My Vocation Story

Unequivocally I can say that it was the esprit de corps that existed among the Daughters of Charity of Seton High School, Baltimore that drew me to the Company of the Daughters of Charity. They could be seen planning a trip to the poor or arranging for a student to have something pretty to wear to the school prom or seeking escorts to accompany students to that event. I knew about this latter only because I had three brothers! But it was the consideration of one sister for the other and the needs of all that attracted me to the Daughters of Charity.

From the beginning of life I was blessed by being born into a loving, Catholic family and one that was fully involved in the parish life of St. Elizabeth’s.

My two older sisters had attended Seton High and I was fortunate to follow them there. I view my registering at Seton as providential. The very next year another Catholic High opened sponsored by the Sisters who taught in our parish elementary school. I feel our pastor, who was most devoted to this Community, would have encouraged me to go to that school had it been opened. In my years at Seton High I was a courier for these same sisters who sponsored another parish school within a block of Seton. I carried mail and packages from one convent to the other.

In appreciation for this service the sisters of my home parish gave me a lovely evening bag as a graduation gift on my leaving Seton. They evidently didn’t expect me to enter any religious community! However, my family thought this might be in the offing because of the time I spent with the Daughters in the after school hours.

One day my older sister asked me if I had decided to begin my life as a Daughter of Charity. I replied in an off-hand manner, “Maybe, maybe not. Do you need to know?” “Well,” she replied, “if you are, I will plan to be married in August; if not, I’ll wait until Thanksgiving. I do want you to be in the wedding.” Her fiance was in the Army Air Corps and knew he was preparing to be sent overseas. Being thus goaded, I responded, “You better make it August.” Her wedding anniversary subsequently closely corresponded to my entrance day into the Community in September 8, 1942.

Postulancy, the beginning formation period, was a new experience for me, living with a large group of postulants who were approximately my age. While learning to participate in Community prayers and sharing in the duties in the house, we established firm friendships that endure to today.

The Seminary, dedicated as it is to preparing us to serve the poor and less fortunate as humble, simple, and loving Daughters of Charity opened many doors for me: study of our community heritage, basic knowledge of theology, the principles of the religious life—particularly the meaning of the vocation of a Daughter of Charity and the study and understanding of the rules of the Daughters of Charity, now called the Constitutions and Statutes.

During my seminary I was plagued with home sickness. Exteriorly I did all that was asked of me but inside I was always thinking of my family and home. Ten months had passed with my being in this dichotomy. One day our Sister Directress told me I was going to St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore for a general medical check-up. I was no sooner in Baltimore, my home town, when I wished with all my heart to be back in the Seminary at Emmitsburg. Returning to Emmitsburg I was happy and desirous of doing all that I could to be a good Daughter of Charity.

Since that turning point in my vocation journey I have been at peace and have known deep and lasting happiness despite the ups and downs of living. Many paths of serving have been opened to me and in traversing them I have found God’s will for me, loving companions, and the assurance that in serving the poor I am actually serving Jesus Christ.

Approaching my sixty-fifth year as a Daughter of Charity I praise and thank God for the example of my high school teachers whose example made me aware that God was calling me to be a Daughter of Charity, Servant of the Poor.