Mother Benedicta (Sybilla) Riepp (June 28, 1825 – March 15, 1862) was the founder of the Roman Catholic Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict in North America. During her time as Superior of the first foundation in St. Marys, Pennsylvania, she sent a group of Sisters to St. Cloud, Minnesota, where they began a new convent. This group moved to St. Joseph in 1863. By 1946, Saint Benedict’s Monastery was the largest community of Benedictine Sisters in the world.

Early life

Sybilla Riepp was born in Waal, Bavaria, on June 28, 1825, one of four daughters born to John and Catherine Riepp. Her father was a glassblower. In January 1844, she entered St. Walburg Convent in Eichstätt, Bavaria, and received the name Benedicta. She professed solemn vows on July 9, 1849 at the age of twenty-four. Sister Benedicta taught in the girls’ school of Eichstätt during the eight years she lived there. She also served as novice mistress.^[1]

Mission to North America

Around 1848, the School Sisters of Notre Dame had settled in Marienstadt (St. Mary's); but left the following year to settle elsewhere. 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.^[1]

Sister Benedicta was among those who volunteered, and was appointed superior. 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. They reached Saint Vincent Abbey in Latrobe, Pennsylvania on July 8. 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. There they established St. Joseph Monastery, the first convent of Benedictine Sisters in North America.^[2]

Soon after their arrival, a girls' school was entrusted to them. Two more sisters arrived from Eichstätt the following year. With a small addition added to the convent, the sisters were able to take in a few boarders and orphans. Their food consisted mostly of potatoes, rye bread, buckwheat cakes, and thin soup. There numbers increased, both from local applicants and additional sisters from Eichstätt. In total, St. Walburga's monastery contributed thirteen sisters to the American foundation.^[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. Funds sent by King Ludwig for the convent were redirected toward two mills, one at St. Mary and the second at the priory. As she understood St. Joseph Monastery to be an autonomous Benedictine community under the jurisdiction of the local bishop, she resisted Wimmer's interference in the internal matters of the women’s community. He, having been made abbot in 1855, questioned her authority as the Superior of the convents she founded. The dispute over jurisdiction seems to have caused some turmoil in the St. Joseph's community. Nevertheless, her leadership during those years resulted in the establishment of three new foundations: Mount St. Benedict Monastery in Erie, Pennsylvania (1856), St. Gertrude Monastery in Newark, New Jersey (1857), and Saint Benedict's Monastery in St. Cloud, Minnesota (1857).^[3] Convents in Covington (1859)and Chicago (1861) branched off from Erie.

In 1857, Mother Benedicta travelled to Europe. She hoped her superiors in Eichstätt and Rome would help her resolve the controversy surrounding the independence of the new convents in North America. She and her companion were not favorably received in Eichstätt. They were prevented from traveling to Rome to present her case before the Pope.^[3]

Late life and death

Mother Benedicta returned to the United States in 1858, broken in spirit and failing in health. 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. Cloud, she moved to the Minnesota city in the spring of 1858. In 1859, a decree from Rome placed the convents in Erie and Newark under the jurisdiction of their respective ordinaries. On March 15, 1862 Benedicta died of tuberculosis. In 1884, her remains were transferred from St. Cloud to the convent cemetery in St. Joseph.^[3]

Legacy

The only extant writings of Mother Benedicta are fourteen letters written between the years 1852 and 1861. These letters reveal her conviction that her Benedictine vocation was a privilege.^[3]

• Three federations of Benedictine women in North America, totaling about two thousand members in the early 2000s, remain the legacy of Mother Benedicta Riepp.^[3]
• The Benedicta Arts Center at the College of St. Benedict in St. Cloud, Minnesota is named for Mother Benedicta Riepp.^[4]
• The Benedicta Riepp Award is presented by the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict of St. Benedict's Monastery in St. Cloud "to a woman who exemplifies Benedictine and Gospel values in her daily life."^[5]
• The Benedicta-Riepp-Weg in Waal, Bavaria is named for her.Bayern.^[6]