Sister M. Clotilde McDermott, IHM

Sister M. Clotilde McDermott, IHM, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary died on Friday, August 16, 1929, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Carbondale, PA.

She was born on July 18, 1856 in Allegheny City, PA, and given the name Mary. She was the daughter of the late Patrick and Mary Ann Mannix McDermott. The family moved to Scranton, PA, while she was a child. She entered the IHM Congregation on February 2, 1883, received the religious habit on September 5, 1883, and made profession of her vows on August 25, 1885.

Sister Clotilde served as a teacher at the following schools: St. Patrick High School in Scranton, PA, from 1885 to 1892; St. Paul High School in Scranton, PA, from 1892 to 1926; and St. Rose High School in Carbondale, PA, from 1926 to 1929.

She is survived by three brothers, Michael Henry of Scranton, PA, and George and William, both of Philadelphia, PA; and several nieces and nephews.

The funeral will be on Monday, August 19, at 10:00 a.m. at St. Rose’s Church in Carbondale, with interment to follow at Our Mother of Sorrows Cemetery in Greenfield Township, PA.

“Three new missions were opened during these years. Saint Paul’s in Green Ridge was opened in 1892; Saint Patrick’s Olyphant, in 1893, and Saint Alphonsus’, the first western mission, at Tillamook, Oregon, in 1897.”

“Saint Paul’s was opened in August by Sister M. Antoinette as Superior, with Sister M. Carmel, Sister M. Agnes, Sister M. Clotilde, Sister M. Norbert, Sister M. Oswald, Sister M. Louise, and Sister M. William as her assistants. Father McManus, the pastor at Saint Paul’s, felt that the future of his parish was secure when he had rested it on the firm basis of Christian education for his children.”

“The corner-stone of the new building, a three-story brick structure, was laid on Saint Patrick’s Day, 1898. The parish was well provided for school purposes when the new convent was finished. The school itself is located in the same building as the church and has had adequate room and equipment for its needs up to the present. The work done in the school has been a success from the beginning. Father McManus visited the school daily and everything that touched the interests of the children was a matter of concern to him. On the occasion of his silver jubilee in 1897 the good pastor received an ovation that expressed some of the appreciation of his parishioners for his self-sacrificing efforts in their behalf.”

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. 250, 251