BIOGRAPHIES

Sister Gertrude Gillette, O.S.B., was born in 1953 and grew up in South Bend, Indiana. She graduated from St. Benedict Academy in Still River, Massachusetts, and joined a new community of Sisters who taught her during High School. When this community became Benedictine in 1980, Sr. Gertrude was among the founding members. After further training in the Benedictine life at Stanbrook Abbey, England, she made her Solemn Profession at St. Scholastica Priory in 1984. The following year the community moved from Still River to Petersham, Massachusetts. She received her B.A. from Magdalen College (New Hampshire), and her M.A. (1991) and Ph.D. (1996) from the Catholic University of America in Early Christian Studies/Patristics.

Sister then had the opportunity to spend 6 years in Europe, teaching in Gaming, Austria (1996-1999), and in Rome (1999-2002), serving as superior of the international house of studies for Benedictine women (Casa Santa Lioba), and helping to set up the Monastic Formators' Program. She also attended classes in Rome and obtained an S.T.B. from the Angelicum. It was during her years in Rome that she received the impetus to make a new Benedictine foundation which she and Sr. Theresa Scheuren began in 2003. She is currently working on a licentiate thesis for the Collegio Sant'Anselmo in the field of Monastic Studies, entitled "Anger in Community: A look at Ancient Monastic Texts."

Besides her role as superior of the new foundation, Sr. Gertrude works on putting together a monastic liturgy for the house. She is also an Associate Professor of Theology at Ave Maria University.

Sister Theresa Scheuren, O.S.B., was born in Wagner, South Dakota, a small town near Yankton, South Dakota. Her parents sent her to Mt. Marty High School in Yankton where she received an excellent education. The Benedictine Sisters who educated her initiated her into the liturgical life of the Church and inspired in her a love for the Benedictine life. She attended Mt. St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas, and entered the Benedictine Community there. When the Sisters there founded a new community in Glendora, California, she became a founding member of St. Lucy's Priory.

She graduated from the University of San Diego, California, with a B.A., and received her M.A. in Theology from St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota.

One of the primary apostolic endeavors of the Benedictine Sisters in the US was the education of the young and so she was assigned to teaching for many years. She was also involved in Development work at St. Lucy's Priory High School and built a new gymnasium for the school. This led to her role as Development Director at St. Andrew's Abbey in Valyermo, California, where she assisted the monks in the many ways of raising funds for the Abbey.

Sister Theresa has now embarked on another great adventure: helping to establish a new Benedictine monastic community for women in Naples, Florida. Her wonderful energy, joy, and past experiences all come together as so many gifts in establishing new beginnings.