In Memoriam

1952 – 2021 Sister Janice was born in Philadelphia and grew up in a warm and loving family with her younger sister Darlene. She first met our Sisters when she attended Little Flower High School. Her desire to enter our community grew quickly and she was received as a postulant in January 1971. When asked…

1956 – 2020 Sister Bonnie was born at Sacred Heart Hospital in Allentown, PA where our Sisters ministered until just recently. In fact, our very own Sr. Theresa Lepera, MSC was the maternity nurse in the delivery room when Sr. Bonnie arrived in this world. Years later, when Sr. Bonnie was asked how she first…

1937 – 2019 Sister Colleen grew up in a warm and loving Irish family in Philadelphia with her brother William (Bill) and her two sisters Mary and Catherine (Cass).  Somehow the family became members of the German parish of St. Henry where Sr. Colleen was taught by our Sisters in the parish school. In 1958…

1929 – 2019 Sister Dorothy grew up in a large family of seven brothers and two sisters. Three of her brothers died very young. Her parents came to the United States from Czechoslovakia and settled in Allentown. They were members of St. John the Baptist Slovak Catholic Church and Sr. Dorothy and her siblings attended…

Sister Maria (Maria Walburgis)- Rosa Mersch 1902 – 2006  Sister Maria was born at the time that our first sisters set sail for the Marshall Islands and New Britain. She embraced their spirit of sacrifice and adventure when as a postulant she, too, left home for the distant shores of America. This spirit, combined with…

Sister M. Weneburg (Weneburga) – Maria Kiiuper 1912 – 2005  Less than six months after her first vows, Sister Weneburg arrived in the United States on the Steamer Hamburg. Her older sister, Sister Floriberta, had just entered our congregation in Hiltrup. In 1936, Sister Weneburg studied nursing to meet our growing demand for nurses. Thus…

Sister M. Stephana – Hedwig Gemmeke 1903 – 2006  Shortly after beginning her postulancy in Hiltrup, Sister Stephana arrived in New York on the Steamer Bremen. The harvest was great in the United States, so a year after her first profession, Sister Stephana entered the field of teaching in the parish elementary schools of Pennsylvania.…

Sister M. Bridget –  Helen  Ulincy Born: December 20, 1917 in Bethlehem, PA Professed:   August 26, 1937 Died: May 1, 2006 in Reading, PA Sister Bridget was the oldest of eight children. Her parents, immigrants of Slovak heritage, enrolled Helen and her siblings in the parish school of SS. Cyril and Methodius Church in…

Sister Julianna Marie (M. Hiltrud, Hilda Marie) – Julia  Kollar 1910 – 2006   At the age of eleven, Julia arrived in America with her family on the steamer Red Line. They settled in northeastern Pennsylvania where many immigrants from Austria lived. Our sisters taught her in the parish school of Saint Peter’s Church in Coplay.…

Sister M. Dolora – Anna Mary Rose Fixl 1931 – 2005  Sister Dolora’s parents emigrated to the United States from Austria. Sister grew up in Our Lady of Hungary Parish in Northampton, PA where she came to know our sisters.. Upon completion of twelfth grade, she entered our congregation. In 1953, Sister began her life­…