Sister Celestine Fischer, OSB papers
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of general biographical information and personal papers.
This collection contains artwork and other materials representing the later life and career of Sister Celestine Fischer, OSB. It consists mainly of examples of her manuscript art, including her most notable work in the exquistely calligraphed Memorial Book, as well as oil paintings, painted porcelain, and textile works.
Sister Celestine's works reflects her vocation as an artist and benedictine woman religious. Sister Celestine's memorial book is a 14 paged bound illuminated manuscript commemorating the the 14th centennial of the death of saint benedict. Started around the age of 70-76, the work is bound in hand tooled leather with a painted ivory insert on the front cover. This work and others were inspired by the the illuminated manuscripts of the middles ages as part of a growing interest in liturgical renewal.
This collection also includes a small number of oil paintings by Sister Celetine featuring Saint Scholastica, Saint Benedict, and one of trumpet lillies. Also included is a painted plate decorated with blooming roses in pink, green, and teal.
Dates
- Creation: 1872-1991
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1891-1953
Creator
- Fischer, Celestine, 1872-1953 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
The material in this collection is unrestricted. It is open for research.
Biographical / Historical
Sister Celestine Fischer, OSB was born Susan Fischer on October 11th, 1872, in the State of Rhein Hessen, Germany. In 1886, shortly after her father died from tuberculosis, her family immigrated to the United States, settling in Saint Joseph Parish, Chicago. Sister joined the community on May 2nd 1891, less than a year after her elder sister Catherine (Sr. Ermenilda) entered. She made her perpetual vows in 1896. Sister Celestine was a piano and art teacher. When her hearing was damaged following an illness, she continued in her art career, taking classes at both the Art Institute and the University of Notre Dame. Among her large art pieces are large canvasses of Saints Benedict, Scholastica, and Walburg, as well as porcelain works with the 14 stations of the cross, and miniatures. She also notably designed the eight stained glass windows in the chapel of the St. Scholastica Monastery. Besides making and teaching art, Sister Celestine was also charged with directing the novitiate, leading members in daily Gregorian chants. Sister died following a long illness at the age of 80 on May 25th, 1953. She is buried in the Calvary Cemetery.
Extent
10 Linear Feet (1 hanging file and much more!)
Language of Materials
English
Latin
Metadata Rights Declarations
- License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Creative Commons license.
- Title
- A Guide to Sister Celestine Fischer, OSB papers
- Author
- Clara Finkelstein; Allison Kelly; Sister Virginia Jung; Rose Gallo
- 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