Bernadine Meyer (1858 - 1890)

Born 22 Jan 1858 in Sun Prairie, Dane, Wisconsin, United States

Ancestors

Died 28 Feb 1890 at age 32 in Racine, Wisconsin, United States

Biography

Event

Event: SISTER MARY ARMELLA MEYER, OSD|Born to earthly life January 22,1858|Professed first vows August 4,1881|Entered eternal life February 28,1890|Doing the will of the one who sent me is my food. John 4:34|Bernadine Meyer daughter of August and Margaret, was born in Bristol, Wisconsin on Jan. 22,1858. At the age of twenty she entered the Racine Dominican Community, and a year later received the habit of a lay sister, with the name Sister Mary Amella of Saint Catherine of Siena. The community was at the time still living very much according to the monastic customs inherited from Heilig Kreuz in Regensburg. Under those customs, sisters destined for domestic ministries comprised a separate category from the "Chior nuns" who entered into ministries such as teaching which required more education. The lay sisters were externally distinquished by the wearing of a black scapular and white veil. Though the sisters had been trying sence 1871 to abolish the distinction, at least externally, their attempts had been repeatedly thwarted by the Roman attorities of the Dominican Order. The sisters would finally succeed in ending the division of catagories of perfession and in adopting a uniform habit in 1892. Sister Amella began her ministry as a homemaker at Saint Norbert's in Roxbury, Wisconsin already during her year of candidacy and resumed it there in her second year of novitiate. In the summer of 1881 she returned briefly to the mother house to make her first perfession of vows as a lay sister. After her perfession she returned to Roxbury, where she served another two years. There is no record of her ministry or residence from 1883 to 1885, but she was very probably stationed at the mother house at that time, sence she appears in a group photograph made there in 1883. During the 1885-1886 school year we find her at Holy Cross, Wisconsin. Then came another year at Roxbury. It must have been about 1888 that sister Amella became ill with consumption. She may have returned to Roxbury for this very reason, sence comsumptive sisters were often sent there to recuperate in the fresh country air. In any case, she probably stayed at Roxbury as a patient until not long before her death, when she came back to the mother house in Racine. There she died on Febuary 28, 1890, at the age of 32. She was buried in the community plot in Holy Cross Cemetery in Racine.

Sources

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54405435/bernadine-meyer : accessed 08 December 2021), memorial page for Sr Bernadine “Mary Armella” Meyer (22 Jan 1858–28 Feb 1890), Find A Grave: Memorial #54405435, citing Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, Racine, Racine County, Wisconsin, USA ; Maintained by Harold & Pat Anderson (contributor 47290815) .

See Also

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