Trees (“I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as . . .”)

[Note: Sister Michael Kilmer, OSB (1914-1999), of Saint Benedict’s Monastery, was the daughter of Joyce Kilmer, who was killed in action in World War I in 1918, and whose poem “Trees” is one of the most familiar in the English language.]

Saint Benedict’s

Today, the work of professional landscape architects is evident throughout Saint Benedict’s, but no less so is that of the “non-professionals”—especially that of a former prioress, a sister “sent home to die,” and her 71-year-old assistant.

In the 1920s and early 1930s, Mother Louise Walz found time to personally plan the campus landscaping.  Sister Juliana Venne, assisted by Sister Amalia Eich, did much of the physical work.

Sister Juliana may not have been professionally trained, but she did have experience.  In 1895, as a rather young religious, she was sent to work with the children in Saint Joseph’s Orphanage in St. Paul.  Finding the orphanage property bare and treeless, she was determined to beautify the grounds.

Whenever she took the orphans for a walk into the country, she arranged to have one of the boys carry a spade.  Small evergreen trees found in the woodlands were dug up, carried home and planted in the orphanage yard.  On one of his visits to the orphanage, Archbishop John Ireland, in complimenting the sisters on their efforts to beautify the grounds, asked where they were getting their seedlings.  Imagine their consternation when they learned that they had been pilfering from the archbishop’s land.

[In 1923, at age 63 and ill, Sister Juliana was sent back to the motherhouse “to die.”  She regained her health.]

In 1932, Sister Amalia Eich, who had spent 37 years as a nurse in Bismarck, returned to Saint Benedict’s broken in health.  This 71-year-old sister joined 72-year-old Sister Juliana, and together they supervised and helped with the planting, care, and transplanting of all the evergreen trees.

As octogenarians, Sister Juliana and Sister Amalia continued their work in the vineyard, the nursery, and the garden.

[From Imogene Blatz, OSB, and Alard Zimmer, OSB, Threads from Our Tapestry: Benedictine Women in Central Minnesota (St. Cloud, Minnesota: North Star Press, 994), 143-45.]

Saint John’s

[The account of Sister Juliana includes this sentence: “She was sent to Saint John’s to consult with Father John Katzner, who gave her good advice and 26 spruce seeds.”]

Father John Katzner’s reminiscences:

I was still pursuing my studies at Saint John’s and had all the opportunities to observe what different varieties of fruits were grown at this institution in 1875.

I always had a predilection for horticulture as far as I can think back.  Even as a boy of 8 years I had already transplanted a small pear tree from the woods to my grandfather’s garden in July.  Of course, three days later the tree was dead.

Later as a student and professor I had no time to do any horticultural work.  It was only when our old orchard at Saint John’s had to be removed and no one ever thought of planting a new one, that I felt a desire to do something in this line.

On June 27, 1894, a cyclone passed over Saint John’s leaving only ruin and destruction in its track.  I was told my orchard was all ruined.  After two days I went out to see the extent of the damage.  No trees in the orchard were broken off, but the side of the trees facing the cyclone was full of sand driven into the bark.  All the trees recovered.

In July of that year I joined the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, of which I am still [1914] a member.  Every beginner in fruit-growing should become a member of this society and by guided by the practical instructions of the old horticulturalists who blazed the way to success.

[From History of Stearns County (1915), 740, 744, reprinted in Hilary Thimmesh, OSB, ed., Saint John’s at 150: A portrait of this place called Collegeville 1856-2006 (Collegeville: Saint John’s University Press, 2006), 132.]