisters in the area.

“I got my courage up and said there is a motherhouse in the area and that several of the Sisters would be attending the play,” Sister Lynn said. “He said that was good and asked if we would please stick around after the show.”

The performance was well-received and at its conclusion the actress informed the audience that the Sisters were in attendance and asked them to stand. Then she surprised Sr. Lynn and the others by saying a special collection would be taken.

“Sure enough, there were baskets at the door,” Sister Lynn said. “We came home with more than $700 for our retired Sisters.”

Asking for donations for area religious sisters is something the play’s production staff does when performing the show.  In fact, when the show was performed in Tucson, Ariz., donations were also requested for the Benedictine Sisters’ community there.

January 14, 2009—Get back to the basics: Spend Spring Break at a Monastery

The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde will host their annual Spring Break Monastic Experience for college students interested in a more non-traditional celebration of the spring rite.

“It’s about putting away the cell phone, stepping away from the computer and learning how to relax again in a peaceful setting,” Vocation Director Sister Ruth Elaine Starman, OSB said. “We schedule these opportunities in coordination with college spring breaks to give women a break from the hectic pace of school and a chance to strengthen their relationship with God with no strings attached.”

Students can choose from one of several five-day sessions scheduled March 7-11, March 14-18 and March 21-25 at the monastery. Each session takes place Saturday through Wednesday. Cost, which includes room and board, is $25 per person.

Hosted for single women age 18-30, students will participate in the sisters’ daily prayer schedule, share meals and stay in the monastery’s guest house. Students will work with a group of sisters each morning then have free time in the afternoon. They’ll also attend sessions involving prayer life and how to incorporate Benedictine practices into their daily lives.

“Those who participate aren’t necessarily women discerning a call to religious life. Many who participate are simply looking for a way to get back to the basics of life,” Sister Ruth said. “So this is an affordable opportunity in more ways than one.”

The Spring Break experience has been hosted by the sisters for several years and serves as an introductory compliment to the Summer Monastic Experience, which involves a more focused look on the vocation of monastic life.

For more information about the Spring Break Monastic Experience, please contact Sr. Ruth Elaine at (660) 944-2221, e-mail or click on www.benedictinesisters.org.

December 22, 2008—Benedictine postulant takes next monastic step

Clarisa Cutaia entered the novitiate of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration during a ceremony on Dec. 8 in the Adoration Chapel in Clyde.

Novice Clarisa began as a postulant in August 2007.  Postulancy is the time where a newcomer lives within the monastic environment and, with guidance, tests her vocation and gives the community the opportunity to experience her as a potential member. During the past two years, Novice Clarisa has been learning more about monastic life, participating in communal prayer, taking classes and developing her personal prayer life.

“As a novice, Clarisa will have further instruction, spiritual guidance and a lived monastic experience that will help prepare her for monastic profession in our Benedictine way of life,” said Sister Rita Clair Dohn, OSB, postulant/novice director.

Clarisa, who was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was raised in Metairie, La., a large suburb of New Orleans.

Novice Clarisa Cutaia

November 24, 2008—Book highlighting paintings of Missouri’s counties features Benedictine monastery

It was a massive undertaking and took seven years to complete — painting a unique and vibrant scene on canvas and writing essays about the locations to capture the heart and soul of each of Missouri’s 114 counties and the city of St. Louis.

However, artist Billyo O’Donnell and writer Karen Glines were up to the challenge. Their work has been published in “Painting Missouri: The Counties en Plein Air,” a collection of 115 oil paintings and stories that reflect the state’s unique and beautiful places.

Each county in Missouri is represented, with locations specifically chosen for historical significance or geographical features. The monastery of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde was chosen as the subject of the painting for Nodaway County.

Glines visited the monastery on Nov. 20 for a presentation about the book and exhibited the oil painting, which features the monastery overlooking the rolling hills of northwest Missouri.

“The Benedictine Sisters’ monastery has been a vital part of the area for more than 125 years, and the sisters were honored that Mr. O’Donnell and Ms. Glines chose their home to represent the peaceful spirit of Nodaway County,” Director of Communications Kelley Baldwin said. “It is such an honor to be part of an exceptional project that encompasses all of the wonder the Lord created in our beautiful state.”

