LINK TO MEMORIAL MASS/RECORDING
March 17, 1935 – July 18, 2024
"Hallelujah! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful. Let Israel be glad in its maker, the people of Zion rejoice in their king. Let them praise his name in dance, make music with tambourine and lyre. For the Lord takes delight in his people, honors the poor with victory." (Psalm 149:1-4)
Richard and Mary Donnelly welcomed their fourth child, a little girl, on St. Patrick's Day, 1935. Their family came from strong Irish Catholic roots, so of course they baptized their new daughter Mary Patricia. The family continued to grow and Mary Pat grew up the middle child of seven with two older and two younger brothers and one older and one younger sister. Raising a growing family during the Great Depression necessitated that the Donnellys go where work was available. The first 14 years of Mary Pat's life took the family from Illinois to Ohio, Florida, California and Texas. No matter where work took them, Mr. and Mrs. Donnelly found a Catholic parish and Catholic schools for their children.
How did Mary Pat get to know the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur? The story starts with family prayer to Blessed (now Saint) Julie Billiart, Foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. The Donnellys were living in Texas, and Mary Pat was ready to begin her junior year in high school. Once again her father was looking for a job. Mary Pat would later tell the story, "We began a novena prayer sent to us by my aunt in Chicago, who knew someone spreading devotion to the then Blessed Julie Billiart. After a job offer in the Philadelphia area, a search began for a Catholic high school. What a surprise when my father was greeted at the convent door by a sister of Julie Billiart’s order. A warm welcome into Notre Dame Moylan’s junior class was my first encounter with the SNDs."
In Texas, Mary Pat had been part of a small high school of 36 students. Notre Dame High School in Moylan, Pennsylvania had 1400 students. It was overwhelming for Mary Pat at first, but the warm welcome of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and her classmates helped her through the first days and soon she loved everything about her new school. She later described the experience of the transition as her introduction into "the great Notre Dame Spirit." It didn't matter that the classes were large. Her teachers took a genuine interest in Mary Pat as an individual. She experienced a spirit of joy, deep faith in the goodness of God and dedication to serving others among the Sisters that stirred a desire within her to live the kind of life they lived. This sense of a call to join the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur created a dilemma for Mary Pat. She was drawn to nursing and was planning on attending nursing school after graduation. It was clear to her that the Sisters of Notre Dame were a teaching order, not a nursing order. Mary Pat later shared that the decision was not easy, but her love for the SND spirit and the strength of the call her took her to Ilchester, Maryland, where Mary Pat entered the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur August 9, 1953.
At Ilchester Mary Pat was introduced to community life, a more structured prayer life, and began to prepare for the ministry of teaching. Her awareness of God's goodness at the root of her call and the SND spirit deepened. As a novice she took the name Sister Mary Richard. She was known by that name until the late 1960's when, in the spirit of the renewal of the Second Vatican Council, she returned to using her baptismal name. After pronouncing her vows in 1956, Mary Pat was missioned to teach First Grade at Maryvale, Brooklandville, Maryland. There she began her 14 years of teaching first and second graders in schools owned by the SNDs and in numerous parishes where Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur served in Maryland, Washington, D.C., North Carolina, and Georgia. Mary Pat’s early life experiences of moving to new geographic areas proved to be excellent preparation for life as a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur. She had the skills to enter into each new community and each new classroom with optimism and eyes wide open to find God's goodness. Mary Pat later shared she found teaching to be a joy and at times a challenge. Her strongest memories of her young students and years of teaching were full of humor, instances of the delightful ways young minds interpreted things, and memorable experiences.
Mary Pat was assigned to help care for the Sisters at Villa Julie Infirmary, Stevenson, Maryland. Those weeks of nursing women who were members of her own community reawakened her interest in nursing and opened her eyes to the need of her community for nurses to serve their own increasing numbers of elderly. Mary Pat received permission to enroll in a Licensed Practical Nurse program. After a year's training, she returned to Villa Julie to serve as a nursing assistant. Mary Pat found joy and a sense of being at home in the ministry of geriatric nursing. After two years at Villa Julie, she was sent for additional training and nursing experience at Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland.
Her forty years of nursing took her to as many locations as her years of teaching, but the audiences she served and how she served were much more diverse. Mary Pat ministered in hospitals in Maryland and Georgia. She served her own Sisters and served in the infirmaries of the Baltimore Franciscans and Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart. She also ministered through providing home care as a visiting nurse and as an LPN at Almost Family Adult Day Care. The last twelve years of her nursing ministry found her again serving her own Sisters. Mary Pat especially appreciated her six years living and working in a small community with other SNDs ministering to their own at a facility at Emmitsburg, Maryland. She served an additional six years based at Villa Julie and ministering to SNDs in skilled care facilities in the Baltimore area. Mary Pat always felt it was a privilege to serve her own, so when her own increasing difficulties with balance and walking brought an end to her nursing she found other ways to be of service at Villa Julie. In 2018, as her own need for help increased, Mary Pat accepted a mission to Mount Notre Dame Health Center, Reading, Ohio.
