Spring - 4-10-22 - 07

About the Mount

Founded November 11, 1863

On November 11, 1863...

 In the midst of the Civil War, seven Benedictine Sisters arrived in Atchison, Kansas, from origins in Pennsylvania and Minnesota.

Upon their arrival, they opened St. Scholastica Academy, and a long history of educational opportunities for people from all over the world became a reality.

While the foundresses were German-American, the women who joined them from their earliest days came from diverse origins and ethnicities.

Presently, the community consists of more than 80 women devoted to a communal life of prayer, work and hospitality, lived according to the Rule of St. Benedict and the constitutions of the Monastic Congregation of St. Scholastica, with Sister Mary Elizabeth Schweiger as the current prioress.

The sisters serve God’s people in various ministries according to the needs of the community and their individual gifts.

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I am grateful to be a daughter of a people who were gentle and generous, humbled by the circumstances
of their lives, rooted to the hills of eastern Kansas.
Sister Jeremy Dempsey
PROFESSED IN 1950 | 1925-2020

OUR PRIORESSES

Mother Evangelista Kremmeter 1863-1884

Mother Theresa Moser 1884-1897

Mother Aloysia Northman 1897-1924

Mother Lucy Dooley 1924-1950

Mother Alfred Schroll 1950-1962

Mother Celeste Hemmen 1962-1966

Mother Mary Austin Schirmer 1966-1976

Mother Noreen Hurter 1976-1988

Sister Mary Agnes Patterson 1988-1999

Sister Mary Collins 1999-2005

Sister Anne Shepard 2005-2017

Sister Esther Fangman 2017-2023

Sister Mary Elizabeth Schweiger 2023-Present