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Latin vows signed by Mother Benedicta Riepp

Latin vows signed by Mother Benedicta Riepp on July 9, 1846. The vows read: I, Sister Maria Anna Benedicta, promise before God and his saints stability, conversion of my morals, obedience, poverty and chastity, for three years according to the Rule of Saint Benedict and the statutes of this monastery, which is constructed in honor of St. Walburga, Virgin, in the presence of the Most Reverend and Illustrious Lord Karl August von Reisach, Bishop of Eichstätt. Original document used with the permission of the Archives of St. Benedicts’ Monastery, St. Joseph, Minnesota.

Color image of the identification plaque at the burial site of Mother Benedicta Riepp in the cemetery at Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, 2015.

Plaque at Gravesite of Mother Benedicta Riepp

Identification plaque at the burial site of Mother Benedicta Riepp in the cemetery at Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, 2015.

Color image of the gravsite of Mother Benedicta Riepp, 2015.

Gravesite of Mother Benedicta Riepp

The burial site of Mother Benedicta Riepp, 2015. Riepp's remains were moved in 1884 from St. Cloud, where she died, to the cemetery at Saint Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph.

Mother Benedicta Riepp

Oil painting of Mother Benedicta Riepp, c.1980s. Painting by Sister Thomas Carey, O.S.B. No verified photograph of Mother Benedicta Riepp exists.

Riepp, Mother Benedicta (Sybilla) (1825–1862)

Mother Benedicta (Sybilla) Riepp was the founder of the Roman Catholic Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict in North America. During her time as Superior of the first foundation in St. Marys, Pennsylvania, she sent a group of Sisters to St. Cloud, Minnesota, where they began a new convent. This group moved to St. Joseph in 1863. By 1946, Saint Benedict’s Monastery was the largest community of Benedictine Sisters in the world.