Mount St. Scholastica History & 1900 Residence
Shannon Twp., Atchison County, KS
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In 1863, Prior Augustine Wirth of St. Benedict’s here in Atchison asked the superior in St. Cloud, Minnesota for teachers to start a school for girls. The monks were already teaching the boys. The sisters in St. Cloud drew straws to decide who were to go to Atchison. Benedictine sisters come November 11, 1863 to Atchison, Kansas.
The Benedictine monastery in Atchison, Kansas, begun by Mother Evangelista Kremmeter and six other sisters, grew to establish many Catholic schools in the midwest. At Mount St. Scholastica Academy and College, thousands of young women received the education, preparation and training for their future lives.
The other Sisters were:
Sister Gregoria Moser
Sister Amanda Meier
Sister Dominica Massoth
Sister Scholastica Durr
Sister Adelaide Lejal
Sister Ehrentrude Walters
Mount St. Scholastica History
1897-1903
Mother Superior Aloysia Northam
1854-1924
On July 12, 1897, Sister Aloysia Northman was elected as the third prioress of Mount St. Scholastica. She was born Nov 1854 in Missouri. When Mother Aloysia was very ill with erysipelas and her life was despaired of, Sister Marcella Dignan offered her life in exchange. Sister Marcella died January 18, 1908, and Mother Aloysia recovered.
Mother Aloysia Northman wanted more for the young women in her care. She looked at the talented Academy graduates and saw the potential in them for higher learning.
She also saw that there was a movement to require all teachers
to have college credentials. That meant finding the resources to educate the
many sisters who were currently teaching. To her the solution to both issues was
obvious – build her own college.
To her sisters, the solution was a little more daunting. For eight sisters, it
meant spending their summers at a convent in Papillion, Nebraska, getting up at
3 a.m. to pray, eat, catch the Interurban, and make it to 8 a.m. class at
Creighton. By 1921, the first four sisters had earned bachelor’s degrees and, in
1923, Mount St. Scholastica College opened with six students and three teachers.
There was nowhere to go but up, and that is exactly what Mother Aloysia
believed. She died just as the 1924 school year was beginning, but she had lived
to see her dream launched. Three years later, Mount St. Scholastica earned
accreditation as a junior college, and in another three years was a fully
accredited four-year college.
Sister Dorothy Dooley born May 1878, in Kansas, was the first Dean of the College. Her health was beginning to fail but one would never know. On the day the North Central inspectors were here, she entertained, asked questions, and was the gracious hostess. When the examining board had departed, it was found that Sister Dorothy was running a temperature of 103.
Sister Petronilla Willems born Jan 1874, in Illinois, played Rook for blood and it is said that one never minded being her opponent. She kept the score which was always we and us.
Sister Veronica Haug was born Sept 1885 in Germany. In her retirement, the Sister use to love to crochet lace for the albs for the newly ordained priests, for Father Abbot’s “Boys” as she termed them.
St. Joseph’s parochial school in Kansas City, Kansas, was opened in 1898. The sisters stayed with the sisters at St. Anthony’s and walked back and forth every day. In November of 1901, a home was provided for them but that following spring, a fire destroyed the church, school, and sisters’ home.
Sister Rita Callahan, born Oct 1876 in Kansas was neatness personified. The Sister loved to crochet, and could duplicate any pattern. She had a tender heart, be it for the pupils in her classroom or the cat that sneaked up on the back porch. “I just took that old cat and slung it out in the alley,” she told the sisters. But the sister who saw her, reported she had picked it up, took it to the alley and put it down gently.
Sister Sylvia Callahan was a teacher who would have several groups studying different subjects. The Sister was born Jan 1880 in Kansas.
Sister Julia Coleman was a joyful soul, a ray of sunshine to all around her. One day she was telling the sisters about going to confession in a room and how it impressed her. She exclaimed, “Oh, I could have just put my head on his shoulder and let the tears run down.”
Sister Apollonia Haug, born Jan 1879 in Germany, was a wonderful character that seemed to radiate peace and generosity. All who lived with her spoke of her with love.
Sister Thecla Schecher was the minims’ prefect. She was a firm believer in fresh air for the little girls and used to exhort the young sister who took her place for several hours on Saturday mornings: “Take them outside and let them get the pep out of them.” The Sister was born Feb 1871 in Kansas.
Sister Monica Schecher was born Sept 1874 in Kansas. She loved to bring happiness into the lives of her pupils by mounting pictures of angels on cardboard and hanging them on strings over the radiator so the hot air rising would make them dance about.
Sister Helena Brandmeier, born Oct 1878 in Germany also taught in St. Anthony’s School in Kansas City, Kansas, and in Seneca. She attended Creighton. She died just after she had her degree and when she was prepared to work. It was not easy for her to be resigned to die just then.
Sister Sophia Buttenbohmer and another sister, on a trip to Westphalia, got caught in a creek and almost drowned. The boy driver didn’t know the way and got caught in the current of the stream. In her later years Sister Sophia cleaned the main hall. The doorway in front of Mother Lucy’s office was kept shining as Sister tried to hear the latest news. Sophia was born Nov 1874 in Ohio.
