Like A Mustard Seed: A History of the First Benedictine Women’s Monastery in North America 1852–2014 by Ephrem Hollermann (review)

Reviewed by: Like A Mustard Seed: A History of the First Benedictine Women's Monastery in North America 1852–2014 by Ephrem Hollermann Marianne Burkhard O. S. B. Like A Mustard Seed: A History of the First Benedictine Women's Monastery in North America 1852–2014 by Ephrem Hollermann (Federation of St. Scholastica, 2022. Pp. 554. Paperback, 18). This history of the first Benedictine women's monastery in the United States comes at a time when the historiography of women has already passed its second wave, where the interest of writers was less on the actual facts than on looking to the past for gaining new insights into the present and future. The current third and "digital" wave is geared toward bringing the histories of women religious "into the realm of public history. " Yet since the community at St. Joseph's Monastery in St. Marys, PA, lacked a printed chronological history, Hollermann wisely chose the "chronological approach" which is more characteristic of the first wave of historiography. Hollermann's volume describes for the first time the entire history of a community that was successful for many decades, but eventually came to its "completion" after 162 years in 2014. The five sections of the book are entitled "Readying and Planting the Soil" (1852– 1855) ; "Germinating and Sprouting" (1856–1886) ; "Cultivating and Growing" (1886–1932) ; "Branching and Blossoming" (1932–1970) ; "Pruning" (1970–1995) ; and "Completing the Harvest" (1995–2014). The Federation/Congregation of St. Scholastica is to be commended for having invited Sister Ephrem, a noted historian of the Benedictine Sisters in the United States, to write "the definitive history of St. Joseph's Monastery in St. Marys, Pennsylvania" (Preface). Although the community no longer exists, we now have an excellent account of its history with all its difficulties and successes over 162 years. Hollermann, herself a Benedictine sister, has a firm grasp of the larger historical currents that have affected Benedictine communities during this time and writes with historical competence and compassionate understanding. The beginnings of this first Benedictine women's community were anything but promising. Boniface Wimmer, the abbot of the first Benedictine men's community at Saint Vincent's in Latrobe, had recruited sisters from St. Walburga Abbey in Eichstätt for a mission in Pennsylvania. Because of misunderstandings no one was there to welcome the three sisters when they arrived in New York. With some help they figured out how to make the trip to St. Vincent, Latrobe, a rural settlement east of Pittsburgh which had no telegraph station. End Page 225 The accommodations in St. Marys were very poor and inadequate and remained so when scores of postulants joined the sisters. Yet Sister Benedicta Riepp, the twenty-seven-year-old superior, and her two companions opened their school "less than 3 months" after arriving on July 22, 1852. They were always clear about their "twofold mission: to instruct young girls and to spread the Benedictine order in this part of the world" (33f. ). By 1855 the community had 40 members, including 14 from Eichstätt. Mother Benedicta Riepp states in a letter of 1856 that she accepted so many candidates because she had "in mind that we should spread out farther as soon as possible. For St. Marys 10–15 sisters would have sufficed" (54). By 1859 three daughter houses of St. Marys already existed: in Erie, PA (1856—which in 1859 had its own daughter house in Covington, KY) ; in Ridgely, MD (1857) ; and in St. Cloud, MN (1859). The school and community grew quickly and a new building for sisters and students was necessary. Since the community lacked funds, the people of St. Marys, themselves poor, provided the materials and the labor to add a new monastery to the west side of the town's new Catholic church; it was ready for occupancy at Christmas in 1860. The early years of the community were marked by financial problems and dissensions about authority between Abbot Boniface Wimmer, Mother Benedicta Riepp, the Abbess in Eichstätt and local bishops. Mother Benedicta Riepp appealed unsuccessfully to Eichstätt and Rome on a trip to Europe in 1857/58. On her return she was excluded from St. Marys and. . .