The Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration are a congregation of nuns within the Benedictine Confederation. The original monastery was founded in 1874 by a group of five nuns, led by Sister Mary Anselma Felber, O.S.B., who came from the young monastery of Maria-Rickenbach (founded 1857) in Switzerland. Arriving in Clyde, Missouri, they founded the Benedictine Convent of Perpetual Adoration. This remains the motherhouse and largest community of the congregation. It houses 550 documented relics of the saints—the biggest such collection in the United States.
The decision to come was sparked by the departure of a group of monks from the nearby Engelberg Abbey, at a time when monastic communities felt threatened by political changes taking place throughout Europe. As with many other monastic groups, they looked to the New World for a place of refuge.The monks went on to found Conception Abbey in nearby Conception, Missouri, and began to minister to German and Irish immigrants of the region.
The nuns follow a simple, contemplative way of life, formed by the Rule of St. Benedict. To this end, they supported themselves by such farming as could be done on their land. They also provide the printing of spiritual cards, as well as making vestments for churches around the country, and the baking of Altar Breads. To the usual monastic routine, they have added the practice of Perpetual Adoration in their chapels.
Never a large group, they went on to establish monasteries around the Midwest and the Southwest regions of the country. Apart from the motherhouse at Clyde, their only other large monastery was in San Diego, California, which housed nearly one hundred nuns. That house closed in the 1980's. A small community was established in Sand Springs, Oklahoma in 1977. It was named Osage Monastery in recognition of the Native American tribe which predominates in that region. The monastery was built in the style of an Eastern ashram and the nuns of that community pursued inter-religious dialogue with Buddhist and Hindu monastics. The nuns left that house in 2008 and turned it over to a community of laypeople who endeavor to continue that way of life.
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The order has houses in:
A landmark church and working monastery for the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, in Tucson, Arizona, USA. The building is widely acknowledged as a classic of mission style architecture.
The Benedictine Sisters first came to Tucson in 1935 at the invitation of the local bishop, the Right Reverend Daniel Gercke. In 1940, they moved into the Spanish-Renaissance-style Benedictine Sisters Monastery, which was designed by architect Roy Place, who also designed the old Pima County Courthouse, Tucson's veterans hospital, and some notable campus buildings of the University of Arizona.
The Sisters produce low-gluten hosts safe for celiacs, which has been approved by the Catholic Church for use at Mass. The hosts are made and packaged in a dedicated wheat-free / gluten-free environment. Gluten content analysis found no detectable amount of gluten, though the reported gluten content is 0.01% as that was the lowest limit of detection possible with the utilized analysis technique. In an article from the Catholic Review (15 February 2004) Dr. Alessio Fasano was quoted as declaring these hosts "perfectly safe for celiac sufferers." [1]