Religion and Belief | Page 29

Black and white photograph of ttendees at the 1981 Hmong New Year, held in St. Paul’s Highland Junior-Senior High School, participate in pov pob, a ball-toss courtship ritual. Photographed by Marlin Heise on December 19, 1981.

Pov pob at the 1981 Hmong New Year

Attendees at the 1981 Hmong New Year, held in St. Paul’s Highland Junior-Senior High School, participate in pov pob, a ball-toss courtship ritual. Photographed by Marlin Heise on December 19, 1981.

1981 Hmong New Year

The 1981 Hmong New Year, held in St. Paul’s Highland Junior-Senior High School. Photographed by Marlin Heise on December 19, 1981.

The Hmong New Year in St. Paul is a unique annual event encapsulated into a weekend celebration held at the end of November. Since 1977, Hmong people have gathered in the city to meet, eat, celebrate the harvest, and enjoy cultural performances. Though the event is rooted in the agricultural history of the Hmong people and their religious traditions, it has found a new expression in St. Paul—the home of one of the largest communities of Hmong outside Southeast Asia.

Latin vows signed by Mother Benedicta Riepp

Latin vows signed by Mother Benedicta Riepp on July 9, 1846. The vows read: I, Sister Maria Anna Benedicta, promise before God and his saints stability, conversion of my morals, obedience, poverty and chastity, for three years according to the Rule of Saint Benedict and the statutes of this monastery, which is constructed in honor of St. Walburga, Virgin, in the presence of the Most Reverend and Illustrious Lord Karl August von Reisach, Bishop of Eichstätt. Original document used with the permission of the Archives of St. Benedicts’ Monastery, St. Joseph, Minnesota.

Color image of the identification plaque at the burial site of Mother Benedicta Riepp in the cemetery at Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, 2015.

Plaque at Gravesite of Mother Benedicta Riepp

Identification plaque at the burial site of Mother Benedicta Riepp in the cemetery at Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, 2015.

Color image of the gravsite of Mother Benedicta Riepp, 2015.

Gravesite of Mother Benedicta Riepp

The burial site of Mother Benedicta Riepp, 2015. Riepp's remains were moved in 1884 from St. Cloud, where she died, to the cemetery at Saint Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph.

Mother Benedicta Riepp

Oil painting of Mother Benedicta Riepp, c.1980s. Painting by Sister Thomas Carey, O.S.B. No verified photograph of Mother Benedicta Riepp exists.

Riepp, Mother Benedicta (Sybilla) (1825–1862)

Mother Benedicta (Sybilla) Riepp was the founder of the Roman Catholic Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict in North America. During her time as Superior of the first foundation in St. Marys, Pennsylvania, she sent a group of Sisters to St. Cloud, Minnesota, where they began a new convent. This group moved to St. Joseph in 1863. By 1946, Saint Benedict’s Monastery was the largest community of Benedictine Sisters in the world.

A side wall of St. Mary's Orthodox Cathedral sanctuary

Side wall of St. Mary's Orthodox Cathedral sanctuary after renovation, 2015. The wall features new iconography by world-renowned Russian iconographer Dmitry Shkolnik.

Side wall of St. Mary's Orthodox Cathedral sanctuary