Sister Mary Caritas McCabe, MM

Born: August 12, 1890
Entered: August 22, 1923
Died: December 25, 1969

Sister Mary Caritas McCabe died at 1:25 p.m. Christmas day 1969 at Phelps Memorial Hospital. She was seventy-nine years old and a Maryknoll Sister for forty-six years.

Sister Mary Caritas (Margaret McCabe) was born at Worcester, Massachusetts on August 12, 1890. Sister attended Wellesley College and was awarded a B.A. degree in 1914. It was while at College, where she studied the Bible and heard so much about the missionary works of non-Catholics, that she became interested in religious life and the missions. She had wanted to enter Maryknoll upon graduation from College but in consideration for her family and the debt which she owed her parents, she felt it her responsibility to make a return to them for all that had been expended for her. After eight and a half years of teaching, at the age of 32, when she knew that her obligation to her parents had been fulfilled, she felt free to come to Maryknoll. It was with great satisfaction that she wrote: “I have been praying for the convent all my life.”

Sister entered Maryknoll on August 22, 1923 and was Professed on April 30, 1926. As a Senior Novice she attended Mt. Saint Vincent’s and received her M.A. degree in 1926. Soon after graduation she was assigned to Malabon in the Philippines. As President of Maryknoll Normal College, where young women of the Islands received teacher training, she was a leader in the Catholic Educational Association for many years. Internment during World War II interrupted Sister’s teaching apostolate, which later was resumed with great devotion and zeal.

In August 1959, while on decennial at the Motherhouse, Sister suffered a major medical event. Unable to return to mission work, she would spend the last decade of her life at Bethany.

The funeral Mass will be Monday, December 29th at 11:00 a.m., at the Motherhouse, followed by burial in our snow-covered cemetery.