In 1880, five sisters from Maria-Richenbach in Switzerland came to join sisters in Maryville, Missouri. Bishop Martin Marty OSB from the Dakota territory recruited some of these sisters to work in the new Dakota territory and start a new foundation. They homesteaded in Zell, South Dakota, and then took over the bishop's house and school in Yankton. From this beginning, Sacred Heart Monastery in Yankton has grown to its present status of 146 sisters sponsoring Mount Marty College and Sacred Heart Hospital now joined with the Presentation Sisters hospitals in the Avera Health System. In addition, the sisters do a variety of ministry in this area working for the diocese, teaching, nursing, performing social work, parish ministry, and providing support services for others.

The charism entrusted to Benedictines is, in essence, the gift to seek God in cenobitic (monastic) community, to praise God through prayer and ministry, and to listen with eagerness to the Spirit's call into the unknown future. Our charism is seen as both flexible and stable. It is an ongoing task and an ever-present gift, calling for a fresh response each day in the context of faith.

Monastery on the Missouri
South Dakota Magazine
March/April 2005 Issue
Reprinted with permission