By Stephen Floyd
The Benedictine Sisters of Mount Angel aren’t disbanding when they move out of Queen of Angels Monastery this summer.
In fact, the order made an impact far and wide without a long-term home after they arrived in Oregon 141 years ago.
Sister Dorothy Jean Beyer, the monastery’s former prioress and a member of the order, said departing the building is one more opportunity for the Sisters to find joy in adversity.
“We will continue our monastic life of prayer and work, of hospitality,” she said. “We’ll volunteer wherever we can…We will continue as long as there is a Benedictine Sister alive.”
Beyer spoke at length with Our Town about the upcoming transition from Queen of Angels Monastery, as well as the long and dynamic history of the Sisters. This is the first in a series of articles about the Benedictine Sisters and the future of the building and property.
The series draws heavily from A Tree Rooted in Faith, by Sister Alberta Dieker, a thoroughly-researched history of the order published in 2007.
Oregon had been a state for only 23 years when a group of Swiss nuns and sisters-in-training arrived to found a Benedictine mission. They were looking for a locale suitable to the remoteness and solemnity of monastic life. The wide, mountainous wilderness of the Pacific Northwest fit the bill.
They arrived in Gervais on Oct. 30, 1882, to serve a parish with German, French and Irish immigrants. However, the convent they expected to occupy was not finished, and the Sisters had no place to call home.
Beyer said this was the first of many “bumps” the order would encounter throughout the decades. Like many challenges, it became a “blessing in disguise,” she said, and the Sisters found a creative solution.
Parishioners initially opened their homes to the unexpectedly-displaced group. But the convent would not be ready for several months and a more robust solution was needed.
A local woman, identified by Dieker as Mrs. Matt, offered an abandoned saloon where the Sisters could stay rent-free. It was a fixer-upper, and after a few days of repairs the Sisters moved into their first official home in their new parish.
The rough arrival did not slow down the Sisters’ mission, as two days later, on Nov. 1, 1882, four nuns set out to support a Native American boarding school in Grand Ronde. Among them was Sister Bernardine Wachter, who had taken an unofficial leadership role and would later be credited as the foundress of the order.
Beyer said one of the main goals of the order was to establish Catholic schools in Western Oregon, in addition to supporting fellow Benedictines in prayerful devotion to God.
“Our first ministry is prayer,” she said. “Then we respond to the local needs of the people, so that is how our ministries are driven. What are the needs of the people near us?”
Most of their trip to Grand Ronde was by train the next day, though the last leg was on foot over hilly, muddy terrain at night.
“I don’t know how they did it,” said Beyer. “I would have thrown up my hands and said, ‘I’m going back to Switzerland.’ They were strong, they were young and courageous, and they had that missionary spirit.”
File Photo
Such determination was almost Wachter’s undoing.
In their initial arrival, after several days of hard travel, and a difficult situation in Gervais, her fellow nuns noticed Wachter needed to rest whether she wanted to or not. They went to the trouble of hiding her clothes overnight so, the next morning, Wachter had no choice but to stay in bed and recover.
The convent at Gervais was completed in early 1883 and the nuns moved in Feb. 1. Their transition was quite timely. The old saloon nearly burned down the month before after the group attempted to warm their living quarters with a wood stove.
They opened an adjoining school the next month and continued strengthening ties with the community. The order grew, and over time it became apparent they would need a larger facility.
The sisters had been working with the monks of Mount Angel Abbey since 1884. Compared to the flat landscapes in Gervais, the gentle hills and flowering trees of Mount Angel, then called Fillmore, were a paradise to the Sisters and they decided to settle in the area.
They purchased 30 acres of land in 1885 and construction began on what would become Queen of Angels Monastery. They cooked food and offered mass for the workmen, who in turn paid personally for the gilding of the cross atop the steeple of the chapel.
As construction neared its end in 1887, Wachter was chosen by a body of 29 Sisters to become the first elected Sister Superior of the order, becoming Mother Bernardine. She would prove herself a capable administrator and strong leader as they moved into the new monastery in 1888, including efforts to finance a boarding school adjoining the monastery.
Mother Bernardine’s leadership may have ruffled a few feathers. In 1890 when her three-year term was up, Father Adelhelm, prior of Mount Angel Abbey, told the Sisters they could not re-elect Wachter, then personally oversaw the counting of ballots behind closed doors.
Dieker noted there is no official record explaining Adelhelm’s decision. Based on anecdotal evidence, including diary entries, Adelhelm may have been pressured by the Archdiocese of Oregon City to place an American in charge rather than a European-born immigrant.
The Archdiocese, led by Archbishop William Gross, attempted to eliminate the Sisters elections in 1891 in the name of avoiding a schism over the last election. He asked the Abbot of Mount Angel Abbey to personally appoint a Sister Superior, but the Abbot declined and asked Gross to make an appointment if one was needed.
Whatever the reasons for the 1890 election, in 1893 the Sisters were given no restrictions on their voting and Wachter was re-elected with overwhelming support. She would serve as Sister Superior until her death June 3, 1901, at age 51, bringing a close to the first chapter of the Sisters’ history.
