ST. MARYS — “St. Marys would be a very different place” without the Benedictine Sisters of Elk County and St. Joseph Monastery, according to local historian Ray Beimel.
The religious community announced Tuesday that it would be closing its doors and relocating its 17 remaining members to other Benedictine Communities or assisted living facilities. With more than 160 years in existence, St. Joseph Convent in St. Marys represents the oldest foundation of Benedictine nuns in the United States.
Officials with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie say dwindling ranks, the advancing age of its members and the deterioration of convent buildings factored in the decision.
As a tour guide at St. Joseph Monastery and in conducting interviews with many of the religious community’s members for a 150th anniversary booklet in 2002, Beimel has become intimately acquainted with the religious community and its local footprint.
“They were the educators for the first five generations of St. Marys residents, teaching in public schools locally until after 1895 and continuing well beyond that in St. Marys parochial and Catholic high schools,” Beimel said.
In addition, the sisters operated the Andrew Kaul Memorial Hospital in St. Marys for 40 years, Beimel said, seeing it through a destructive fire in 1934.
Defined by their work ethic, the Benedictine motto is “to pray and to work.”
But over those years, the convent’s numbers have declined along with the health of the remaining members. As of Tuesday, Sister Rita Brink, an administrator with the Benedictine Sisters of Elk County, said only one of the sisters remains involved in education, serving as a principal of an area school.
Whereas the convent was at one time largely self-sufficient, raising its own crops and livestock while also performing an array of public works and services, it currently relies on hired cooks and nurse aides to care for the members.
Beimel said a number of the sisters are partially or wholly disabled, confined to wheelchairs and walkers with only a few remaining completely active.
At its height, the convent comprised 125 members between the 1930’s and 1950’s. Currently, that number has fallen to 17.
The precipitous decline in membership that resulted in a waning influence has been ongoing for year, according to Beimel.
“The loss came when the number of vocations fell off,” Beimel said. “There was no new blood and the sisters could no longer do the work they were accustomed to. We’ve been without their services as teachers for upwards of 15 years or more, so the loss has already happened, the serious loss to the community. Yeah, we’re losing our friends … they’re moving away, but their role in the community has been diminishing ever since. Bu even to this day, any of the sisters that can do something (will) do something, there is no such thing as a lazy Benedictine sister.”
While increasingly limited in their roles, Beimel said the sisters continue to make comparatively small contributions to the community through music classes, art classes and pastoral care.
“All of that is still going on,” Beimel said.
In his interviews with the sisters for the sesquicentennial anniversary project, Beimel said members described a sense of fulfillment and a communal bond that came with convent life
“One expressed that there was great joy in being one of the sisters. That they shared the work, the good times and all expressed the notion that it was a very joyful life,” Beimel recalled.
Officials with St. Joseph Monastery said the 17 members are now busy looking for new Benedictine communities to join with no timetable set for their relocation.
While preservation of the community would appear impossible, the fate of the multi-building convent complex is less certain.
Some like retired Bishop of Erie Donald Trautman would like to see the buildings preserved for their historical value.
But Beimel said previous looks at converting the buildings to other uses revealed they did not meet the current building code requirements, “for any use.”
The announcement of St. Joseph Monastery’s imminent closure on Tuesday prompted St. Marys residents and natives to offer the following online remembrances of the Benedictine Sisters of Elk County.
Dave Mazzaferro of Altoona wrote: “I am a St. Marys native and have been living in the Altoona area for the past 23 years. My involvement with the Sisters takes me back to the age of six when I attended Queen of the World School in St. Marys. We didn’t realize it at the time but they played an important role in teaching us about our religion and helped to shape the people we are today.
“For a few years, I lived just up the street from the convent and often you would see them working in the yard and gardens when driving by. It’s one of those things that you think will be there forever but as we know, nothing stays the same forever.”
Jane Kennelly of Gibsonia wrote: “When I meet up with Benedictine nuns down here in Pittsburgh and tell them that I’m from St. Marys … they treat me like I’m royalty … so, it’s very sad, that the original motherhouse is closing. There’s a lot of history there … the history of the birth of St. Marys, Pa.”
Kathleen Valentine of Gloucester, Mass., wrote: “The nuns were a very big part of my young life — both as teachers and as friends — but as I understand it, the lack of vocations is the real issue. If there are no nuns to keep the community growing, is it any wonder that the convent has to close?”