For more information about “Painting Missouri,” please log onto www.paintingmissouri.com.

Author Karen Glines recently visited the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde to share her book and showcase the oil painting of the sisters’ monastery that appeared in “Painting Missouri.”

October 28, 2008—Benedictine Sister Mary Mercedes Kelemen Passes

Benedictine Sister Mary Mercedes Kelemen, OSB, 92, passed away Oct. 27, 2008, at Our Lady of Rickenbach healthcare center in Clyde, Mo.

She was born Irene Marie Kelemen on Jan. 17, 1916, at her grandparents’ home in Cleveland, Ohio. Her parents, Francis and Julia (Toth) Kelemen, and her grandparents were originally from Hungary. She was the oldest daughter of the family, and after the birth of her younger sister the family moved to Detroit where her father became a member of the Detroit Symphony. A few years later they moved to Los Angeles where her father played as a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. After one season he became homesick for the East, and the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where her father played with the symphony and the opera.

Sister Mercedes attended Catholic schools in Ohio and California. When her father re-enlisted in the Naval Academy band and moved the family back to Annapolis, Md., she finished her education in public high school.

She began piano lessons at the age of 5 and started to study art at the Cincinnati Art Museum in seventh grade. When the family moved to New York she continued to study sculpture and drawing.  She continued her art work until World War II when she had to discontinue and never took it up again. Later the family moved back to California where her parents owned a restaurant, and Sister Mercedes worked for them.

She was a woman of varied interests. An avid bicyclist, she biked about 10,000 miles before entering religious life. She collected stamps and dabbled in photography. She also served as sacristan for her church and attended Mass daily. In 1940, she joined the Women’s Ambulance and Defense Corps of America and was a member for over four years. When the family sold the restaurant she felt free to follow her vocation.

Sister Mercedes had contact with the Benedictine Sisters through their magazine and the correspondence department. She even made donations toward the construction of the Kansas City, Mo., monastery, which would later become her home.

She entered the Benedictine Sisters at the age of 33 on Dec. 7, 1949, and made her monastic profession of vows on Sept. 15, 1951, when she received the name Sister Mary Mercedes in honor of Our Lady of Mercy.

Except for a brief stay at Clyde to prepare for perpetual vows, she lived at the Kansas City community from 1954 until it closed in 1982. She also lived at the communities in San Diego and St. Louis until moving to Our Lady of Rickenbach in 2001. While a Benedictine Sister, she worked in the vestry, the craft shop, the kitchen and the altar bread department. In the Kansas City monastery, she had charge of the bells and the sound system and learned to play the classical guitar and the bass viol. Several sisters had the pleasure of listening to her play.

She enjoyed walking and other exercise and appreciated beauty, art, classical music and good books. More than anything she had a deep and abiding love for God and confidence in God’s abiding love for her. It made her both perceptive and compassionate.

A Mass of Christian Burial will take place Wednesday, Oct. 29, in the Adoration Chapel, Clyde, followed by burial in Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Clyde.

Memorials can be sent in care of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 31970 State Highway P, Clyde, Mo. 64432-8100.

September 30, 2008—Clyde Celebrates Annual Retreat for Oblates

The Clyde, Mo., community celebrated its annual retreat for oblates Sept. 26-28, concluding with an oblation ceremony for two women in the Adoration Chapel.

Fifteen oblates attended the weekend conference, enjoying a presentation on the Prologue to the Rule of Benedict by Father Daniel Petsche, OSB of Conception Abbey.

Geri Herfkens and Betty Carneal made their oblations, and Marie Fitch has begun a one-year formation program as an oblate candidate.

For more information on Benedictine oblates, please log onto www.BenedictineOblates.com.

Sister Mary Demetria Newman, OSB, 90, passed away Sept. 15, 2008, at Our Lady of Rickenbach in Clyde. She was a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.

She was born Frances Cecilia Newman on April 21, 1918, in Norman, Okla., to Otto Joseph and Mary Agnes (Meyer) Newman. Her family moved to California when she was 5 years old and settled in Maywood, a suburb of Los Angeles. She learned how to sew and to cook as a child. After graduating from high school, she worked as a housekeeper for a year before pursuing her childhood dream of becoming a religious sister.

