S. Magna Werth (1885-1960) First Faculty in Chemistry and Physics
Sister Magna (Margaret Mary) Werth was born in Minneapolis on June 30, 1885. She was the daughter of Frederick and Anna (Mohren). She entered the Order of Saint Benedict in 1899 at a very young age. Her teaching career began when she was 18, teaching 5-8th grade from 1903-1908 in Hastings, Minnesota. From 1908-1914, she taught High School at St. Mary’s in St. Cloud. Her first professional credits are documented to be in 1910 in education and general psychology. In 1914, she received her Bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University in philosophy, minoring in education, yet archive records cannot confirm or deny this degree. College courses for her degree were documented from St. Benedicts College (original name), Columbia College in Dubuque, Iowa, and the Catholic University of America where she obtained her M.A. in 1915. In 1915, she started teaching at St. Benedicts Academy and the College of Saint Benedict, teaching at the academy until 1931. In 1931, she received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Minnesota and was one of the first women to receive this degree at the college. Her dissertation research title was "The Relative Efficiency of Some of the Mercury Arc Lines in Exciting the Ramon Spectrum of Benzol."
At the College of St. Benedict, she taught chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics, and philosophy. Of particular note, she wrote a five-page historical sketch of the Benedictines in the field of physics that is undated, but each Benedictine on the list was a male. A trailblazer in many ways with her education, but also with her radio, keeping a personal possession against the convent regulations at the time. She made the radio herself and would listen to the news, time, and temperature. Time was also a bit of an obsession for Sister Magna, and she was known as the “keeper of the clock” on the college stair landing. The clock was built by a former high school student, and the correct time was important for Sister Magna for her radio listening time. In the classroom, she was described to have a warm non-threatening atmosphere that could explain the content of physics and chemistry in a way that everyone could understand. She never failed anyone. Yet, her outward appearance was described as gruff with a lingering cough from cancer treatments. Those describe her eyes as beedy but sharp and offered a guiding presence when she would help solve chemistry problems. When the school calendar was released each year she was also concerned with time, and was reported to have students make up time for missed classes on “free days” that were built into the school calendar. Although she lived long after her cancer diagnosis and radiation treatments, she suffered a heart attack that resulted in her death in 1960. It was reported at the Mass of her funeral, over 500 sisters were present to sing at Mass, for this was the period of time when membership in the community was very large.
