Sister Ambrose Carreras, D.C.

EMMITSBURG, MD ~ December 18, 2007

A Mass of Christian burial was offered at 11:00 a.m., Friday, December 7, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Emmitsburg, for Sister Ambrose Carreras, DC, and former nurse. Sister died Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at Villa St. Michael, the province’s retirement residence in Emmitsburg. She was 100 years of age and 76 years of vocation.

The former Margaret Mary Carreras was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of seven children of Leopold and Margaret Donohue Carreras.

Margaret Mary entered the community of the Daughters of Charity in 1931 and was given the name Sister Ambrose. She became certified as a child nurse/OBGYN, LPN when she came to the community. She received her RN from Saint Vincent’s Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida and earned a bachelor’s degree from Saint Joseph College in Emmitsburg.

Most of Sister’s apostolate in the community was in nursing. After completing the seminary [novitiate] in 1932, she spent a year at Keating Day Nursing in Cumberland, Maryland as a group worker, followed by four years as an elementary teacher at Saint Dominic School in Baltimore. Additional missions included Saint Mary’s Infant Home, Buffalo, New York, Saint Ann’s Infant and Maternity Home in Hyattsville, Maryland, Saint Vincent Manor, Buffalo, New York, and Saint Vincent’s Medical Center in Jacksonville, Florida.

A major part of Sister’s life was at the old campus of Saint Joseph’s Provincial House as infirmarian, and as the nurse at Saint Joseph College. When the college closed in 1973, she was assigned to Villa Louise, a home in Baltimore for unwed mothers as nurse-in-charge, followed by four years as staff nurse at Jenkins Memorial Home (now St. Elizabeth’s Home for Nursing Care). Sister Ambrose arrived at Villa St. Michael in 1981 where she served first as staff nurse then as pharmacist until her retirement in 1991.

During her career Sister also taught adult literacy and several Red Cross nursing courses in mother and baby care and home nursing.

The last of her immediate family, Sister Ambrose is survived by numerous nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Daughters of Charity Support Fund for the Elderly and Infirm Sisters, 333 South Seton Avenue, Emmitsburg, Maryland 21727.