“Many years after I was in the convent I learned that when my grandmother held me in her arms at my baptism, she asked the Blessed Mother to obtain a religious vocation for me,” Sister Mary Demetria once recalled. “Her prayer was answered because from the first dawn of reason, I had this desire and conviction. Moreover, I had a picture in my mind of exactly the kind of nun I was going to be – not teaching, not nursing, but the kind that prays.”

Discouraged by her lack of interest in the religious communities she had inquired about, she asked her mother what she should do. Her mother advised she write to the Benedictine Sisters in Clyde to ask them to pray for her to find the right place. Her mother said she always received help with whatever she asked them to pray for. So Sister Mary Demetria wrote to Clyde and was sent the vocation booklet, “The Eucharistic Adorer.” “On opening the book and seeing the sisters, I knew this was where God wanted me,” she once said.

When she talked it over with her mother, she learned her grandmother was born in nearby Conception, Mo., and her mother was also born in the area and knew of the Clyde community. Her mother had not shared this with her previously because she wanted to leave Sister Mary Demetria free to go wherever God directed.

She entered in 1939 and made her first profession on Feb. 8, 1941, receiving the name Sister Mary Demetria. During her years as a Benedictine Sister, she worked in the laundry and in maintenance. She made and mended cucullas and veils for the novices and served as a night nurse in the infirmary.

She later moved to the sisters’ community in Tucson, Ariz., where she worked in the altar bread department and sewed liturgical vestments. A gifted seamstress, she was privileged to help with the drapery for the new altar when the Tucson monastery’s chapel was consecrated and helped with vestments for Bishop Green’s consecration.

Sister Mary Demetria was preceded in death by her parents and an infant sister. Survivors include her monastic family; a sister, Theresa Patrick, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; three brothers, Joseph Newman, Downey, Calif., John Newman, Santa Anna, Calif. and Fred Newman, Vancouver, Wash.

A Mass of Christian Burial was held Sept. 17 in the Adoration Chapel, with burial in Mount Calvary Cemetery, Clyde, Mo. Memorials can be sent in care of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 31970 State Highway P, Clyde, Mo. 64432-8100.

Sister Mary Blanche Aubuchon, OSB, 88, passed away Aug. 31, 2008, at Our Lady of Rickenbach healthcare facility in Clyde. She was a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.

She was born Helen Bernice Aubuchon on Sept. 17, 1919, in Philadelphia to Cleveland and Helen Kelly Aubuchon. She was the second oldest child of five children. Her older brother, Alex, died of influenza as an infant. She had two sisters, Miriam and Joan, and a younger brother, Jerome.

The family moved often because of her father’s work as an industrial investigator for the railroad. From Philadelphia, the family moved to St. Louis where Sister Mary Blanche attended NativityParochial School. During her childhood, the family also lived in Arkansas, Texas and in Kansas City, Mo., where she graduated from WestportHigh School in 1938. After high school, she did housework to help bring in income for the family.

The novel “Quo Vadis” by Henryk K. Sienkiewicz inspired her to consider religious life. She learned about the Benedictine Sisters from the Pink Sisters in St. Louis, a community also dedicated to the adoration of Christ in the Eucharist.

A few months after Sister Mary Blanche applied to enter the Congregation, a Benedictine Sister from Clyde was in St. Louis for business and stopped by the Aubuchon house to visit. She asked Sister Mary Blanche if she would like to enter, and she said yes. She accompanied the sister back to Clyde that very evening.

Sister Mary Blanche later wrote, “It all happened so suddenly I didn’t have time to bring anything! The convent had to supply everything. How I finally came to enter at Clyde is so astounding and thrilling. Only God could, as it were, ‘pull off such a stunt’ with such aplomb. When I woke up that morning, I didn’t know that by the evening I would be saying goodbye to my family and be on a train for Clyde.”

She entered the Benedictine Sisters on June 7, 1940, and was invested in the habit Feb. 8, 1941. On Feb. 10, 1942, the Feast of St. Scholastica, she made profession and received the name Sister Mary Blanche after St. Blanche of Castile, the mother of King Louis IX, who became St. Louis.

