Sister Mary Norbert Bergen, IHM

Sister Mary Norbert Bergen, IHM, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary died on Monday, December 21, 1953 at St. Agnes Place in Elmhurst, PA.

She was born on August 6, 1868 in Jersey City, New Jersey, and given the name Ann. She was the daughter of the late Michael and Catherine O’Reilly Bergen. She entered the IHM Congregation on May 3, 1889, received the religious habit on October 3, 1889, and made profession of her vows on August 2, 1891.

Sister Mary Norbert served as a music teacher at the following schools: St. Rose School in Carbondale, PA; IHM Academy in Coeur d’Alene, ID; St. Cecilia Academy in Scranton, PA; and St. John the Evangelist School in Scranton, PA.

Sister was for several years superior and principal at St. Joseph Elementary School in Spokane, WA.

She is survived by a sister, Julia Dwyer of Washington, DC; a niece, Rita Dwyer of Washington, DC; and two nephews, Norbert and Thomas Bergen, both of Newark, NJ.

The funeral will be on Thursday, December 24 at 10:00 a.m. at St. Catherine’s Church in Moscow, PA, followed by interment is at St. Catherine’s Cemetery. Friends may call after 2 p.m. on Wednesday at St. Agnes Place.

“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.”

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, p. 250

“The following Sisters opened the school: Sister M. Lucy, Superior, Sister M. Ligouri, Sister M. Hilarion, Sister M. Clementine, Sister M. Martha, Sister M. Scholastica, Sister M. Norbert, Sister M. Louise, and Sister M. William. God has blessed Saint Patrick’s in a singular manner. It has prospered from the beginning and has attracted many students from the towns about Olyphant till at present it has an enrollment of over three hundred students, and a high school of the first class according to the Pennsylvania Bureau.”

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, p. 253