Sister Regina Esser, OSB papers
Scope and Contents
Includes a personal data sheet, obituaries, information on Sister's family and research correspondence, photographs and negatives of Sister and her family, lists of teaching assignments, biographical notes, a prayer card, and photocopied baptismal records. This series also includes limited personal papers, such as her handwritten account of the founding of the Benedictine community in Canon City, and an invitiation to a 1993 Founders Day celebration at Saint Scholastica Academy in Canon City, honoring her family specifically for their service to the early pioneering community.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1890-2001
Creator
- Esser, Regina, 1882-1952 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is unrestricted and open to research.
Biographical / Historical
Sister Regina Esser, OSB was born Catherine Esser in Canon City, Colorado on July 13th, 1882. Her parents and family were early supporters of the pioneering Benedictines in Canon City, and are recognized for their contribution to the community's founding in the city. Sister attended classes at Saint Scholastica Academy before joining the community on July 15th, 1907, making her perpetual vows on January 6th, 1912.
Sister taught piano at Saint Mary School in Pueblo, Colorado, as well as at Saint Benedict's in Florence. However, the majority of her religious life was spent teaching at the Academy in Canon City. Included amongst her piano pupils was Sister Jean Marie Matern. As one of the founding sisters of the Canon City community, Sister Regina wrote an account of the early days in 1950 that was used as a source for Sister Genevieve Harrison's community history, "Where There Was Need."
Sister died at the age of 69 on February 20th, 1952, and is buried in Lakeside Cemetery in Canon City, Colorado.
Extent
.1 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Metadata Rights Declarations
- License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Creative Commons license.
Geographic
Occupation
Topical
- Title
- A Guide to Sister Regina Esser, OSB papers
- Author
- Clara Finkelstein
- Date
- 2025-09-24
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago Archives Repository
Archives
Benedictine Sisters of Chicago
7430 N. Ridge Blvd.
Chicago Illinois 60645 United States
(773) 764-2413 ext. 203
archives@osbchicago.org