Sister Cecile Uhlorn
"I have had a blessed life as a Benedictine Sister and I can’t believe it has been over 50 years!" says Sister Cecile Uhlorn.
She has spent her life on the western edge of the Camas Prairie, growing up on a farm near Ferdinand, only about 10 miles from the Monastery of St. Gertrude. Because she was taught by the Sisters from St. Gertrude’s and her family was acquainted with some of those living at the monastery, she was familiar with the Benedictines and their way of life from a young age.
Although her older sister, Angela, had joined the Monastery a few years before, her parents were surprised when she announced, after high school graduation, that she, too, wanted to join the Monastery. "There were so many kids in the family, so much going on all the time -- and I’m kind of an introvert -- that my parents never suspected that I was even thinking about becoming a Sister, too."
Her mother was very musical and all 12 of children learned to sing and play instruments. Music was a very important part of family life. Today she serves as the community organist.
Much of her monastic life was spent as a teacher in local schools, primarily in the fourth through eighth grades, including Cottonwood, Grangeville, Nez Perce, Rupert, Nampa, St. Maries and Lewiston. "Being a teacher was really a great gift and joy for me," she says.
"Though my years in campus ministry were some of the best times of my life." Serving at St. Augustine’s in Moscow, Idaho, and at St. Martin’s in Olympia, Wash., Sister Cecile worked with young people who were learning how to make their faith their own, instead of simply an extension of their upbringing. "They were excited about their faith and it was wonderful to be a part of that."
Years later, while traveling in Europe, she spent time at the Monastery of St. Andreas at Sarnen, Switzerland, the home of the Sisters who founded the Monastery of St. Gertrude.
When it was time to leave, she knew she would be back. She felt a strong connection with the Sarnen community and wanted to immerse herself in their ways, which were more traditional than those of Benedictine communities in the United States, which had since moved away from wearing habits, for instance.
She also wanted to experience a closer connection to the Swiss Sisters of St. Gertrude’s who had come from Sarnen, some of whom were still living when she first entered the monastery.
So, a few years later, she returned to Switzerland, where she lived and worked for about six years, serving the Swiss community as their organist.
Arriving at Sarnen without any proficiency in the German language, she learned as she went. "It was very hard not to be understood, and not to be able to understand them. There was a lot of smiling at first!"
"Prayer and the Liturgy of the Hours are particular joys of the monastic life. The rhythm of work and prayer, central to the Benedictine way, suits me. I fell easily into that rhythm at Sarnen, where they pray the Liturgy seven times a day.
"Now serving as the monastery liturgist and organist, I get to share the gift of music. It is a source of joy and prayerful expression for me today, as it has been throughout the past 50 years."