National Catholic Sisters Week ~ A String of Diamonds

Greetings from a string of Diamonds,

Each day of National Catholic Sisters Week, we will be sharing the story of our Jubilarian Sisters, those celebrating significant anniversaries in religious life!

 Sister Patricia was the seventh of nine children born on the family farm near Freeman, SD. She began her education in a rural one-room school house and after graduating from Mount Marty High School in 1952 she entered Sacred Heart Convent. 

As a professed Sister, S. Patricia began teaching in parish schools in South Dakota and Nebraska. After twenty years of teaching and pursing higher education, she received her MA in Pastoral Ministry from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, TX in the summer of 1976 and her MA in Elementary Administration from the University of Omaha in 1984. S. Patricia served as Pastoral Associate at St. Richard’s parish in Omaha for ten years and then became principal at St. Richard’s school. 


In 1992 she moved to Lincoln, NE where she taught at St. Patrick’s school, was principal at St. Mary’s and founding principal at North American Martyrs School which she helped to open in 1996. In her 59 years of teaching, she was principal for 39 years. In 1990 S. Patricia was named the outstanding Religious Educator in the Archdiocese of Omaha, and in 2012 she received the “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” award.

She retired from being principal in 2014 and moved back to the monastery. S. Patricia writes: “I love being a Benedictine Sister! The greatest gift God has given me in this life is my community. I love to share, I love to pray and I love to play and I love to laugh together! My Sisters bring me great joy! My 60 years have been a joy most of all because of what my Sisters have done for me.”

 Sister Rosemary grew up on a farm near Salem, SD. She feels it was her parents, their family life and St. Mary’s parish in Salem that influenced her vocation. She chose Sacred Heart Monastery because the Sisters ministered in a rural area which to her is familiar territory. She adds: “I suspect my great aunt, Sister Modesta, of beloved memory, had something to do with it because she prayed that some relative would take her place.”

Sister Rosemary’s 60 years of ministry has been in education; teaching in parish schools at Aberdeen, Dimock, Salem, SD and York, NE. She was principal at St. Lambert School in Sioux Falls, SD. Desiring to work more with adults, S. Rosemary moved into parish ministry, doing adult religious education, the RCIA, Bible studies as well as outreach to the home bound in Holy Name parish, Watertown, SD and St. Benedict parish, Yankton, SD. Always a bit inclined to the missionary field, she worked as pastoral minister at Standing Rock Reservation for 14 years.

A special memory S. Rosemary cherishes was in 1998 when she was privileged to visit Kajiato, Kenya at a mission that had been supported by her family. Four years later she returned to Africa to teach English to African Sisters in Mtwara, Tanzania.

Looking back, S. Rosemary comments: “Living the Benedictine Life has been most fulfilling. Upon entering Sacred Heart Monastery, I felt right at home. Living the community life and sharing the prayer of the Divine Office gives great peace. It is with a very grateful heart that I look back on my years as a Benedictine Sister of Sacred Heart Monastery.”

 Sister Valerie is the youngest of four in her family and was born and raised in Watertown, SD. After graduating from Mount Marty High School, S. Valerie decided to enter Sacred Heart Convent because of the liturgy and the witness of the Sisters.

Her religious and professional life involved teaching in the parish schools in Yankton, Tabor, Sioux Falls, Chamberlain and Watertown, SD; Glen Ullen, ND, and in Lincoln and Hartington, NE. In 1966, after preparations at a Spanish language school in Mexico City, S. Valerie was one of five Sisters sent on mission to San Pedro Carcha, Guatemala, where she taught for five years. Returning to the states, she studied for her MAT in teaching Spanish at Purdue University in Lafayette, La.; MA in Administration/Education at the University of Nebraska and an MA in Religious Education at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX.

In 1999 S. Valerie moved to Watertown for six years. She did substitute teaching the first year and then taught in the Catholic school full time and for two years taught classes at the Mount Marty College satellite campus. In 2005, S. Valerie moved to Parkston where she did pastoral care at St. Benedict’s Hospital before retiring to the monastery in 2013. She now assists with chaplaincy duties in the Care Center and is involved in ministry with the Mexican/Spanish speaking people in the Yankton area.

About her Jubilee S. Valerie says: “By the grace of God I was blessed to teach every grade from three year olds to college students. They were all my favorites! The life of living in a Benedictine community is rich and rewarding.”


Tomorrow classmates to these diamonds will share their stories...

Curious about more of our stories? Follow this link to our "Meet the Sisters" page. You can 'click' on different sisters names to find out more about their story, our vows, and living as a Benedictine Sister! Or follow the "Vocation" link at the top of our blog to request more information!