Born on June 28, 1825, in Waal in the Bavarian province of Swabia, Maria Sybilla Riepp entered the Benedictine Convent of Saint Walburga in Eichstètt when she was nineteen. She took the habit as Sister Benedicta in August 1844. From 1849, when she made her final vows, to 1852 she was a teacher and mistress of novices in the convent. In 1852, with two companions, she sailed for America to establish the first Benedictine convent. In July of that year they settled in St. Marys, Elk County, Pennsylvania, where there was already a Benedictine monastery, and established St. Joseph╒s Convent and School, of which Mother Benedicta was superior.
The small community endured severe hardships for a number of years, but with the admission of 12 novices in 1853 it began a sustained growth. Sisters were sent out to establish new convents in Erie, Pennsylvania, in Newark, New Jersey, in St. Cloud, Minnesota, in Bristow, Virginia, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere over the next several years. Jurisdictional disputes with the motherhouse in Eichstètt and with Abbot Boniface Wimmer led to her trip back to Europe in 1859 to obtain independence for the American Benedictine convents. Although she succeeded in securing independence from the motherhouse, the American convents were placed under the authority of their respective diocesan bishops. On her return to St. Joseph╒s she found that Abbot Wimmer had removed her as superior. She passed her last years in the convents in Erie and St. Cloud; she died in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on March 15, 1862.
