100 Years of Service
1906 - 2006

Quick Facts

Current Membership

• 60 members
• 4 women in formation
• 19 members born on the Prairie
• 1 woman in formation born on the Prairie
• women in the formation process each of the last 8 years

Annual Visitors

• 1,500 retreatants
• 4,500 museum visitors
• 500 students through classroom group tours at the museum
• 2,500 special events attendees at the museum
• hundreds of personal family, friends and volunteers

Sources of Annual Operating Income

• 43% sister salaries
• 22% donations
• 16% retirement benefits
• 10% ministry income
• 9% other

Donation Income

• 15% from Prairie communities

Annual Expenses

• 61% paid to Prairie vendors

Employees

• 18 employees, all from Prairie
• 20 infirmary staff (SMH employees)

In 1882 the first three Swiss pioneering sisters arrived in America. Their task was to develop an enclosed monastery similar to the one they left behind.

It became immediately obvious, however, that the sisters were needed in the church’s mission work in the newly settled west. They plunged into the education of the Wapatos at the Grand Ronde mission in Oregon, then proceeded to build and develop schools for the settlers in eastern Washington. They arrived in Idaho in 1905 to staff St. Joseph’s School in the prairie town of Cottonwood.

Responding to the pressing needs of the pioneer families for education and health care, the sisters quickly and effectively began staffing parish schools and starting hospitals, not only on the prairie, but across the state. By the 1950’s the sisters worked in 18 parish schools; owned and administered two catholic schools – St. Gertrude’s Academy and St. Mary’s Academy in St. Maries, ID – and a junior college; and owned and operated two hospitals – Our Lady of Consolation (soon to become St. Mary’s Hospital) in Cottonwood and St. Benedicts Hospital in Jerome, ID.

The tumultuous decade of the 1970’s found the church – and indeed, the sisters – facing unprecedented challenges raised by Vatican II. The grievous decline in membership at St. Gertrude’s during this decade was not only devastating, but also it was a call to reexamine the Gospel and live it in the new circumstances.

Emboldened by the Pope’s proclamation for monasteries to “revive their ancient traditions of service and so adapt them to the needs of today,” the community considered whether their traditional ministries of education and health care were the best areas in which to focus their services based on their monastic traditions.

The women and men that the sisters had educated and trained to become teachers and hospital administrators were more than capable of carrying on the work of the sisters. Freed to begin ministering in emerging areas of need in society and the church, the sisters found themselves heavily engaged in pastoral work and the spiritual development of the person.

Today the sisters believe that God desires them to share their home and space with men and women of all faiths who seek a reflective, sacred time of spiritual renewal and nourishment. This work, known as the Spirituality and Retreat Ministry, brings nearly 1,500 people to the monastery annually. It now has its own space – Spirit Center – dedicated to retreats for spiritual renewal as well as for educational and cultural activities.

The sisters continue to minister to nearly 7,500 people each year through the Historical Museum at St. Gertrude. This public trust is an educational and cultural resource that amazes visitors and tourists in its quality and content.

Long an activity of the sisters, but not seriously managed until recently is the Stewardship of the Land Ministry. Through an active forest management program the sisters maintain 1,000 acres of healthy timberland that helps financially sustain the monastery. This deep care for the land – stewardship – draws people to the monastery to participate in the sisters’ organic gardening, canning and food preservation and recycling efforts.

Being responsive to God’s call and the needs of society seems to be key to St. Gertrude’s increasing membership. Current membership is 60 sisters and four women in formation with several women considering their options.

The sisters continue to look for ways to develop their ministries while financially supporting themselves. Currently, sisters earning employment income contribute to the support of the 40 - 50 members living at the monastery. Other financial resources include investment income, retirement benefits, forest and farm land income, donations and money raised through work done at the monastery: the Book and Gift Shop, candle-making, the museum, Spirit Center, and more. The monastery is a financially self-sufficient organization that is not directly supported by the diocese or Catholic churches at large.

For 100 years the Benedictine Sisters at the Monastery of St. Gertrude have given shape to daily life on the prairie. The prayer board is filled with requests from friends, family and neighbors; many people have experienced a sister as a teacher or have received healing from them at the hospital; more and more local residents visit the museum or participate in the on-going retreat and spiritual direction program.

A century of living, praying, ministering, healing and working in Cottonwood is just the beginning for the sisters. They eagerly await the next 100 years as they unfold into a gracious and God-filled future.