Sister Hildegarde Kunz, OSB papers

Sister Hildegard Kunz, OSB was born Justina Augusta on December 8th, 1865, in Prussia. Sister joined the community at the age of thirteen on September 7th, 1879. She attended SS Benedict and Scholasica Academy Chicago as a student, before she was invested as a choir sister on August 15th, 1881. Sister made her first vows on August 16th, 1882, and her final profession on August 15th, 1885.

Sister served primarily as a teacher of various academic subjects, art, and music. In Illinois, she taught at Saint Joseph School, Saint Benedict Academy in Chicago, and at Saint John Nepomucene School, where she also conducted the choir and taught piano. In Baltimore, Maryland, Sister served as a classroom teacher, organist, art instructor, and piano teacher at Fourteen Holy Martyrs School for over 25 years. In Canon City, Colorado, Sister was appointed to serve as the first directress of the newly-opened Saint Michael School in 1909. After one year, she was reassigned to Saint Benedict's Academy in Chicago, where she served as art, music, and classroom teacher, as well as superior until 1922.

Besides teaching, Sister also she served as Mistress of Novices at the Saint Scholastica motherhouse. Her many artistic and literary works were some of those collected for and exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. A lifelong lover of learning, she began studying Latin at the age of 90.

Sister died on August 19th, 1959, at the age of 93. She is buried in Saint Boniface Cemetery Chicago, beside her natural sister, Sister Juliana.