Sister Mary Blanche worked for almost 30 years in the printery at Clyde. She faithfully ran the folder for the Congregation’s booklets and its magazine, Spirit & Life.  She also worked in the bakery, the altar bread department and in the Clyde and St. Louis infirmaries. In addition to those communities, she also lived and worked at the Congregation’s monasteries in Kansas City and Tucson, Ariz.

In May 1984, Sister Mary Blanche fulfilled a dream to travel to the then-Soviet Union. Drawn to the land by its writers and poets, she visited Russia, Georgia, Siberia and Samarkand, Uzbekistan, one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world.

She was an avid birdwatcher with over 120 species on her check list and an ardent student with an adventurous spirit. Knowing that Pope Paul VI wanted Benedictine monastic men and women to enter into dialogue with the religious traditions of the East, Sister Mary Blanche often met with a Vipassana meditation group to learn about that spiritual discipline.

Sister Mary Blanche was preceded in death by her parents; brothers, Alex and Jerome Aubuchon; and a sister, Joan Bishop. She is survived by her sister, Miriam Speicher, Marietta, Ga.; sister-in-law, Trudy Aubuchon, Greensboro, N.C.; several nieces and nephews and her monastic family. Memorials can be sent in care of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 31970 State Highway P, Clyde, Mo.64432-8100.

Sister Mary Andrew Faber, 91, passed away Monday, July 28, 2008, at Our Lady of Rickenbach in Clyde. She was a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.

The youngest of five children, Sister Mary Andrew was born Gertrude Genevieve Faber on June 10, 1917, in Mellen, Wisc., to Francis and Laura (Walport) Faber.

She began school in a one-room public schoolhouse where one teacher was responsible for all eight grades. Her family moved to Minnesota when she was 8, and she made her first Holy Communion when she was 12. During high school, she was torn between becoming a sister or a nurse but knew she did not want to do both.

She worked as a waitress after graduation and then decided to enter religious life. She was deeply attracted to the life at Clyde, which she read about in the sisters’ magazine, “Tabernacle & Purgatory.”

Sister Mary Andrew made her first monastic profession on Jan. 21, 1939. During her years as a Benedictine Sister, she lived in the Tucson, Ariz., St. Louis and Clyde communities and worked in the kitchen, the infirmary, the embroidery department, altar bread production, maintenance and as portress.

Highly respected by her sisters in community, Sister Mary Andrew served on the monastery council of two prioresses. She was well-loved and a good example of patience and practicality. She also played a challenging game of cards.

In later years, she suffered from cancer and several other chronic illnesses. Her cheerful nature carried her through much suffering. She was a woman of deep prayer and devotion who practiced living in constant awareness of God’s presence.

A Mass of Christian Burial will take place Wednesday, July 30, in the Adoration Chapel, Clyde, followed by burial in Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Clyde.

Memorials can be sent in care of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 31970 State Highway P, Clyde, Mo.64432-8100.

Sister Marion Alice Ambrose, 85, died Thursday, July 24, 2008, at Our Lady of Rickenbach Healthcare in Clyde, Mo. She was a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.

She was born Marion Alice Ambrose on June 6, 1923, in Johnson Creek, Wisc., to Lawrence and Frances Anna (Schneeberger) Ambrose.

Sister Marion, who had felt a call to religious life since childhood, attended parochial school taught by Franciscan Sisters. While attending a public high school, she faithfully continued her religious instruction until she was 21 and work conflicted with the class schedule. For five years after her graduation from high school, she worked part time as a switch-board operator and helped with the family at home.

She suffered from a severe form of asthma, but her health improved in 1945. So she pursued her religious calling and was accepted by the Dominican Sisters in Sinsinawa, Wisc. After a few weeks, Sister Marion suffered such a severe asthma attack that she had to be hospitalized. As a result, her health was deemed too fragile for religious life and she returned home.

She later moved to Tucson, Ariz., for health reasons and it was there she began to consider contemplative life and to discern if it was God’s will for her. She spent hours praying at the chapel of the Benedictine Sisters’ monastery in Tucson. Returning to Wisconsin, she once again worked at the telephone office. In 1947, her health worsened and she sought help from a doctor in Milwaukee.

Five years later, her asthma condition had improved. She entered the Benedictine Sisters in 1952 at the age of 29 and made her first monastic profession on Feb. 11, 1954.

