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Benedictine Roots
Like many Catholics on the plains of Kansas, the Albers-Sittenauer clan has called the Kansas Monks pastors, teachers... and family.
By Nathan Byrne
Eating with the monks was really neat, or so five-year-old Betty Sittenauer thought.
Her mother, who cooked the meals, thought otherwise.
The mixing, however, may have been a metaphor for something else.
Bob Albers served Mass alone for the first time in 1947.
Father Augustine Rottering was visiting his childhood friend and Bob’s uncle, Msgr. Edward Albers, pastor of St. Rose parish in Mount Vernon, Kan.
“Father Augustine had great patience with a server who made lots of mistakes,” Albers said.
Like the food Betty Sittenauer so enjoyed mixing, her family and that of Bob Albers continued to blend at different times throughout the years.
Continued on next page
Previous page: St. Benedict parish, Bendena, Kan., former par-
ish of the Robert and Betty Albers family. Photo by Dan Madden
The Albers family, standing, Prior James, middle row, left to right, Greg, Betty, Bob, and Joe. Frotn row, left to right, Jean, and Sister Mary Elizabeth, SOLT.
In that same mix, Father Augustine Rottering is often found.
“We have fond, fond memories of Father Augustine,” said Bob.
In 1963, Father Augustine and Msgr. Edward Albers concelebrated the wedding Mass of Bob Albers and Betty Sittenauer at Sacred Heart parish in Atchison, bringing together years of Benedictine influence on both families.
“They helped to shape the very core of who I am,” Betty said.
The paths of Father Augustine and the Albers family would intertwine yet again in the late 1970s.
Now, Father Augustine was pastor of St. Benedict’s in Bendena, Kan. In his first Christmas there, young James Albers was honored to carry the infant Jesus in procession.
“There was never a prouder young boy than Jim was at that moment,” his father, Bob said.
But Jim eventually returned the favor.
Young Jim Albers grew into James, and on Oct. 2, 1999, he made his solemn profession as a monk of St. Benedict’s Abbey.
“It has become evident to me that my life here at St. Benedict’s Abbey is strongly connected with my family life,” he said on that day. “This connection goes way beyond this moment; it reaches back nearly 150 years.”
The year after Father Henry Lemke, Father Casimir Seitz and Father Augustine Wirth had established St. Benedict’s Priory in Doniphan, Kan., Father James Albers’ family made its first contact with the Kansas Monks.
In 1858, a cabinetmaker named Peter Reichenberger and his wife Barbara made the trek west from New York City to Northeast Kansas.
Ultimately, the Benedictines would move that first monastery to Atchison, and the Reichenbergers would settle near Bendena. The Reichenbergers—Father James’ great-great-great grandparents on the Albers side—would go on to be served by many Kansas Monks at St. Benedict’s in Bendena.
Mary Reichenberger Eck—Father James’ greatgrandmother—was born to Nicholas and Catherine (Hess) Reichenberger on a farm just south of St. Benedict’s Church in Bendena, where she was baptized by Father John Stader.
Nicholas and Catherine moved their family to a German-Catholic colony west
The Peter and Barbara Reichenberger family, ancestors of the Albers clan, were among the first settlers in Doniphan, Kan., where the Kansas Monks founded their monastery in 1857. Father Lawrence Theis
of Wichita. Bishop Louis Mary Fink, one of the Kansas Monks, organized similar colonies throughout Kansas.
The Sittenauer side of the family became intertwined with the Benedictines in a similar way.
“They have influenced my life since the day I was born,” said Betty (Sittenauer) Albers.
But that influence started much earlier.
In 1883, Abbot Boniface Wimmer of St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Penn., returned from a trip through Bavaria. The abbot would make such trips in search of money and young men for his monasteries in the New World.
Upon this particular return, however, the abbot brought with him Michael Sittenauer, Father James’ great-great uncle. Michael soon made his vows and took the monastic name of Joseph before being ordained. After ordination, Father Joseph volunteered for the Kansas mission at St. Benedict’s Abbey.
Father Joseph was named prior, and convinced his brother, Mathias, to settle in the hills of Atchison County. Mathias is the great grandfather of Father James. Mat-
thias’ children and many of his descendents over the next century would be educated and pastored by the Benedictines of Atchison.
Another of Father James’ great-great uncles on the Sittenauer side, Father Lawrence Theis of Wathena, made his monastic profession at St. Benedict’s Abbey in 1893.
Back on the Albers side, Father James’ great-grandparents, Bernard and Margaret Albers sent their sons (Father James’ great uncles) Louie and (Msgr.) Edward to St. Benedict’s College in the 1920s and ’30s.
The Albers and Sittenauer families continued to run figure eights around a growing Benedictine influence which strongly shaped both sides. But the two families would not intersect for some time.
One near-miss came when Father George Sittenauer, a 1904 graduate of St. Benedict’s College, was the home plate umpire in a game of townball between South Central Kansas opponents Willowdale and St. Leo.
Joe Albers—father of Bob and grandfather of Father James—was on the mound for St. Leo.
Bottom of the ninth.
Two outs.
Full count.
The pitch…
From Joe Albers’ point-ofview, Father George, pastor at Willowdale, missed a called third strike, sending the game into extra innings.
Years later, Bob Albers would make the pitch to his father, Joe, that he would be marrying a Sittenauer.
The elder Albers responded by saying that the only Sittenauer he knew, Father George, had ruined his pitching arm.
“Are you still thinking about the priesthood?” Bob Albers asked his son, James, one Saturday evening after they had spent the day shingling the roof of the family home.
Father Augustine Rottering, long-time pastor at St. Benedict parish, Bendena, Kan., and a link between the Albers and Sittenauer families, works in his wood shop. Father Clement Nordhus was a close friend of the Sittenauer family when they lived and worked on the Abbey’s South Farm, where he was a bee keeper.
It may not have shown on his face, but James Albers was shocked.
“I think that I am being called to the married life,” he replied to his father.
“Can we still pray for it?” asked Bob.
If the shock didn’t show the first time, it did now.
“Yes,” James answered quietly, thinking it wouldn’t do much good.
Today, Father James is the prior of St. Benedict’s Abbey. “Growing up, I always thought you had to be a special parent to raise a child with a religious vocation. Now I know that is not the case,” said Betty Albers. “God chooses each person for a particular vocation in life, and, as parents, we have to nourish that calling just as you would encourage any other vocation.”
Growing up in families which already have been steeped in Benedictine tradition, Bob and Betty Albers brought it all together.
“My whole outlook on life has been shaped by (Benedictine) teaching,” Bob said. “Betty and I then took the tenets of faith we were taught by the Benedictines and allowed them to influence our life and our family.”
The Albers’ daughter, Sister Mary Elizabeth, a member of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, also followed a religious vocation.
“I now begin to realize what is required of nuns and monks to leave the world and dedicate their lives to Christ,” said Bob. “That makes any sacrifice of mine rather insignificant.”
Nature’s relen tless splendor
Nature’s relen tless splendor
