We, Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, are a contemplative monastic community dedicated to the Eucharist. We serve the Church through our prayer and common life according to the Rule of St. Benedict. We adore Christ in the Eucharist and seek Him in all that we do, all whom we meet, and all that we encounter.
"Every beginning is hard." Such was the wisdom of our foundress, Mother Mary Anselma Felber. In 1874, she and four other pioneer sisters made the arduous journey from Maria Rickenbach in the Swiss Alps to the rolling hills of Northwest Missouri. The Benedictine monks of Engelberg, Switzerland, were recently established in Conception, Missouri, and needed help ministering to the German immigrant population. Seized with missionary fervor of the time, the community of Maria Rickenbach sent five young sisters to serve the Church in a new land. Mother Mary Anselma's deepest desire was to establish in America a convent of Perpetual Adoration in the context of monastic life.
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- Our Lady of Rickenbach gardens
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- View from convent
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- Our Lady of Rickenbach chapel and 1st convent
Frontier life was difficult and demanding. The sisters began teaching the immigrant children, and before long they opened an academy and ran an orphanage. Gradually they built up a farm, which provided their meat, milk, and eggs; and at its peak, Clyde Hill Farms boasted of a prize-winning dairy herd as well. Through these works, our sisters served the spiritual and practical needs of God’s people. Over time, the sisters’ work also included the making of liturgical vestments, producing altar breads, operating a printery, and establishing a correspondence department.
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- Early altar bread production
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- Early Correspondence Department
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- Adoration Chapel, 1903
We continue to support ourselves through altar bread work, responding to prayer requests in our correspondence department, and creating soaps, candles and other products. The most important work we continue to do is carry out our mission of prayer by living the contemplative Benedictine life and adoring Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
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- Baking low gluten breads
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- Responding to prayer requests
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- Sr. Cathleen Marie packaging soap
Heart Wisdom - A compilation of words of wisdom gleaned from the letters of Mother Anselma
- “Where there is peace, there is God and with Him, we have all.”
- “Our Lord will help; it is His work. He has begun – He will also complete it. All is His.”
- “God’s providence allowed these trials: may He be blessed for them!”
- “I trust firmly that our Lord will do all.”
- “Every beginning is hard.”
The Benedictine Sisters are governed by an elected Prioress General and a three-member General Council.
Prioress General - Sister Lynn Marie D'Souza, OSB
Sister Lynn Marie entered the Benedictine Sisters in 1999 and made her final monastic profession in 2005. Born in St. Louis, her family moved to College Station, Texas, where she later attended Texas A&M University. With a degree in biomedical science, she spent four years before her monastic entrance with a lay religious community devoted to taking care of special needs children. As a Benedictine Sister, she has served as postulant and novice director, manager of the altar bread department, a member of the correspondence department and subprioress of the Clyde monastery. Sister Lynn Marie was also instrumental in helping to develop the congregation’s low-gluten altar bread recipe. She has attended numerous leadership programs including the yearlong Institute of Religious Formation at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
Assistant Prioress General - Sister Pat Nyquist, OSB
A native of Moorhead, Minnesota, Sister Pat entered the Benedictines in 1973 and made her final monastic profession in 1978. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota, and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Notre Dame. She has previously served as prioress general, prioress of the Clyde community, treasurer general and formation director. She most recently served six years as assistant prioress general on the previous council.
General Councilor - Sister Colleen Maura McGrane, OSB
Sister Colleen Maura is a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She earned a degree in Music Therapy from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. Prior to entering the community, she worked as a music therapist and in retreat ministry. Her service to the congregation includes liturgist, archivist and a member of the vocation committee. She is editor of the monastic journal, "American Benedictine Review," and is translating from French into English Adalbert De Vogue's commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict. She served a six-year term on the previous general council.
General Councilor - Sister Ruth Elaine Starman, OSB
Sister Ruth Elaine entered the Benedictine Sisters in 1993 and made her final monastic profession in 2002. A native of Elgin, Nebraska, she attended Pope John XXIII High School. She earned a bachelor’s of science degree in biology and computer science from the University of Nebraska-Kearney. Prior to her entrance, she was a research assistant at the Uniformed Services University of Health and Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. Sister Ruth Elaine has served the congregation in many ways, including manager of the altar bread department, as vocation director, novice director and as a member of the general council. She has also worked in maintenance, as guest house manager and overseeing the congregation’s websites.
The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Archives houses the historical documents and artifacts of our Clyde, Missouri monastery, as well as those of our monasteries that were located in Chewelah, Washington, Mundelein, Illinois, Kansas City, Missouri, San Diego, California, St. Louis, Missouri, Sand Springs, Oklahoma, Tucson, Arizona, and Dayton, Wyoming.
Contact us: archives@benedictinesisters.org
Read our history, "In Your Midst," by Sr. Dolores Dowling, OSB.