During her years as a Benedictine Sister, she was part of the Congregation’s communities in Clyde, St. Louis, San Diego, Calif., Mundelein, Ill., and Tucson. She worked as kitchen manager, bookkeeper and treasurer, cared for the elderly and infirm sisters, and managed the sisters’ altar bread department.

Within the community, she was most renowned for her photographic memory and could remember names, dates and events for each sister. As the living memory of the community, Sister Marion had an instinct for how to find our hunger for God, for freedom, truth, justice, peace and the Eucharist.

A Mass of Christian Burial took place Saturday, July 26, in the Adoration Chapel, Clyde, followed by burial in Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Clyde.

Memorials can be sent in care of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 31970 State Highway P, Clyde, Mo.64432-8100.

Novice Nancy Gucwa, who is in formation with the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, was honored for her official retirement from the U.S. Army during a reception July 12 at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.

Born and raised in New York, Novice Nancy was a member of the first class that admitted women to the United States Military Academy at West Point.

After graduation in 1980, she served active duty for six years and continued her army career as a member of the reserves, earning the rank of lieutenant colonel. She later earned an MBA and enjoyed a career in the financial and banking industries. Heeding the call to religious life, she entered the Benedictine Sisters in 2006.

“I would encourage all women who have had careers, even in their 30’s and 40’s, to consider whether a religious vocation is right for them,” she said.

During the retirement ceremony, Novice Nancy presented remarks that provided insight to the Benedictine Sisters and compared monastic and military life.

The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration have elected Sister Sean Douglas, OSB as their new prioress for the Clyde community.

During a discernment process that ended with the July 15 vote, the Sisters chose Sister Sean to lead them during her two-year term. She succeeds Sister Pat Nyquist, OSB who was recently elected prioress general for the Congregation during the sisters’ chapter meeting in June.

Sister Sean entered in 1979 and made her first monastic profession on July 29, 1982. Her most recent position within the Clyde community was as building maintenance director. Talented in computer networking, she has also been instrumental in developing MonasteryPodcast.com, a Web site that provides podcasts of the sisters’ prayer services, which has allowed them to share their prayerful worship with people around the globe.

Sister Sean was officially installed into office during a ceremony held July 16 at the sisters’ Adoration Chapel in Clyde. During the ceremony, she received the ceremonial keys to Clyde and the Rule of Benedict from Sister Pat.

Benedictine Sister of Perpetual Adoration Natalia Barela was surrounded by her community, family and friends during a celebration to mark her 100th birthday on July 8, 2008.

Born on that date in 1908 in Albuquerque, N.M., Sister Natalia entered the world before New Mexico was officially granted statehood. The first Model T Ford had just rolled off the assembly line, Theodore Roosevelt was president of the United States and it would be four more years before the Titanic would make its historic plunge to the bottom of the North Atlantic.

Sister Natalia’s earliest years were spent on a small ranch outside Albuquerque. After the death of her father when she was just a toddler, the family moved to town to be near relatives. She went to pubic school until the ninth grade when she began attending St. Vincent Academy, a Catholic high school.

After graduation, she took business courses and worked in retail and insurance before entering the Benedictine Sisters in 1929. Throughout her years as a Benedictine Sister, she lived in several of the congregation’s communities. However, she is especially fond of her time spent in Arizona, witnessing the sisters’ move in 1939 into the Pink Rose of the Desert, Tucson’s lovely monastery.

Sister Natalia now resides at Our Lady of Rickenbach, the sisters’ healthcare facility in Clyde, where she continues to deepen her union with God and remains committed to the vows she professed so long ago.

“I can pray and be more attentive to God when silent,” she said. “I am grateful for and have enjoyed all these years. God has never failed me.”

Her 100th birthday celebration included a cake and punch reception, which was also attended by a family friend and several nieces and nephews who made the trip from New Mexico and Arizona.

The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration held elections for their new prioress general and council members during their two-week chapter meeting, which concluded June 12 in Clyde.

Sister Pat Nyquist, OSB was elected prioress general and Sisters Dawn Annette Mills, OSB, Cheryl Morehead, OSB and Ruth Elaine Starman, OSB were elected to the general council.

