Rita FaistI was born the youngest of seven children to “pious German parents, both strong in faith.” Her father, Michael J. FaistI, was born in Bernried, Bavaria, Germany; her mother, Clara Eleanore Fisher was from Columbus, Ohio. Rita was more than a little spoiled and was much loved in a home where parents and children loved intensely. They all prayed, played, and grew up together under the firm discipline of a gentle, refined mother. Sister Mary Benedicta wrote, “Our father, with a good job on the railroad, was nearly always away from the family. The family rosary was one iron-clad regulation for the whole crew, prayed how often with suppressed giggles among the young.”

When Rita was about nine years old, having been exposed to Tabernacle and Purgatory, she decided that her vocation was for Clyde, and quite secretly, in an attic room, wrote to Mother Dolorosa about her intentions. She kept this secret until she was sixteen when she shared it with her mother, who was then close to death from cancer. In her senior year of high school, Rita was urged to go to college. She had intended to go into drama and subsequently decided on civil service, thinking of becoming a legal secretary in Washington. Still, she wanted a life of prayer and believed that if she went to college Clyde would never happen. Leaving before her brothers’ ordinations and her sister’s wedding, Rita entered Clyde in November 1, 1934. She made her first monastic profession on August 29, 1936, receiving the name Sister Mary Benedicta. She made her final profession on August 30, 1941.

Two of Sister Mary Benedicta’s brothers, Frank and Clement, had been ordained and were the pride and joy of her life. Father Frank, to whom she was very attached, passed away in 1986, shortly before her Golden Jubilee. Still, Msgr. Clem came often to visit her, especially during recent years, when she could no longer travel herself. Father Clem, now eighty-nine, and Sister Benedicta were the remaining two of her siblings.

Sister Mary Benedicta lived in most of our monasteries at one time or another, and she brought her special gifts of generosity and joy to each one. Many sisters share warm and happy memories of the months in the postulancy when she was postulant director, from 1949-1952. She wrote of those years, “The work with the postulants at beloved Clyde was sheer joy and inspiration for me. I am not sure what it was for them!” These were the happiest years of her life, “because I had the best ones— Postulants!”

Sister Benedicta also in our Kansas City, Tucson and Mundelein monasteries, as well as the in San Benito, California, from August 1956 until its closure in January, 1957. She was part of the three-month experiment in a small community in Payson, Arizona, in 1957. Her talents were put to use in many areas, including bookkeeping and laundry. During her first stint in Kansas City, from 1926-1965, she was sub-prioresss. In 1965 she was transferred to Tucson, then Clyde, where she worked in the Altar bread and Correspondence Departments, and then went to Mundelein, where she served as portress. She wrote of Mundelein, “The joy of knowing our particular apostolate was to pray for the clergy of the Archdiocese of Chicago, likewise our million dollar backyard, the seminary grounds, and not the least of the joys was the attendance of the seminarians for our liturgy All of tins made it a hallowed place forever to be missed.”

Returning to Kansas City in 1978, Sister Mary Benedicta took charge of the Eucharistic Guild. She enjoyed being part of the many projects sponsored by the devoted members of the Guild and being associated with the women, many of whom continued to keep in touch with her after the closure of the Kansas City monastery. “This Guild work lasting nearly twenty years was hard work but always enjoyed. I began to realize then that the Presence of the Lord came to me more easily through His People.” She most enjoyed being with people, and also loved to read and sing. She “loved prayer best.”

After Kansas City was closed, and as Sister Mary Benedicta’s strength began to fail, she was transferred to Clyde into a less active position, but still maintained the Eucharistic Guild. She wrote, “In the twilight years of one’s life, one comes to realize the inner value, the inner peace of joy of our privileges, lectio, hours of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, and certainly especially the celebration of the Eucharist daily, how much more can we ask, and our Presiders from Conception Abbey, God be praised for all.” Celebrating her Golden Jubilee in May, 1986, she rejoiced in a gift trip to Rome and Fatima the following September.

Gradually it became apparent that a transfer to St. Benedict Health Care Center was necessary. This was a difficult change for her, who, even though she maintained her sense of humor, found her diminishment a heavy cross.

In November, 2001, Sister Mary Benedicta came back to Clyde to be a part of the new health care facility, Our Lady of Rickenbach She loved nature enjoyed sitting in front of her window, watching the trees and sky, especially as the leaves began to emerge and the grass brightened into green with the coming of spring. A few days before her death, she began speaking of her “last confession.” Still, none of us were prepared for the sudden reality of her passage to heaven. About an hour before her death she said repeatedly, “I want to die,” and then thanked the sisters in her room and told them they could leave, because she was not going to die just then. However, within the hour she achieved her goal and surrendered her precious soul into the hands of the God for whom she had lived and whom she so loved.

The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated in Our Lady of Rickenbach Chapel on Wednesday, May 16, with burial in Mt. Calvary Cemetery following.