Vera Duss (November 21, 1910 — October 2, 2005), better known in her adult work as Mother Benedict Duss, O.S.B., was an American-born French medical doctor and

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

nun, founder and head of the

Abbey of Regina Laudis The Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis was founded in 1947 by Mother Benedict Duss, O.S.B. and Mother Mary Aline Trilles de Warren, O.S.B. in Bethlehem, Connecticut. This monastic foundation was one of the first houses of contemplative Benedictin ...

in Bethlehem, Connecticut from 1947 until 1995.

Early life

Vera Duss was born in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, the daughter of John Duss Jr. and Elizabeth Vignier Duss. Her paternal grandparents, John Duss and Susanna Creese Duss, were members of the Harmony Society, an experimental religious community in western Pennsylvania.Antoinette Bosco
''Mother Benedict: Foundress of the Abbey of Regina Laudis''
(Ignatius Press 2009): 31. She was raised by her mother and maternal grandmother in France. She trained as a surgeon, earning her medical degree from the Sorbonne in 1936.Margalit Fox
"Mother Benedict Dies at 94; Head of a Cloistered Abbey"
''New York Times'' (October 10, 2005): B8.Antoinette Bosco
"The Life of Mother Benedict Duss"
''Ignatius Insight'' (June 2007).

Religious life

Duss became "Sister Benedict" (''Soeur Benoit'') when she entered a French Benedictine abbey, Notre Dame de Jouarre, in 1936, the day after finishing her medical training. She worked as a doctor and teacher in

Jouarre Jouarre () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. Jouarre Abbey It is the site of the Jouarre Abbey, a Merovingian foundati ...

, and (facing the danger of capture, as an American) went into hiding for part of the town's Nazi occupation during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She was present when the town and abbey were liberated by American troops in 1944. Duss and Mother Mary Aline Trilles de Warren moved to the United States in 1946, and founded the Regina Laudis monastic community in 1947, near the farm of artists

Lauren Ford Lauren Ford (23 January 1891 - 30 August 1973) was an American painter and author. Ford's works were held at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Museum of Modern Art. Outside of painting, her book '' The Ageless Story'' was named a Caldecott Medal H ...

and Frances W. Delehanty in Bethlehem, Connecticut. The community's founding inspired the movie ''

Come to the Stable ''Come to the Stable'' is a 1949 American comedy drama film that tells the story of two French religious sisters who come to a small New England town and involve the townsfolk in helping them to build a children's hospital. It stars Loretta Young ...

'' (1949), starring Loretta Young and Celeste Holm. Mother Benedict became an abbess in 1975 when the community became an abbey. "The secret to keeping this place going was to do the next thing that had to be done – without wasting time on worrying," she told her biographer. "If you do something concrete, that opens the possibilities."

Vatican investigation and aftermath

Mother Benedict's leadership methods came under question, and a Vatican investigation was ordered. She stepped down as abbess in 1998.Gerald Renner
"Benedictine Nuns' Leader Steps Down"
''Hartford Courant'' (April 26, 1998). Duss spent the last years of her life as abbess emerita at Regina Laudis, where she died in 2005, aged 94 years. Her grave is in the abbey's cemetery. A biography of Mother Benedict Duss was published in 2007.

References

External links

*
A photograph of Mother Benedict Duss and the nuns of Regina Laudis
at

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. {{DEFAULTSORT:Duss, Vera 1910 births 2005 deaths 20th-century American Roman Catholic nuns French women physicians People from Bethlehem, Connecticut Religious leaders from Pittsburgh Physicians from Pennsylvania College of Sorbonne alumni American emigrants to France 20th-century French nuns 21st-century American Roman Catholic nuns