This volume presents the Bavarian roots and early story of the Dominicans of Racine, Wisconsin. It takes the reader through more than seven centuries in the monastery halls of Heilig Kreuz in Regensburg, into the lifetime of that monastery's eventual prioress, Maria Benedicta Bauer. It traces Benedicta's path through thirteen years in that office, through the turbulent events leading to her deposition and her emigration to the United States, and along her winding road to Racine with her loyal companion, Maria Thomasina Ginker. It follows the young new community through its first four difficult but hope-filled years, up to the deaths of its founders. It is a story, however, not just of the past but for the present as well.