Our Newsletter Online

St. Placid Priory's newsletter is now available in PDF form on this website. Here is our February 2010 Newsletter. To view PDF files, you will need a PDF reader like Adobe Reader or Foxit Reader.

New Store Hours

Beginning May 1, 2010 our Priory Store hours
will be on Fridays and Saturdays only, as follows:

Fridays - 12 Noon to 3 PM
Saturdays - 10 AM to 3:30 PM

Sister Stephanie St. Martin, OSB
November 30, 1916 - June 25, 2010

Sister Stephanie (Harriet Agnes) St. Martin, age 93, of St. Placid Priory, Lacey, Washington, died at St. Joseph Residence in Seattle on June 25, 2010. She was born November 30, 1916 in Herman, Minnesota to Eranie and Gertrude (Haeg) St. Martin.

Sister Stephanie joined St. Benedict's Convent in St. Joseph, Minnesota and made her Monastic Profession on July 11, 1937. She was sent out to Visitation school in Tacoma, Washington to teach middle grades. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree and teacher certification at Holy Names College in Spokane.

Sister Stephanie was a founding member of St. Placid Priory which became an autonomous monastery in 1952. Sister continued to serve the church in the Pacific Northwest: as a teacher at Visitation School, Tacoma; a founding faculty member at All Saints' School in Puyallup; Holy Rosary School and St. Ann School in Tacoma. She cared deeply about her students and was creative in finding ways to help them do well. She also frequently served as superior or mission coordinator. After serving as sub-prioress for Mother Benjamin, Sister taught at St. Placid High School in Olympia. She served her monastic community overseeing maintenance; as librarian; and as procurator.

Returning to the Priory in 1992, Sister Stephanie continued to serve her community in a variety of capacities. She was a gifted calligrapher, card maker and seamstress. She delighted in working with our Tanzanian Benedictine Sisters helping them improve their sewing skills. She was an avid and diverse reader.

Sister Stephanie's first priority was her deep commitment to a life of hidden prayer. Silence was important to her. She spent hours before the Blessed Sacrament praying for the world, the church, and the many prayer requests given the community. She was deeply devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Her parents, her sisters Jeanette Jones, Mary White and Irene Schueller, and brothers Claude, Clement and Leroy preceded her in death. Surviving are her sister Tresa Friendshuh of Mesa, Arizona; brothers Bernard of Willite, California and Thomas of Woodbury, Minnesota; many nieces, nephews, and cousins; as well as her Sisters at St. Placid Priory.

Vigil service: 7:00 PM, June 30, 2010 at St. Placid Priory
Mass of Resurrection: 3:30 PM, July 1, 2010 at St. Placid Priory.

Donations in memory of Sister Stephanie may be sent to St. Placid Priory, 500 College Street NE, Lacey WA 98516.

Book Signing

St. Placid Priory celebrated our Oblate Christine Paintner's two new books with a signing party after Mass on Sunday March 14. These books are now available at The Priory Store, open Noon to 3 PM Monday through Friday, and 10 AM to 3:30 PM on Saturdays. Come in and see what's new at the Priory Store.

Discernment and Election of Prioress

Under the guidance of the Spirit, on March 7, 2010 the Benedictine Sisters of St. Placid Priory re-elected Sister Maureen O'Larey as Prioress for the next four years. Amen, Allelelujah!

Listening with the Spirit

May 18, 2009 was a day of joy for Listening with the Spirit students of the Class of 2009, who after two years of preparation graduated as Spiritual Directors. See the class on our Spirituality Center page.

Have you considered that you might have a call to be a spiritual director? Applications are now being taken for the LWS class beginning in September, 2010. Call Sr. Laura Swan at 360.438.1771 for more information or email .

Sister Redempta Graduates

Crowning several years of hard work, Sister Redempta Ndunguru, OSB graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from St. Martin's University May 9, 2009. We celebrated her joy at a party that evening at the Priory, where many of her friends gathered to wish her well. Sister Redempta, who is from St. Agnes, Chipole Benedictine Sisters in Tanzania, East Africa, cntinues her studies at St. Martin's as she works for her Master's in School Administration.

Sundog and Its Reflection, photo by Ian Parker; see Evanescent Light

The Sisters Blog

How can we know what our life means unless we reflect on our experiences? Part of the monastic promise that Benedictines make is about conversion. Conversion involves looking at ourselves in relation to the people and the world around us, and seeing how our hearts--and our actions--need to change, in order for our world to change. In our group blog, some of our Sisters will be sharing the fruit of their reflection. You can read it at Out of the Stillness. Photo at left used with permission.

St. Placid is Now Smoke-Free

The buildings at St. Placid Priory have always been smoke-free. Since January 1, 2007 our entire monastic grounds have also been smoke-free. We hope you will enjoy our peaceful, green environment.

Volunteer at St. Placid

Many volunteers help us at St. Placid--doing a wide variety of helpful tasks. If you'd like to know more about occasional volunteering, or about our live-in volunteer program for women, please see our Volunteer page

The Priory Store

To find out "what's new" at the Priory Store, see our Priory Store page. We have many new books, religious articles and gifts for special occasions.

Sidelights

Take a look at our new page called Sidelights. For reference, we will move some older items from What's New to the Sidelights page. This especially includes news items with links to other St. Placid Priory web pages or to other websites. Then we'll have more room on What's New for the most current news of the Priory.