Argus Leader
Sunday, February 15, 2004

A LEGACY OF ART AND DEVOTION Sister's works paid tribute to God

Sacred Heart Monastery artist was 94

By LORETTA SORENSEN
The writer is director of college relations at Mount Marty College, Yankton, SD.

Members of Sacred Heart Monastery and the Yankton community are mourning the loss of 94-year-old Sister Leonarda Longen, who died February 7^th.  However, she will continue to have a presence in their lives and in the community through the works of art left behind.

"She (Sister Leonarda) was best known for her calligraphy but was experienced in many forms of art such as mosaics, painting, photography and liturgical design," said Sister Jacquelyn Ernster, monastery prioress. "Her glee in seeing God in nature will be missed.”

Longen received her initial art training in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. She was an art instructor at Mount Marty College until her retirement in 1982. Longen learned calligraphy in order to decorate the monastery and other institutions the sisters sponsored.  Her are was expressed in framed works as well as wall murals.  “I’ve done a lot of murals,” Longen said in a 1933 interview. “Lettering the walls of someone’s home was my master’s thesis. I also worked on mosaics, but I didn’t design them.”

Conception Abbey as well as Berliner and McGinnis Press were two of the major publishers that used Longen's designs for greeting cards and books. “Family Book of Life” was one of her first works.  Longen also completed murals at Conception Abbey in 1956.  They depicted the seven sacraments from the standpoint of the priest. Father Norbert Schappler, a monk at Conception, knew Longen and painted the undercoat for her murals, preparing the wall for her. Murals were completed in the assembly room which was where the monks prayed. The works are no longer at the Abbey, having been painted over a number of years ago.

One of Longen's mosaic works, “The Good Samaritan,” was displayed in the entrance to Yankton’s Sacred Heart Hospital when the institution was located on West 4^th Street. It is still part of the decoration in what is now the Benedictine Center.

“That work was designed by Brother Bonaventure of Chamberlain,” Longen said, “but executed by me and my mosaics class in 1965. The (materials) are very good quality, much better than the mosaic cross of the Sacred Heart, which I did for our Community Room.”

The current resident artist at the Monastery, Sister Kathleen Hickenbotham, said she Longen was the most influential art teacher that she studied with.  “She taught me not just about art, but the philosophy of it, reasons for art,” Hickenbotham said. “She was a member of the Catholic Art Association, a group of fine artists that used to gather and share work and ideas. She was also acquainted and corresponded with so many artists and calligraphers around the world.”

Longen's reverence for creation was evident in her work," Hickenbotham said.  Longen often freely gave handmade cards to visitors.  “If you came to her office to visit she would always tell you to be sure and take some of her handmade cards,” Hickenbotham said. “She always shared her talents so readily. She once told me that she felt like she never did a day of work because she loved what she was doing so much.”

Longen said that she gained a lot of reward from teaching.  “The question so often posed to me is ‘how do I do that?' ” she said. “It requires a great deal of patience. I like to emphasize that the ideal exists only in the mind, and that we must not be discouraged when our practice does not always reflect the ideal. It was always a joy to witness the growth.”