They opened a school for girls, St. Benedict Academy, and in 1933 expanded their apostolate into healthcare, becoming the owner and operator of Andrew Kaul Memorial Hospital in St. Marys.
The Benedictines Sisters of Elk County are the foundational community of the Congregation of St. Scholastica, a federation of the monasteries which trace their heritage to St. Joseph Monastery, Sybilla Riepp was born in Waal, Bavaria, on June 28, 1825, one of four daughters born to John and Catherine Riepp.
Bishop Michael O'Connor of Pittsburgh asked Boniface Wimmer of the Monastery of Saint Vincent in Latrobe to take over the mission at St. Mary's.
In 1851, Wimmer, who was originally from Bavaria, sent a request to St. Walburg Convent for sisters to teach the children of German immigrants.
She and her two companions left from Bremen and sailed from Southampton, arriving in New York, on the steamer Washington, on the evening of July 3, 1852.
A family by the name of Head extended hospitality, and after a week's rest, the sisters proceeded to St. Marys, Pennsylvania, arriving on July 22.
[2] The six years Mother Benedicta spent as Superior at Saint Joseph Monastery in St. Marys were filled with physical hardship and misunderstandings between herself and Prior Wimmer of St. Vincent's.
She hoped her superiors in Eichstätt and Rome would help her resolve the controversy surrounding the independence of the new convents in North America.
As the American congregation was expected to separate from the Motherhouse, she and her companion were no longer considered members of Eichstätt and were not welcomed.
Due to Wimmer's influence, she was no longer welcome in the convents she had founded in the eastern U.S. At the invitation of Mother Willibalda Scherbauer in St.
The monastery was founded by Mother Benedicta Riepp, O.S.B., who was sent, along with two companions, from St. Walburga Abbey in Eichstätt, in the Kingdom of Bavaria.
They had come at the invitation of Abbot Boniface Wimmer, O.S.B., who had founded the first monastery of the Benedictine monks in the country in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
The hospital was created in the aftermath 1918 Influenza epidemic of 1918 by the three daughters of St. Marys businessman Andrew Kaul.
The sisters closed their girls school, St. Benedict's Academy and converted it to a temporary hospital until a new one could be completed in 1941.
"The closure was prompted by declining health and number of members, combined with outdated facilities, retired Erie Bishop Donald Trautman said.