Rest in Peace, Sister Mary Timothy

Late Saturday night one of the first Daughters of St Paul I ever met left this life. Sister Mary Timothy was ninety. At her bedside was her younger sister, Sister Mary Agnes. For the past six years they have been stationed together here in Boston, even working together in our senior sisters workshop area making rosaries, as long as Sister Mary Timothy's hands could manage the tools. (Her rosaries were real works of art.)

Sister Mary Timothy spent years as the cook in here in the motherhouse, and then various terms as a local superior or as a much-appreciated member of a small community, contributing in unobtrusive ways. Her life and service were characterized by gentleness. She was a bit younger than my own mother, but Mom always commented on how kind and "motherly" Sister Mary Timothy was.

Sister Mary Timothy was the local superior of the New Orleans community at the time I first encountered the Pauline mission. She must have really helped foster a culture of vocational awareness among the sisters there, because there are three of us who entered during her years as superior: myself, Sister Margaret Kerry (currently stationed in Charleston) and Sister Mary Martha Moss (now in Sister Mary Timothy's old role as local superior in New Orleans). Sister Martha is here in Boston this week, assisting another sister who is at the doorstep of eternity: Sister "Jo," a native Bostonian, was stationed with Sister Mary Timothy in Honolulu at one point during Sister Mary Timothy's sixteen years in the Pacific islands. (We had been wondering which of the two was going to prepare the lei with which to greet the other.) 

I ask your prayers for the eternal repose of Sister Mary Timothy's soul, and for the consolation of Sister Mary Agnes and their other sisters and family members. (They are a very close-knit Italian family: throughout Sister Mary Timothy's final months of suffering, siblings, nieces, nephews and great-nieces/nephews called, FaceTimed and came to visit from across the Eastern seaboard!) Please also pray for Sister Jo during these final, crucial hours (and for her siblings, who already buried a brother earlier this year).