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.
of their lives, rooted to the hills of eastern Kansas.
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