History
We Sisters of Saint Benedict trace our history back to sixth century Italy when Saint Benedict of Nursia wrote his Rule for Monks at Monte Cassino. 
Benedict and his twin sister, Scholastica, had been born to a moderately wealthy family in Nursia. As a youth Benedict was sent to study in Rome, but he left there and went to Subiaco where he was a hermit for a number of years. Men of like mind began to gather around Benedict, and soon a community developed. Eventually, he established a monastery at Monte Cassino.
From Monte Cassino, monasteries spread throughout Italy, and in 596 Pope Gregory asked Saint Augustine to spread the faith to the people of the British Isles. Augustine established a monastery at Canterbury, England. Monasteries spread throughout England, and Boniface, a monk of Adescancastre near Exeter, left England to convert the tribes of Germany. Saint Boniface made several trips to Germany and was martyred there in 754.
Benedictine women also followed Boniface to Germany, among them was Saint Walburga, the patron of a monastery established in Eichstatt in 1035. In 1852, Mother Benedicta Riepp and two other sisters were asked to establish a Benedictine monastery in the United States to teach German immigrants. Mother Benedicta established seven monasteries before her death. One of those monasteries was located in Saint Cloud, MN -- later moved to Saint Joseph.
In 1882, Mother Scholastica Kerst from Saint Benedict's Monastery in Saint Joseph, founded Saint Scholastica's Monastery in Duluth. From Duluth, in 1919, 
Mother Eustacia Beyenka and 42 sisters established Mount Saint Benedict Monastery in Crookston.
When the sisters first came to Crookston, they lived at Saint Vincent's Hospital. In 1923, they started Mount Saint Benedict Academy in their newly constructed motherhouse. Sisters were involved primarily in healing an teaching ministries.
Sisters served in schools in Bemidji, Mahnomen, Moorhead, Thief River Falls, Crookston. Barnesville, Park Rapids, Detroit Lakes, East Grand Forks,Red Lake Falls, Benson, Mahtomedi and Osseo in Minnesota, in Lefor, ND, in Asherton and Carrizo Springs, TX, and in Bogota, Colombia. They staffed health care institutions in Crookston, Red Lake Falls, Mahnomen, Bemidji and Detroit Lakes.
TOP: Drawing of Monte Cassino. ABOVE LEFT: Mother Eustacia Beyenka, foundress of Mount Saint Benedict Monastery. RIGHT: Original monastery building.
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