Sister M. Perpetua Doyle, IHM

Sister M. Perpetua Doyle, IHM, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary died on Monday, July 8, 1940, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Carbondale, PA.

She was born on May 12, 1858 in Pleasant Mount, PA, and given the name Elizabeth (Eliza). She was the daughter of the late Michael and Bridget Anna Butler Doyle. She entered the IHM Congregation on September 8, 1882, received the religious habit on March 27, 1883, and made profession of her vows on April 6, 1885.

Sister Perpetua served in child care for resident children and teacher at St. Patrick’s Orphanage in Scranton, PA, for 45 years.

She is survived by four nephews, Frank Doyle of Colingdale, PA, Edward and Michael Kelly of Pleasant Mount, PA, and Thomas Kelly of Carbondale, PA, and a niece, Mrs. Paul Lestrange of Binghamton, NY.

The funeral will be Thursday, July 11 at 10:00 a.m. at St. Patrick’s Church in Scranton, PA. Interment will follow at Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton, PA. Friends may call on Wednesay at St. Patrick’s Convent in Scranton.

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Archival Remembrance:

Sister M. Perpetua Doyle was a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for 57 years. She was a native of Wayne County, a daughter of the late Michael and Bridget Anna Butler Doyle, prominent residents of that section. She received her early training in the Wayne County schools and subsquently entered the novitiate at St. Rose Convent in Carbondale. A woman of many accomplishments, she led a full and complete life devoted to religion, education and the molding of character in the youth. For a period of 45 years she was stationed at St. Patrick’s Orphanage and seven years ago at that institution she celebrated her golden jubilee in the sisterhood. May she rest in God’s everlasting peace.

To have spent fifty-seven yeras a member of a religious order is a record which few can equal. Sister Mary Perpetua, who died yesterday, entered the Order of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1883. For forty-five years she had been stationed at St. Patrick’s Orphanage in West Scranton. Her service at that institution covered all but about seven years of its existance. During that time thousands of boys and girls had been aided by Sister Perpetua and the other noble women who are devoting their lives to the work of Christian education and the molding of character. No other member of the order had served so long at St. Patrick’s as Sister Perpetua. She was, in truth, a part of the institution, a fixture. Her long service had given her an intimate knowledge of the work of the orphanage. Her counsel and advice were eagerly sought and accepted by her associates in the work to which they had devoted their lives. News of her death will be heard with sorrow by many former inmates of the institution now grown to manhood and womanhood and to whom Sister Perpetua had imparted a purpose to live honorable lives and make of themselves something in the world. Sister Perpetua was a noble woman, a grand character. Her good deeds, her mothering of the orphans, made her life a model and inspiration. “Her work well done, her crown well won she now finds rest.”

The Scranton Times · Scranton, Pennsylvania · Tue, Jul 09, 1940 · Page 6