They were installed during a ceremony held June 13 at the Adoration Chapel in Clyde, presided over by Abbot Gregory Polan, OSB of Conception Abbey.

The sisters will each serve six-year terms for the congregation, which includes 93 professed sisters and four women in formation. Their communities are located in Clyde, Tucson, Ariz., and Dayton, Wyo.

Sister Pat Nyquist, a native of Moorhead, Minn., joined the Benedictine Order in 1974 and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn., and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Notre Dame.

Among her earlier jobs within the Congregation were treasurer, co-manager of the altar bread department, director of novices and Clyde subprioress. She is a member of the American Benedictine Formation Conference. Sister Pat served as prioress of the sisters’ Clyde community from 2005 until her election as prioress general.

Sister Dawn Annette Mills was born in Gary, Ind., and entered the Benedictine Sisters in 1975. She completed a master’s program at the Institute for Culture and Creation Spirituality at Holy Names College in Oakland, Calif. She is an accomplished author and presents workshops on a variety of religious subjects throughout the country.

She has served as prioress of the Tucson community, as a pastoral minister and an oblate director. Most recently she headed the sisters’ correspondence department, which answers prayer requests, handles direct mailings regarding prayer intentions and keeps the records for the Association of Perpetual Adoration, an affiliation of those who are remembered daily by the sisters in their prayers and ministry.

Sister Cheryl Morehead is from Albert Lea, Minn. She earned degrees from Corbett College in Crookston, Minn., and the University of North Dakota. She made her entrance with the Benedictine Sisters in 1989 and was the subprioress of the Clyde community from 1998 to 2002 and again since 2005. She will also serve as the community’s administrator until the sisters hold elections for their new prioress in July.

Sister Ruth Elaine Starman is an Elgin, Neb., native and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and computer science from the University of Nebraska-Kearney. She entered the congregation in 1993 and has served as the congregation’s vocation director since 2005.

Spring ushered in a celebration for a trio of Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration during a jubilee ceremony on April 4 at Clyde.

Sisters Jean Frances Dolan, OSB and Lioba Hanley, OSB celebrated their golden jubilees of monastic profession and were joined by Sister Jane Heschmeyer, OSB who was honored for her silver anniversary.

While all three were called to religious life with the Benedictine Sisters and dedicated themselves to contemplative prayer and the Eucharist, each took a different path in getting there. With a great-aunt who had become a nun, Sister Lioba was familiar with and interested in religious life but not drawn to her particular community.

“But I knew there was something special about that life,” Sister Lioba said.

As a teenager, she played sports, went to movies and dances and hung out with her friends. She spent her summers at her family’s home at the lake. It was at St. Celestine’s in Elmwood Park, Ill., outside of Chicago that she would meet a young girl named Jean Frances.

They played in the same neighborhood as children. As the years passed, they attended Trinity High School in River Forest, Ill.

While different interests meant different classes, they still managed to share an interest in religious life. Drawn to a contemplative and prayerful life, Sister Lioba made plans to enter the Benedictine Sisters before telling her friend of her decision.

“I took Jean Frances to (then-community) Mundelein for a visit,” Sister Lioba said. “As soon as she walked in the door, she nudged me and said, ‘This is it. This is where I want to be.’ The spiritual connection that drew us together as children led us both to the Benedictine Sisters.”

For Sister Jean Frances her interest in religious life began when she was only 4 years old.

“I announced I wanted to be a nun when I grew up because the nuns lived with God,” she laughed. “My mother insisted I would change my mind when I got older, but I never did.”

While in high school, she confided in her chaplain that she was considering a vocation as a contemplative sister. He gave her a brochure about the Benedictine Sisters, but one look at the cover’s photograph of the beautiful chapel and she changed her mind and returned the brochure.

“I was thinking of a more simple order. The sisters’ chapel was too fancy for me,” she laughed. “Then the chaplain asked me, ‘Are you entering for the Lord or for the place?’ I answered, ‘The place,’ and he handed the brochure right back to me.”

She left her home near Chicago and along with Sister Lioba entered the Benedictine Sisters in 1955. They each made their first monastic profession on March 13, 1958.

During her years as a Benedictine, Sister Jean Frances spent time at many of the congregation’s monasteries.