Ground was broken for the monastery and Choir Chapel on September 14, 1899. Mass was celebrated for the first time in the Choir Chapel on May 18, 1901.
Sister Philomena Levings, born Feb 1855 in New York1903 became the superior in Kelly, Kansas in 1903. Sister Fara Hopf, who once was sent to Kelly, said that often the snow drifted on their beds in the winter months. For a while a snake lived in or near their outdoor toilet. Sister Levings would take her flashlight and accompany ‘whoever’ for safety.
One of the first sisters who taught in Rosedale, Kansas, was Sister Adelgund Stein, who became superior and principal. Sister Stein was born Sept 1867 in Kansas.
1900 Residence
| Name | Age | Notes | |
| Anderson | Pauline | 32 | Sister |
| Anthony | Maude | 16 | Student |
| Arons | Adelscina | 38 | Sister |
| Buttenbohmer | Sophia | 25 | Sister |
| Beelor | Adela | 36 | Sister |
| Beelor | Trmengard | 33 | Sister |
| Boos | Hilda | 39 | Sister |
| Bradley | Agnes | 17 | Student |
| Bradley | Clara | 59 | Sister |
| Bradley | Florentine | 41 | Sister |
| Bradmeier | Helena | 21 | Sister |
| Brcher | Cunneyund | 40 | Sister |
| Byrne | Elizabeth | 16 | Student |
| Callahan | Rita | 23 | Sister |
| Callahan | Sylvia | 20 | Sister |
| Caples | Honora | 14 | Student |
| Cass | Adelaide | 44 | Sister |
| Coleman | Julia | 22 | Sister |
| Creeran | Margaret | 17 | Student |
| Cushing | Blanch | 13 | Student |
| Cushing | Lora | 20 | Sister |
| Cushing | Lucilla | 18 | Student |
| Daugherty | Cornelia | 56 | Sister |
| Dinnie | Alice | 19 | Sister |
| Dooley | Dorothea | 22 | Sister |
| Dunigan | Bathilds | 37 | Sister |
| Fichan | Angela | 17 | Student |
| Finnigan | Agatha | 12 | Student |
| Furstmier | Livba | 25 | Sister |
| Gallagher | Lizzie | 21 | Sister |
| Garacke | Baraba | 15 | Student |
| Garman | Angela | 44 | Sister |
| Ghio | Lena | 10 | Student |
| Glancy | Anges | 51 | Sister |
| Gleason | Anna | 14 | Student |
| Gleason | Elizabeth | 10 | Student |
| Gleason | Mary | 12 | Student |
| Guidinger | Anna | 16 | Student |
| Haug | Appolonia | 21 | Sister |
| Haug | Ida | 16 | Student |
| Haug | Veronica | 24 | Sister |
| Herold | Mary | 15 | Student |
| Hetcher | Clairdie | 31 | Sister |
| Hoffman | Mamie | 11 | Student |
| Holmes | Imanite | 9 | Student |
| Jacobs | Josepha | 66 | Sister |
| Kapser | Gertrude | 62 | Sister |
| Keamer | Ebba | 45 | Sister |
| Keieger | Rosalia | 46 | Sister |
| Keilenoweka | May | 12 | Student |
| Kerrmann | Blendina | 30 | Sister |
| Kramer | Frances | 46 | Sister |
| Kremmeter | Evangelista | 67 | Sister |
| Lail | Leraphing | 38 | Student |
| Larviench | Gladescine | 35 | Sister |
| Levings | Philomena | 45 | Sister |
| Margusser | Luitgard | 34 | Sister |
| Marintzer | Crescentia | 28 | Sister |
| Mayer | Matilda | 25 | Sister |
| Mc Carthy | Angela | 16 | Student |
| Meier | Amanda | 63 | Sister |
| Methman | Justina | 54 | Sister |
| Mettman | Maura | 86 | Sister |
| Meyer | Columbus | 37 | Sister |
| Miahin | Winifried | 40 | Sister |
| Moser | Teresa | 53 | Sister |
| Moser | Gregoria | 63 | Sister |
| Nitzl | Imelda | 22 | Sister |
| Nolan | June | 24 | Sister |
| Nolff | Levcadia | 19 | Sister |
| Normile | Lenora | 14 | Student |
| Northman | Aloysious | 45 | Mother Superior |
| O'Keefe | Hildegard | 42 | Sister |
| Picher | Trmens | 34 | Sister |
| Robinson | Agatha | 43 | Sister |
| Rodroff | Benedicta | 50 | Sister |
| Scanlan | Vivina | 38 | Sister |
| Schmess | Antonia | 58 | Sister |
| Schneider | Martha | 14 | Student |
| Schecher | Monica | 25 | Sister |
| Schecher | Thecla | 29 | Sister |
| Schrockley | Jennie | 11 | Student |
| Schumaker | Mary | 14 | Student |
| Schuster | Martha | 15 | Student |
| Schutz | Emma | 15 | Student |
| Seegar | Ida | 47 | Sister |
| Solke | Lizzie | 15 | Student |
| Stattery | Stella | 31 | Sister |
| Stein | Adelgund | 32 | Sister |
| Stein | Clara | 22 | Sister |
| Stein | Edith | 36 | Sister |
| Stenger |