Sr. Beverly Raway, prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of the St. Scholastica Monastery, exposes the contents of a time capsule from Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth, Minnesota, as Sr. Therese Carson looks on.
Opening a time capsule at Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth, Minnesota, took time.
The copper box was soldered shut, and two maintenance workers had to hammer and chisel for about 20 minutes to break through the seal.
Sr. Jeanne Ann Weber, sub-prioress of the order, holds up a 1921 silver dollar that had been placed in the time capsule.
About a half dozen Benedictine Sisters of the St. Scholastica Monastery sat with them in a conference room in early November and witnessed the big reveal of items secured in the capsule when a wing was completed in 1957.
"There was just one little tiny, maybe half an inch, maybe a quarter of an inch little gap there," said Sr. Beverly Raway, the prioress of the order. "And I kept thinking, start there!"
The wing was part of the old Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center, established by the sisters in 1888. The hospital was replaced on the next block in July 2023.
The capsule itself, about the size of a bread box, was corroded on the outside and dirty with mortar. The inside wall of the cornerstone was in the hospital cafeteria, near a radiator. So, everyone wondered about the condition of the items inside.
The inside of the box was shiny, the items remarkably well-preserved. One by one, Sr. Raway pulled them out to pass around.
Among the oldest: a 1921 silver dollar, and a book on the "Rule of St. Benedict" from 1910. Most of the other items were from the mid-1950s: local newspapers, brochures about career planning and internship opportunities, a sample nurses' schedule, a hospital
menu, a list of invalid sisters, a handout reviewing blood diseases, a night report and a surgery report. There were also small statues and holy cards of St. Joseph and Mary.
The time capsule included documents from the hospital, including this October 1955 night report on patients and their conditions.
The sisters also founded The College of St. Scholastica, and the capsule included a 1953 yearbook, with Sr. Kathleen Hofer's photo. She served as hospital CEO for decades and now serves on Essentia's board, so she's part of the hospital history herself.
Sr. Hofer said it was surprising there was a yearbook in the capsule but not surprising her picture was in it. "I was an active student at that time," she said.
The items will be used to design and plan a heritage wall in the main entrance of the new hospital building.
The hospital is one of several the nuns founded in northern Minnesota. In their early years the hospitals were funded by patients and "lumberjack tickets," which lumberjacks bought to get a year of care. Sr. Amata Mackett became known as "Sister Lumberjack"
for her work as head saleswoman of the program.
"She would stay overnight in the lumber camps, and from what we read, she would darn their socks and bake pies and do other things like that and just listen to them if they needed somebody to listen to," said Sr. Hofer.
Bret Reuter, Essentia's director of mission integration, said his mission is to help carry forward the Benedictine values and principles in the staff today.
"The Benedictines talk about listening with the ear of the heart, also service, (and) coming to a geographic area and saying, what are the needs of this community?"
The capsule contained copies of local newspapers and literature from the hospital, including an informational brochure about internships.
Sr. Raway said people are nostalgic for the old building, which is being demolished, and there is an effort to collect bricks for those who want them. One of the hospital's claims to fame is that musician Bob Dylan was born there.
Sr. Raway said the new hospital marks progress. "It's really an exciting time," she said. "There's change for sure, but the traditions carry on, and the memories are there."