A Quick Look at the Founding History
Benedictine Sisters
St. Placid Priory – Lacey, WA
First Priory
Saint Placid Priory was originally a mission of Saint Benedict Convent in St. Joseph, MN, for 60 years before its founders secured the necessary signatures to become independent, with 35 members, in 1952. As a mission, the sisters established schools in Tacoma to serve working-class students. In the early years, the sisters were caught in the white supremacist/KKK movement, which caused Christians and Jews to unite in resistance against the movement in the 1920s and 1930s. This began a century of interfaith cooperation and collaboration among women religious.
Foundress Mother Placidia Haehn
Mother Placidia Haehn served as the first prioress for two terms spanning 20 years. Two additional elementary schools were established after independence, along with St. Placid High School for girls. Soon, the sisters were teaching at the university level, and some entered nursing as well.
Like many Benedictine monasteries, the Saint Placid Priory began with a simple house in Olympia until suitable land was found to build a priory and a girls’ high school. Construction began in 1960. The sisters could not afford to build a monastery back then, so a small convent wing was attached to the high school.) After the high school closed in 1985, the sisters began a retreat ministry/spirituality center, but the building was inadequate, and there still weren’t enough bedrooms for all the sisters. The congregation broke ground on its current monastery in 1990, which included a 10-bedroom retreat house. The Priory Spirituality Center has been booming ever since. The sisters have connected with women religious across the globe, and are increasingly welcoming new members from throughout the world.
Artifact Spotlight
Sister Nathalie’s painted ballot boxes
After many challenges to get the bishops, abbots, and others to sign the necessary paperwork to formally establish an independent monastery, young Sister Nathalie Karel, a founding member and gifted artist, painted these ballot boxes for the first election, when Mother Placidia became prioress. Because monasteries were required to own land and the sisters had only a farmhouse, Sister Nathalie painted the chapel at St. Benedict’s monastery, where the sisters were originally. The river represents the many monasteries that originated at St. Benedict’s, including the Saint Placid Priory. Seventy-three years later, the ballot boxes are still used during the election of a prioress.
