CALEDONIA -- The Racine Dominican order of Roman Catholic nuns looked back on its 140-year history during the weekend with an open house at its Siena Center.
The event Saturday included tributes to Mother Maria Benedicta Bauer, the German nun who established the Dominicans in Racine County.
The order now includes about 215 nuns serving various ministries in 11 states. They work in education, health care, helping the elderly and ministering to prisoners, among other things.
The open house featured tours of the retreat center, which once served as the mother house for the community and formerly was the site of Dominican College.
Sister Suzanne Noffke, the order's historian, gave a presentation on the Dominican's Racine history, including historic photos and recordings of oral histories nuns have provided during the last 20 years.
'We didn't come out of nowhere,' she said. 'There is a progression.'
Noffke is working on a book on Mother Benedicta. She has spent hours translating documents related to Benedicta that were only recently cataloged at the Dominican headquarters in Regensburg, Germany, from which Mother Benedicta began her religious service.
