April 30, 2010
Ferdinand monastery receives woman into novitiate
In a simple ceremony at Monastery Immaculate Conception on April 24, the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand received Postulant Alexandra Larsen into the novitiate, the second stage of incorporation into the religious community.
During the ceremony, Larsen, 29, received her name in religious life — Sister Alexandra.
A native of Madison, Wis., she graduated from Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C., in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in educational and early childhood studies. Before entering the monastery in Au-gust, 2009, she worked as an infant and early childhood teacher in Chapel Hill, N.C. During the past year she took religious formation classes, assisted with activities for the monastery’s Hildegard Health Center, and volunteered in child care at the Tri-County YMCA in Ferdinand.
During her two-year novitiate period, Sister Alexandra will live and work at the mon-astery and continue studies in scripture, theology and Benedictine history and spirituality as she prepares for vowed membership in the Benedictine community.
Founded in 1867, the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand currently number 169 and serve in schools, parishes, church institutions, health care facilities, retreat centers and social service agencies in Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Italy and Peru.