“My family jokes – Join the Monastery, See the World,” she said. “I’ve loved the transfers because each was a new adventure. You are changed by every place you go and everyone you meet.”

She currently serves as the congregation’s director of oblates, lay people of any faith drawn to the Benedictine life who adapt monastic practices to their own lives.

“I meet these beautiful people who are sincere in sharing their desire for something deeper in their lives,” Sister Jean Frances said. “To walk with them has been such a gift and one of the biggest joys of my life.”

Sister Lioba has served the congregation in a variety of ways such as a pastoral minister, in the finance department and formation and now works in the low-gluten altar bread department.

“I enjoy making the wafers because I like how much they help people. I unite with them in prayer,” she said.

Unlike Sisters Jean Frances and Lioba, the Lord took a bit longer to call Sister Jane to religious life.

It was on the banks of a river in Germany on a glorious autumn day that Sister Jane felt a call to religious life. A college graduate who was backpacking her way through Europe, she had not thought much about monastic life until that very moment.

“I experienced something that day. There were no words but a strong interior sense that God wanted me to consider religious life,” she said. “It all just came as softly and naturally as an autumn breeze.”

Her parish priest helped her explore options with regards to active or contemplative communities but it was the life led by the Benedictine Sisters that attracted her the most. She entered in 1980 and made her first monastic profession on Aug. 20, 1983. She received degrees in sociology and psychology from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in addition to monastic studies at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn. She serves as a general councilor for the congregation and was also instrumental in helping develop the sisters’ low-gluten altar bread.

While they traveled a different path, they each found a home, a sacred place, that they discovered by listening to God with their hearts.

“We are a microcosm of society at large,” Sister Jane said. “Among us you’ll find incredible talent, wisdom, knowledge, skill, strength, weakness, health, illness, compassion, joy and sorrow – the scope of human existence. God has called us to live this life together because he wants to do his work in this particular group of people.”

The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration formally welcomed Mary Hastie to their congregation when she entered during a ceremony held March 3 in the Adoration Chapel in Clyde, Mo.

Postulant Mary grew up in Tabor in the Loess, a town located in western Iowa, and was drawn to nature at an early age.

“At home you could find me out wandering in the hills. I love nature and was always seeking adventure,” she said. “I dug caves into canyon walls and tried to build little huts and rafts. I played in the creek and climbed trees.”

As the daughter of Protestants, she didn’t hear the word “Catholic” until she was in the seventh grade.

“I was drawn to the word and wanted to learn what it was all about. I went to the school library and looked it up in the encyclopedia,” Postulant Mary said. “From that point on I knew I had to become Catholic, and I read everything I could get my hands on about God and Catholicism.”

As she entered her teenage years, Postulant Mary began thinking about religious life. She realized that becoming a nun was how she could give her entire life to Jesus.

“I wanted a whole-hearted surrender, and this was it,” she said. “Even though I wasn’t Catholic and I had never even seen a religious sister, I knew it was the answer for me.”

She was 16 when she finally entered the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil, one of the happiest days of her life. After attending the Monastic Experience in Clyde when she was 18, her desire for religious life was strongly re-awakened.

Postulant Mary, who worked as a nursing assistant and in a critical care unit in a hospital before entering, was also active with the National Catholic Youth Conference and taught faith formation to younger members of her parish.

“I want to become a sister because I aspire to a deep relationship with Jesus Christ and want to spend the rest of my life praying for others,” she said. “I am striving to make God the center of my life and to seek his will in all things.”

Women who enter the postulancy spend the first year exploring a religious vocation under the guidance of a spiritual director. Postulants will develop and deepen their prayer life, take classes that aid in the transition to monastic life and work in various jobs throughout the community. If she is accepted into the novitiate, she will observe stricter enclosure for the sake of her discernment and study the Benedictine vows of stability, conversatio and obedience in preparation for her First Monastic Profession.

Sister Mary Esther Elbert, OSB, 96, died April 11, 2008, in Clyde, Mo. She was a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.

She was born Sept. 4, 1911, to Michael and Clara Belle (Kanappel) Elbert in Sedro-Woolley, Wash.

