Child Care and Early Earth Care

How or when she got from County Carlow, Ireland, to the United States is unknown but Margaret Bedlow was born on May 9, 1855, and entered the Scranton IHMs from Philadelphia, PA, on February 13, 1882. She was received as Sister Stephanie on August 15, 1882, and professed on July 31, 1884. According to the obituaries from newspapers at the time of her death, Sister Stephanie only served in two missions: St. Joseph Foundling Home (now St. Joseph’s Center) and St. Patrick’s Orphanage (both in Scranton).

According to IHM congregation history and someone who knew Sister Stephanie, she loved the little children in her care, and she was also known for her love of nature. “She ever saw blue skies and pleasant sunshine, she never missed the song of birds or the fragrance of the flowers. She was a naturalist and she lived with nature. I cannot think of a pretty bed of roses or scent of a beautiful rose without a thought of Sister Stephanie. I had seen her so often among the flowers that I felt she was related to them. It was she who laid out and transformed into a beautiful garden the lawn in front of Saint Joseph’s Home. In the garden, hard at work in the dawn of a summer’s morning, you would find Sister Stephanie. She trained the flowers as she did the children. She inspired character in her rose beds. With a motherless babe by the hand, Sister Stephanie could be seen in the flower garden early and late.”

It is not known when Sister Stephanie was transferred from St. Joseph’s Foundling Home to St. Patrick’s Orphanage, but the US census of 1900 lists her as being at St. Patrick’s Orphanage, where she died on March 2, 1905. Sister Stephanie truly was an example of someone devoted to child care as well as being an early example of one who cared for the Earth.

Sources used

• Excerpted from The Sisters of the I.H.M.: The Story of The Founding of The Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and Their Work In The Scranton Diocese by Sister M. Immaculata Gillespie, IHM, P.J. Kenedy & Sons, NY, 1921, pgs. 348,349
• “Sister Stephanie Dies at St. Patrick’s.” Newspapers.com, The Times-Tribune, March 3, 1905
• “Sister Stephanie Dead.” Newspapers.com, The Times Leader, March 4, 1905
• “Sister Stephanie Dies at Orphanage.” Newspapers.com, The Tribune, March 3, 1905