Her Sisters in community appreciated Mary Pat's enthusiasm for all aspects of life, her willingness to help in whatever way she could, eagerness to participate in community life, her inquisitive mind, her insights and willingness to spend time in conversation and her faithfulness to prayer. She described her past experiences in terms of humor. Perhaps Mary Pat saw humor because she brought her humor to daily life. She loved parties and celebrations of all kinds. It should be no surprise that St. Patrick's Day was her favorite holiday. Later in her life Mary Pat was invited to give a few hours a week to teach young children at a local dance studio. She said, "Although apprehensive at first, I soon realized my primary classroom experience was invaluable in the dance studio, so dance we did! As a result of this experience, I’ve been able to share the joy of dance at various community and family celebrations." Until illness made it impossible for her, Mary Pat could be counted on to enter into a genuine Irish jig or dancing of any kind that fit the occasion.
Mary Pat's family remained an important source of support her whole life. The fact she and her siblings grew up separated geographically from extended family taught them skills for maintaining strong relationships across distances. Mary Pat put those skills to good use as an adult. It didn't matter where she was, or where her family members were, they were close in her heart and always in her prayers. Written communication, opportunities for visits and phone conversations were all treasured. Mary Pat was deeply grateful for the love, faith and support of her family. She may not have been able to express it, but visits from family members during her final days surely brought Mary Pat tremendous comfort.
At the time of her 60th jubilee as a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, Mary Pat wrote, "I thank God for these 60 years and for my 'Companions on the Journey': my wonderful family; the Sisters with whom I have lived and worked; the school families and my colleagues in the classroom; my partners in health services; and in particular all the professionals who care for our Sisters. Surely our lives are a picture of God’s goodness, hardly long enough to give sufficient thanks." As we, her community, family and friends, gather to give thanks for Mary Pat's life, we are grateful for her companionship on the journey. We give thanks for her aunt who sent Mary Pat's father the novena to then Blessed (now Saint) Julie. We give thanks to Mary Pat's family who fervently prayed it, and for the grace of God obtained that led the family to Philadelphia and Mary Pat to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. We give thanks for all the ways Mary Pat made known God's goodness to each person she met. Now, as Mary Pat is wrapped in the arms of our good and loving God with Saint Julie, we ask their prayers for us. With Saint Julie and Mary Pat may we always exclaim, "Ah! How good is the good God!"
BIO DATA
- Born March 17, 1935 in Oak Park, Illinois
- Parents: Richard James Donnelly (born: Oshkosh, Wisconsin) and Mary De Lourdes Reynolds
- (born: Cleveland, Ohio)
- Siblings: James R. Donnelly, Thomas Donnelly, Jane Donnelly Daly, Joseph Donnelly, Judy Donnelly Tremel, Richard Donnelly
- Baptized on April 7, 1935 at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Elmhurst, IL
- Confirmed on May 30, 1943 at St. Rita Catholic Church, Solon, OH
- Entered: August 9, 1953 at Ilchester
- Professed First Vows: January 26, 1956
- Professed Final Vows: July 30, 1961
Education:
- Notre Dame High School, Moylan, PA, 1953
- B.S. in Education, Trinity College, Washington, D.C., 1965
- L.P.N., Johnston School of Practical Nursing, Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore, MD, 1972
Assignments Included:
- 1956-1958: Teacher, Maryvale, Brooklandville, MD
- 1958-1962: Teacher, St. Camillus Parish School, Washington, D.C.
- 1962-1963: Teacher, St. Thomas More Parish School, Decatur, GA
- 1963-1964: Teacher, Little Flower Parish School, Great Mills, MD
- 1964-1965: Teacher, St. Ursula Parish School, Baltimore, MD
- 1965-1966: Teacher, St. Anthony Parish School, Southern Pines, NC
- 1966-1969: Teacher, St. Francis Xavier Parish School, Washington, D.C.
- 1969-1970: Student, Julie Billiart House of Studies, Washington, D.C.
- 1970-1971: Nursing Assistant, Villa Julie, Stevenson, MD
- 1971-1972: Student Nurse, Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore, MD
- 1972-1973: LPN, Villa Julie, Stevenson, MD
- 1973-1974: LPN, Dekalb Hospital, Decatur, GA
- 1974-1977: LPN, Villa Julie, Stevenson, MD
- 1977-1980: LPN, Dekalb Hospital, Decatur, GA
- 9/1/1980-3/3/1986: LPN, Villa Julie, Stevenson, MD
- 3/04/1986-8/31/1987: SND Visiting Nurse, Villa Julie Infirmary, Stevenson, MD
- 10/9/1987-3/1/1991: LPN, Mission Helpers, Baltimore, MD
- 1/1/1991-6/30/1992: LPN, Villa Julie, Stevenson, MD
- 4/1/1991-8/31/1992: LPN, Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD
- 7/1/1992-6/30/1993: Nursing Research/LPN, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD
- 1/1/1994-8/31/1995: Activity Assistant/LPN, Villa Julie, Stevenson, MD
- 10/1/1995-8/31/2003: LPN, Almost Family Adult Day Care, Baltimore, MD
- 3/20/2004-2/28/2010: Ministry to Retired Sisters, Villa St. Michael, Emmitsburg, MD
- 3/1/2010-1/31/2016: Ministry to Sisters in skilled care, Baltimore, MD
- 2/1/2016-8/31/2018: Community Service, Villa Julie, Stevenson, MD
- 9/1/2018-2024: Community Service, Mount Notre Dame Health Center, Reading, OH
Died July 18, 2024 at Mount Notre Dame Health Center, Reading, OH
Sister Kim Dalgarn SNDdeN
July 22, 2024