Sister Mary Rose McNamara, IHM

Sister Mary Rose McNamara, IHM, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary died on Sunday, June 23, 1889, at St. Vincent’s Retreat House in Harrison, NY.

She was born in 1845 and given the name Mary A. She entered the IHM Congregation, and made profession of her vows in 1863.

Sister Rose was an accomplished musician, and served as music teacher at the following schools: St. Rose Academy in Carbondale, PA; St. John the Evangelist Academy in Pittston, PA; and St. Joseph Academy in Williamsport, PA.

At the time of her death, Sister Rose was serving as a music and ornamental branches connected with the advanced pupils at St. Cecilia Academy in Scranton, PA.

The funeral will be Tuesday, June 25, at 9:30 a.m. at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton, followed by interment at Cathedral Cemetery, Scranton, PA.

“Sister Rose was the little Mary McNamara who is mentioned in Mother Teresa’s notes, the child who was so anxious to serve the Sisters when they first came to Saint Joseph’s. At the time of her death she had been a professed religious twenty-six years. She was on the faculty staff at Saint Cecilia’s and out of respect to her memory no formal commencement exercises were held that year. Sister Rose was an accomplished musician and taught music at Pittston, Williamsport, and Scranton. She was also a skillful ornamental needle-worker and fostered in her pupils a taste for artistic handiwork. Even to this day, those who had the privilege of knowing Sister Rose hold her in loving remembrance.”

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. 203, 204