On February 17, a Mass was held at Saint Marys Chapel to celebrate The Life and Legacy of Sister Domitilla DuRocher on the 70th Anniversary of her Passing.
Serving as the Saint Marys Hospital Administrator from 1939 through 1949, Sister Domitilla modernized Saint Marys Hospital in the final days of the Great Depression. By monitoring world events, she knew that, if the U.S. entered the spreading conflict overseas, labor and construction materials would be almost impossible to find. Sister Domitilla established nursing education at Mayo Clinic and together with Sister Amadeus, they created one of the first Neuroscience intensive care units in the nation.
Sister Nancy Kingsley shares that the former principal with whom she served with where she taught school, Jane Bona, was recently bestowed with a papal honor. It’s the first time that a Catholic educator of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis/St. Paul has received this honor.
Inner Courtyard Update
As many of you probably witnessed, Olson Tree Service came on February 28th to remove the trees in the inner courtyard. I am pleased to say everything went smoothly and safely. It was amazing that they had it all done in about 8 hours! I’ve got to say, the courtyard looks twice as big now that the trees are gone. Unfortunately, it will look less than attractive for a few months but I’m excited to see its transformation as I hope you all are, too. Also, we have finalized our fountain choice and stone color the fountain will be stained. It is called Travertine and has hues of brown, grey and cream that should blend in with the limestone of the building. We have had some crazy up and down weather in the last few weeks. I have been out pruning trees during the warmer days. I have finished with the fruit trees and now have been just doing maintenance pruning on all our other trees in the mowed areas of the property. As we approach spring, our seasonal groundscrew members start back to work. Mandy Hoff will return to the groundscrew from housekeeping on April 1st to help with spring cleanup. Tyler Socwell, who came to us last summer and has been working in the sacristy this winter, informed me he would also like to help again this summer on the grounds. Unfortunately, Cole Hafner, who has been our summer mower the last two years, will not be returning. He has accepted an internship at college. We definitely will miss him, but we wish him the best in his future endeavors.
