Obituaries

From the first member of the congregation to pass away in 1870 to recent deaths, all the obituaries of deceased Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul are accessible and searchable. You can search by name, or use the birth date, death date and location filters.

These are not typical obituaries, in fact in the world of consecrated life we refer to them as necrologies. These biographical sketches are written by the General Secretary of the congregation shortly after the death of each individual sister. The necrologies are historical documents and may contain errors, including variations in spellings and incorrect dates. The necrologies are presented here as they were written.

If you would like more information about a deceased sister please contact the archivist.

Sister Mary Bernarda McNamara

Sister Mary Bernarda McNamara

Sister Mary Bernarda died at Marian Infirmary, Heathfield, on January 12, 1981, in the 54th year of her religious life. Agnes McNamara, born on January 24, 1900, the youngest of a family of six, grew up on a farm in the parish of Madoc, Ontario. In recommending Agnes...

Sister Mary Philip Beniti Allen

Sister Mary Philip Beniti Allen

On January 2, 1981, Sister Mary Philip died at the Marian Infirmary, Providence Motherhouse, having almost completed 66 years of religious life. As Kathleen Allen at the age of eighteen she had left her home and family in Prescott, Ontario, to answer the call of Our...

Sister Mary Catherine Dooley

Sister Mary Catherine Dooley

In the correspondence files of Mother Mary Clement, Superior General of the Sisters of Providence in the 1970’s, the following letter appears:  St. Patrick’s Rectory,Quebec city, P.Q.,August 5, 1924 Mother Mary Clement,House of Providence,Kingston, Ontario. Dear...

Sister Mary Bridget Sloan

Sister Mary Bridget Sloan

On December 9, 1980, Sister Mary Bridget died in the hospital at Shawville, Que. Sister had been taken in August by her family for a vacation at the home of her sister, Mrs. Nora Kelly, at Vinton, Que. On September 17, as she was preparing to return to the...

Sister Mary Francesca Kelly

Sister Mary Francesca Kelly

“The Community had lost a great educator”. These words were spoken by Sister Kathleen Garvin, of the Congregation of Notre Dame, Kingston, as she viewed the remains of Sister Mary Francesca at Heathfield on October 5, 1980. Sister Garvin had worked with Sister Mary...

Sister Mary Chrysostom McCann

Sister Mary Chrysostom McCann

Our Blessed Lady’s birthday, September 8, commemorates two events which we believe were not mere coincidences. On that day in 1980 Sister Mary Chrysostom, aged 90 years, died after a long illness at St. Mary’s of the Lake Hospital, Kingston. On that day in 1936 her...

Sister Mary Celine Nagle

Sister Mary Celine Nagle

Sister Mary Celine died December 18, 1980, at St. Mary’s of the Lake Hospital, Kingston. Sister was born on November 25, 1893. Her father, Joseph Nagle, was a life-long member of St. John’s Parish, Perth, Ontario, and her mother, Margaret Anne Salmon, a member of St....

Sister Mary Laura Otterson

Sister Mary Laura Otterson

On a farm home in Billings Bridge on the outskirts of Ottawa, Cecilia Charlotte Otterson was born on May 15, 1898, one of eleven children (two of whom died in infancy) entrusted to George Ottterson and his wife, Mary Anne Collins. Cecilia was blessed with a keen alert...

Sister Mary Veronica Williams

Sister Mary Veronica Williams

Sister Mary Veronica (Mary Marguerite Williams) was born in Quebec City on September 6, 1898, a daughter of J. Benson Williams and Elizabeth Anne Quinn. When Marguerite was just two years old, her only sister, Mary Angela, died and three years later God called her...

Sister Mary Frances Teresa

Sister Mary Frances Teresa

On New Year’s Day, 1980, shortly after 6 a.m., at the Marian Infirmary, Heathfield, Sister Mary Frances Teresa heard and answered the last call of her heavenly Father. How fitting it was that this call should come at the Angelus hour to one who from her earliest years...

Sister Mary Raphael McCann

Sister Mary Raphael McCann

On November 11, 1979 the senior member of the Sisters of providence of St. Vincent de Paul, Kingston, was called to her eternal home. Sister Mary Raphael is the only one of the Community so far to have reached the century mark. Five days before her death she could...

Sister Christine Breeze

Sister Christine Breeze

On September 16, 1905, Mary Christine Breeze was born at Forest Mills, Ontario. She was the daughter of David William Breeze, a miller, and his wife Mary Brennan. She had four brothers and two sisters. Sister Christine did not enter the Sisters of Providence until the...

Sister Mary Adalbert Rozmahel

Sister Mary Adalbert Rozmahel

On the sixteenth of July, the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, after 66 years and 14 days of religious life, Sister Mary Adalbert was called to her eternal home. To her the following words could apply “As you live, so you will die”. A life of quiet selfless service of...

Sister Mary Ivan Lesage

Sister Mary Ivan Lesage

March 29, 1979, two months after the 60th anniversary of her entrance into the Congregation of the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul, Sister Mary Ivan was summoned to meet, face to face, her judge, whom she had served as her spouse for over half a century....

Sister Mary Daniel Baker

Sister Mary Daniel Baker

On January 15, 1979, in the chapel of the Immaculate Conception, Heathfield, His Grace Archbishop Wilhelm offered the Funeral Mass for Sister Mary Daniel. This date marked Sister’s eighty-fourth birthday. Ellen Olive Baker, daughter of John Baker and Ellen O’Sullivan,...

Sister Mary Flavian Kearney

Sister Mary Flavian Kearney

On September 1, 1978, a venerable member of our Community went to her eternal reward, when at St. Mary’s of the Lake Hospital, Sister Mary Flavian died one month before her ninety-second birthday and in the sixty-seventh year of her religious life. Honora Mary Kearney...

Sister Lorraine Chapelle

Sister Lorraine Chapelle

Theresa Veronica Chapelle was born in Belleville, Ontario, on September 5, 1927. Her mother, Julia Mullin, died just as Veronica was completing high school. Her pious and devoted father, John, was, during this trial, and all his life, a strong Christian model for his...

Sister Mary Alda McDonald

Sister Mary Alda McDonald

On February 2, 1978, at Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston, Sister Mary Alda died in her sixty-second year as a member of our Community, the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul. Born on January 18, 1896, at Bath, Ontario, Mary Gertrude was the youngest of a family...

Sister Mary Majella Kerr

Sister Mary Majella Kerr

In the summer of 1921 the novitiate at the House of Providence admitted twelve young ladies, eight from Kingston diocese, one from Toronto, one from Alexandria-Cornwall, and two from Edmonton, Alberta. And rather unusual in the story of a group of candidates, all...

Sister Mary Grace Canning

Sister Mary Grace Canning

Sister Mary Grace, Elizabeth Rosalia Canning, died at the Marian Infirmary of the Motherhouse, “Heathfield”, on July 27, 1977. She was the last of our Sisters to enter the Novitiate from the diocese of Boston, Massachusetts, where our Community in 1873 established at...