Mother Benedicta Riepp
(Part Two)
On June 28, 2025, we remember with gratitude the Foundress of Benedictine Communities in the United States and North America, Mother Benedicta (Sybilla) Riepp, who was born 200 years ago on this day in 1825, in Waal, Bavaria to parents Johann Riepp, a glassblower, and Katharina Mayr. She had three younger sisters: Johanna, Sophia and Juliana. Benedicta Riepp has always remained veiled in mystery since there are no known photographs of her, other than one faded image that may be from her German passport when she came to America in 1852. She became the first Prioress of St. Joseph Monastery in St. Mary’s, Pennsylvania, the convent she founded with her Sisters from St. Walburg Abbey in Eichstatt, Bavaria: Sister Walburga Dietrich, the eldest of the three, who served the community as a portress and instructor of needlework, and Maura Flieger, a lay nun, who was the cook. Sister Maura prepared delicious meals for the Community and increasing number of students from a very meager food supply. She was known for her feisty temper wielding a soup ladle, but was greatly loved by all. Sister Walburga was the only one who would remain at St. Joseph Monastery throughout her life, becoming prioress after Mother Benedicta was unjustly removed from office by Abbott Boniface Wimmer, since she had advocated for the independent jurisdiction of St. Joseph monastery, contrary to his wishes. Sister Maura Flieger transferred to the newly founded monastery in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1856, which she helped to establish, where she remained until her death in 1865.
Mother Benedicta Riepp also stayed for a time in Erie, during this turbulent period where she had nowhere to go because Abbott Boniface Wimmer forbade her own Community in St. Mary’s from allowing her to reside there, after she returned from Europe to plead her cause for independent jurisdiction. Mother Benedicta was extremely devout and prayerful, and one can imagine her many sleepless nights, shunned and dejected, wracked by fits of deathly coughing, offering up her suffering for the sake of others. Mother Benedicta moved to the new monastery in St. Cloud, Minnesota in 1858 in this state of poor health at the invitation of Mother Willibalda Scherbauer, whom she had sent to Minnesota when she was still Superior of St. Joseph’s.
Mother Benedicta died four years later, at the age 36. Most of her writings were lost, since her possessions were burned following her death from tuberculosis, a common practice at the time. A brief collection of her existing letters chronicling the progress they made in America establishing St. Joseph’s was eventually published. Due to Mother Benedicta’s courage and heroic efforts in contacting the Holy See in Rome regarding the matter of independent jurisdiction, Benedictine monasteries have always remained autonomous, answering only to their local dioceses for 170 years.
Benedicta Riepp is credited with bringing the Benedictine charism to North America, eventually flourishing into 47 monasteries providing Catholic education and healthcare from 1852 to the present. Mother Benedicta never knew of the profound impact she would have on the Benedictine religious order in the United States, transforming the lives of hundreds of young women who became Benedictine vowed Religious sisters. They worked tirelessly to educate generations of children and minister to the sick and elderly, inspiring us with their acts of faith and devotion, motivated always by love of Christ and their signature value of hospitality.
Present-day communities of Sisters and Oblates have benefitted greatly from experiencing the Benedictine charism, as we return each morning to our rhythm of prayer and work. We listen for God’s voice within the silence; we are nourished by the Liturgy of the Hours and the practices of lectio divina and centering prayer. The gifts of consolation we have received from these cherished practices are truly love beyond all telling. There are frequently heart- stopping moments of reverence for nature, such as witnessing an iridescent green hummingbird hover near a blossom or a bald eagle soar across the sky.
I recently had the opportunity to visit Mother Benedica Riepp’s grave at St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minnesota, one afternoon in late May. The grave site contains a small garden where the Sisters plant bright flowers each summer. On this particular day, the garden was not yet planted due to the recent cold weather, and the fresh black dirt stood moist and fertile from the soft spring rains turning everything green again, ready for the Sisters to continue planting seeds.
Mary Ilg, OBlSB has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Minnesota. In 2021, she became an Oblate of St. Paul’s Monastery and also joined the Benedictine Center staff.