Celebrating the Founders of St. Walburg Monastery

       On Monday, June 3, we celebrated Founders’ Day, commemorating the five sisters who came from Erie, PA to establish St. Walburg Monastery in Covington, Kentucky. The sisters came in two batches. The first three-- Sisters Josephine Buerkle, Anselma Schoenhofer and Ruperta Albert—came on June 3, 1859. Two months later—Mother Alexia Lechner (left), who was appointed the first prioress, and Sister Salesia Haas arrived on August 2. Their mission was to "take charge of the girls' school" at  St. Joseph Parish on 12th Street in Covington.

       The commemoration of our founders fills us with joy and pride in our tradition—even though Sr. Josephine Buerkle left soon after Mother Alexia arrived to go back to Erie where she married a young man she knew before she was asked to go
to Covington. Such an event reminds us of the humanity of those who have gone before us and who begin a good work.

       At dinner on June 3 some of the sisters at my table encouraged me to share with you the closing prayer we use at Liturgy of the Hours on Founders’ Day and the general intercessions I wrote for Eucharist that day. One sister said these two prayers manifest how we look at our past and how our past informs who we are in the present and who we want to be in the future.

Closing Prayer for Founders’ Day Liturgy of the Hours

       O God, we remember and give thanks for courageous and visionary women who founded this community. You filled them with the love of prayer, the desire to serve your people and good zeal for the monastic life. May their example inspire us, their memory encourage us and their intercession sustain us as we seek to respond to your call of today. Bring to the fulfillment the good work you began in them and continue in us. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, who abides with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever.

General Intercessions—June 3, 2019

In faith Benedict and Scholastica envisioned a life of stability and peace amid the turmoil of their time. Give us a monastic vision for our time, we pray:

In faith the sisters of St. Walburg Abbey in Eichstatt sent women to America to serve in new and different ways. Open Church leaders and ministers to new ways to spread the Gospel, we pray:

In faith five sisters set out from Erie to come to a place they had never seen to serve people they did not know. Give us courage to face an unknown future, we pray:

In faith we proclaim that we serve Christ and open our hearts to the young and the old, the sick and the poor, the stranger and the guest. Bring to fulfillment the good work you have begun in us, we pray:

In faith women of strength and courage came together to seek God. Strengthen our community life and increase our confidence that God is with us always, we pray:

In faith Mother Alexia and all her daughters who are now part of that great cloud of witnesses, persevered in the monastery until death. Bring them all together to everlasting life, we pray:

                              Sr. Deborah Harmeling, OSB

Founders Day

       Today (June 1) we honor the Benedictine women who arrived from Erie PA to establish a Benedictine community in Covington, Ky. (We usually celebrate the feast on June 3 but this year we transferred it to June 1 because the Feast of the Sacred Heart falls on June 3.)  Three sisters arrived at St. Joseph Parish on June 3, 1859. They were the third group of Benedictines to establish a community in the United States. It may be interesting background to note that the first Benedictines to arrive in the United States from Eichstatt, Germany in 1852 settled in Elk County, PA. In 1856, a group from Elk County established a monastery in Erie, PA, the community of our direct origin. 

       On June 3, 1859, three sisters from Erie, PA, arrived at St. Joseph Parish. These sisters lived in a rented house on Bush Street with few possessions and only a genuine trust in God to sustain them. It is hard to imagine the hardships they faced in a new land with a new language, and little preparation for teaching the children of Covington’s German immigrants’ girls’ school.  How grateful they were that the parishioners of St. Joseph Parish came to their aid with food and clothing. 

       Only two months after their arrival Mother Alexia Lechner (pictured below) was sent as prioress. We give special honor to her as we celebrate our Founders Day. In addition we celebrate the many forebears who planted the seeds and tended the foundation of the monastery we dearly love and call home today. 

       The first reading for today’s Mass from the book of Hebrews honors our forebears well by comparing their faith to that of Noah, Abel, Abraham, and Jacob. We ask God for a similar faith and ask their intercession as we seek to respond to God’s call today. We ask that God continue in us the good work God began in them.        

        As I wrote this blog, I began to feel closer to Mother Alexia and our early forebears than ever before. I attended elementary school at St. Joseph Parish where the founders of our community arrived. It was from the Sisters at St. Joseph School that the first seeds of my vocation were sown. Praise God—a personal reason for me to celebrate!

Sister Victoria Eisenman, OSB