Schools collection

The Abbey of St. Walburga was established in Bavaria, Germany in 1135 but supressed by the government from 1803 to 1835. When the monastery re-opened, it was on the condition that they educate girls. The young Sisters who came to North America in 1852 and their Sisters who followed, brought this mission and vision with them. Most of the educational work of the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago was in high schools and grammar schools in the Chicago area and in southern Colorado. They also staffed schools in Tucson, Arizona, Baltimore, Maryland, and other sites.

The Sisters who arrived in Chicago in 1861, at the request of Reverend Louis Fink, OSB, settled into a frame building that was convent and St. Joseph School with a folding door separating the one from the other. By 1864, the parish provided a brick school and living quarters for the Sisters. In 1865, the Sisters put up a structure, St. Joseph Academy for girls, that served as convent and school with space for resident students. Displaced by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the Sisters moved north and purchased land across the street from the relocated St. Joseph Church where they built a convent and Ss. Benedict and Scholastica Academy for girls. The parish built a new St. Joseph School for boys and girls grades one to three and for older boys.

In 1874, the young community received requests from many different parishes to staff parish schools and erect academies. A missionary group under the leadership of Sr. Ottilia Hoeveler, OSB was sent to Nauvoo, Illinois. There they opened St. Scholastica Academy resident and day school for girls and taught in a parish school. Another group was sent to Warsaw, Illinois. The community in Nauvoo became independent in 1879, taking the name St. Mary's Convent and Academy.

From 1877 on there was a steady opening and closing of parish schools and academies for some of which there is no data available. Since Chicago was the railroad center of the country, trains were readily accessible. Parochial scools were staffed at Crown Point, Indiana; Kankakee, Maytown, and Hennipin, Illinois; and Portage Des Sioux, Missouri. In 1880, at the request of Meinrad Jaggle, OSB, who had been at St. Joseph Church when the community was founded, a group of Sisters went to Fourteen Holy Martyrs School in Baltimore, Maryland, where Fr. Meinrad was now pastor. Neighboring St. Benedict School was also staffed and the faculties of both schools resided at St. Lioba's Convent located next to Fourteen Holy Martyrs Church. The Sisters were withdrawn from the two schools by Mother Suitbert Vollmer, OSB in 1909 following some disagreement wth the pastor. Eighteen young women from Baltimore joined the Chicago community.

The trek to Colorado began at the request of Bishop Joseph Projectus Machebeuf to Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, OSB. In the Spring of 1886, Mother Ottilia Hoeveler, OSB of Nauvoo and Sister Theresa Krug, OSB arrived in Breckenridge to assess the situation; in June, Mother Luitgardis Huber, OSB brought three Sisters to staff a miners hospital which was named St. Joseph's Hospital and to open a school. St. Gertrude School for girls and boys opened in September with a faculty of three Sisters. The following January St. Gertrude Academy was functioning well with borders and day scholars. The passage of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act brought about a decline in population and the succeeding bishop, Nicholas Chrysostom Matz persuaded the group to move. The Sisters purchased the grounds and buildings of the newly vacated Colorado Collegiate and Military Institute in Cañon City in 1890 where classes started in September with an enrollment of 40 pupils. It closed in 2001.

In 1892, St. Mary, a small parochial school was opened in Aspen, Colorado and closed in 1900 due to a population decline. In 1895, Cyril Zupan, OSB, brother of Srs. Cyrillia and Ludmilla Zupan, OSB, opened St. Mary School in Pueblo, Colorado. German parishioners in 1902 broke off to start a German-speaking parish, St. Boniface, and in 1912 the Slovak element built St. Anthony Parish while the Slovenians maintained St. Mary's. Late on, still other Colorado parish schools were started: St. Michael in Cañon City in 1909, St. Joseph in Salida, in 1929, St. Michael in Delta in 1923 and St. Leander in Pueblo in 1936.

In Chicago, the community purchased property in Rogers Park in 1895 and at the wishes of Archbishop James Edward Quigley, Mother Suitbert Vollmer, OSB encouraged the community to build a new convent and school on the High Ridge (now Ridge Boulevard) property where classes opened for resident and day students in 1907. Several parrochial schools were started in Chicago. In 1890, St. John Nepomucene School, a Bohemian parish, was opened on the near south side. In 1903 Mother Suitbert Vollmer, OSB staffed St. George School at 39th and Wentworth Streets for German-speaking students. Mother of God School in Waukegan was staffed in 1910 at the request of Archbishop James Edward Quigley. In 1918, Ss. Benedict and Scholastica Academy on Orleans Street closed the high school. Our Sisters began to teach at St. Hilary School and St Sympharosa School in 1928 and at Queen of All Saints School in 1940. In 1953 Sisters took on St. Lambert School in Skokie, Illinois. They added instruction for students who were blind at St. Hilary School from 1953 to 1964.

The community provided staff for Sacred Heart School in Tucson, Arizona from 1944 to 1959

-based on a Visitation report of Vivian Ivantic, OSB