Origins

 The community of the “Jonesboro Benedictines” had its origins in the Convent of Maria Rickenbach in the Canton of Unterwalden, Switzerland.   After prayer and long deliberations, in response to requests for Sisters to teach in the mission fields of America, five Sisters were sent to make a foundation in 1874 near Conception, Missouri, in a little village named Maryville.  Additional Sisters followed the next year.
  Meanwhile, Father Eugene Weibel, an early missionary in Arkansas, persuaded Bishop Edward Fitzgerald to support his efforts to obtain Sisters to teach in the parish school at Pocahontas. After repeated requests, Prior Frowin Conrad of Conception, Missouri, spiritual director for the Sisters, agreed to send four Sisters to Arkansas.   Mother Beatrice Renggli, the appointed superior and Sister Agnes Dali were two from the first group that came from Maria Rickenbach.  Sister Frances Metzler and Sister Walburga McFadden came to Missouri with a later group. These four were the first Sisters who came to Northeast Arkansas.

According to Sister Felicitas Hunkler’s unpublished history of the community, they arrived with a total cash fund of 83 cents. Arriving in Pocahontas on December 13, 1887, in the evening twilight, Father Eugene Weibel welcomed the Sisters and held Benediction in the Church before taking them to their quarters, where the ladies of the parish had prepared their meal.  The ladies had made beds and had everything ready in the modest log and frame convent, named Maria Stein.
     The Sisters spent most of the next day unpacking and planning the daily order of prayer, work and relaxation.  The Sisters tried as closely as possible to adhere to the Rule of St. Benedict, the constitutions and schedule they brought from Maria Rickenbach.

 Although Bishop Edward Fitzgerald had approved Convent Maria Stein, he desired that the community be affiliated with a more stable authorization outside the diocese.  Father Weibel was sent to Rome to secure necessary documents of affiliation and in 1893, while remaining under the Ordinary of the Diocese of Little Rock, the community in Jonesboro, became officially affiliated with the Olivetan Benedictine Congregation and changed to the custom of wearing the white habit.
     Because the railroads bypassed Pocahontas, and also, because many of the Sisters contacted typhoid fever from the drinking water, the community officially moved from Pocahontas to Jonesboro.  The transfer was made on July 4, 1898, when the farmers could use their wagons to haul the Sisters’ belongings.   The new convent in Jonesboro was completed and named Holy Angels Convent in gratitude for a safe crossing of the Atlantic by one of the groups of Sisters and postulants.

St. Bernard's Hospital

One year later (1899), malaria fever broke out in Northeast Arkansas and the Sisters were asked to help take care of the sick.  At the persuasion of Father Weibel, the Sisters bought a six-room frame house on East Matthews.  Six rooms were prepared with cots for beds and covered orange crates for wash stands.  On July 5, 1900, St. Bernards Hospital was opened.   In response to the need for health care, St. Bernards has continued to grow and additional buildings were added.

Today, over one-hundred years later, St. Bernards is the leader of health care in Northeast Arkansas.

Holy Angels Academy was opened in 1930 in part of the new addition to the convent, which faced Jackson.  The community continued to grow in membership and by the mid 1960's, the community numbered close to two hundred members. The need for more room for the convent and needed hospital expansion caused the community to make the decision to relocate to a tract of land north of Jonesboro.  In 1974, the community relocated to the new Holy Angels Convent, located off 141, near KAIT TV Station.

Today