St. Scholastica St. Scholastica is the foundress of the women's branch of Benedictine Monasticism and is the patron saint of nuns and education.
ROOTED IN TRADITION HISTORY
Over 160 years ago, Father Henry Lemke, OSB, the first Benedictine monk to come to the area, arrived in the Kansas Territory. By 1858, more monks had arrived and soon St. Benedict’s College was educating the men of the American frontier. Opening a college on the Kansas-Missouri border just prior to the Civil War may have been difficult, but the monks were faithful, courageous, and strong…and they persevered. In 1863, at the height of the Civil War, seven strong-willed women, the Benedictine sisters, arrived in Atchison by riverboat. With limited wealth, but an abundance of spiritual resources, they founded Mount St. Scholastica Academy for women, followed later by Mount St. Scholastica College. These two institutions merged their individual colleges in 1971, creating co-educational Benedictine College. Today, Benedictine College recognizes the history, tradition, and faith of the founding Benedictine institutions.
MISSION
Heir to the 1500 years of Benedictine dedication to learning, Benedictine College’s mission as a Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts, residential college is the education of men and women within a community of faith and scholarship.
VISION
Building one of the great Catholic colleges in America. 6