After graduating high school at 16 she attended Holy Names Normal School in Seattle. When her older sister entered the Benedictine Sisters, she became interested in their contemplative life and dedication to the Eucharist. She entered in 1932 and made her final monastic profession on April 22, 1939.

Sister Mary Esther once said, “I just knew I wanted to be a bride of Christ. I am grateful for the beauty of our monastic homes and the peace and quiet that has helped our seeking closer union with Jesus and one another. I recall the awesomeness of adoration, especially at night when in the quiet stillness and semidarkness God seemed so near.”

During her years as a Benedictine Sister, she lived in the congregation’s communities in Mundelein, Ill., San Diego, Tucson, Ariz. and St. Louis. She served in a variety of ministries including work in the printery, the altar bread department, garden, library, maintenance and the reception room. She was as a chronicler, a councilor, an oblate director and worked with the Benedictine Guild and as a pastoral minister.

She was preceded in death by her parents; two sisters, Sister Mary Johanna Elbert, OSB and Josephine Elbert Smernoff; and three brothers, Paul, Anthony and Bernard Elbert.

Sister Mary Esther was known for her joy and her appreciation of beauty in nature, in life and in others. She was generous, gracious and loving. Now one with the Lord whom she adored, she delights in the fullness of joy and beauty.

A Mass of Christian Burial took place on April 14 in the Adoration Chapel, Clyde, followed by burial in Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Clyde.

Memorials can be sent in care of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 31970 State Highway P, Clyde, Mo. 64432-8100.

Our Lady of Rickenbach, the healthcare facility for the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, was damaged during a fire on Easter Sunday, March 23.

The fire was discovered around 8 a.m., just as the sisters were gathering for prayer services. With assistance from guests, staff members, neighbors and first responders, each of the 25 sisters in residence were evacuated safely to the motherhouse.

While the fire was detected and extinguished quickly by the building’s automatic sprinkler system, much of the interior received extensive water damage.

“Even though the sprinklers put out the fire, the responders were a godsend,” Prioress General Sister Ramona Varela, OSB said. “They immediately went to work cleaning up the water, which was ankle-deep on the floor. If they hadn’t done that, then we would have suffered much more damage to the walls, the floor and contents inside the building.”

Our Lady of Rickenbach, which opened in 2001 to provide a wide range of the sisters’ healthcare needs from recuperative to long-term care, will be closed until restoration efforts are complete. In the meantime, the sisters have been moved to a wing of the motherhouse where they will receive proper medical care under more challenging conditions.

“The sisters are all settled in an area that coincidently used to be the infirmary many years ago,” Clyde Prioress Pat Nyquist, OSB said. “However, we’ll have adjustments to make. There are several people to each room, the restrooms are quite a distance from the bedrooms and the area is not handicapped accessible.”

Investigators will spend the next few days examining the building to determine the cause of the fire and assess the damage, which includes charred trusses in the roof. Insurance will cover much of the repair cost, but the sisters will be responsible for a $5,000 deductible.

It could be several weeks or up to two months before the residents will be able to move back in. In the meantime, the sisters have been deluged with offers of assistance from kind-hearted people throughout the area.

“At this point a walk-in bath tub would be wonderful to install in our temporary infirmary as it would be safer for the sisters to use,” Sister Pat said. “Since there is no designated recreation area at that location, it would also be nice to have volunteers visit to take the sisters for a walk, to enjoy the spring weather.”

When repairs are completed and the sisters can move back to their permanent home, it would be a blessing to have someone help coordinate those relocation efforts, Sister Pat added.

“We’ll need to transport sisters, heavy hospital beds, records, food and other supplies,” she said. “It will take a lot of people working together.”

A fire wasn’t the Easter celebration the sisters were expecting, but they are grateful no one was injured and the building was saved. The outpouring of help from those in the area that morning and afterward has served as another reminder of the miracle celebrated each year.

“Beginning with our heroic guests and ending with generous neighbors, we have been humbled by the kindness we received and know we have been incredibly blessed,” Sister Lynn Marie D’Souza, OSB said. “We have seen with our own eyes the resurrection, where death and destruction do not have the last word and the living spirit of God rises up in God’s people.”

For a list of requested donation items or other ways to help, please contact the Benedictine Sisters at (660) 944-2221.