Sister M. Beata Mackie, MM
Born: March 11, 1901
Entered: June 7, 1923
Died: February 5, 2006
On February 5, 2006 at 4:20 p.m. Sister Mary Beata Mackie, 104 years of age, while at Residential Care III, went to heaven.
Clarisse Katherine Mackie was born in Worcester, Massachusetts on March 11, 1901 to Charles D. and Mary Ellen Quinn Mackie. Hers was a close family of three brothers: Gordon, James and Paul and two sisters: Anne and Mabel. The family were parishioners of St. Joseph parish in Sister’s early years.
Clarisse attended Classical High School in Worcester until the family moved to Middleton, Connecticut where she graduated from Middleton High School. Before coming to Maryknoll she attended Berkshire Business College in Pittsburgh for four months. She had become interested in China and in Chinese language through her paternal grandfather who had served several years in Shanghai. Learning of Maryknoll she felt immediately called and entered on June 7, 1923. Her First Profession of Vows was made on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1925 at Maryknoll, New York. She had great devotion to Our Lady and had chosen at Reception the name of Mary Beata, which she kept until death.
After Profession Sister attended Catholic University in Washington, DC where, from 1926 to 1928 she took courses toward a Teacher’s Certificate. She was then assigned to Hawaii and served at Wailuku on Maui. There she made her Final Profession on December 8, 1928. After nine years in Hawaii, Sister Beata was assigned to the Philippines where she spent thirty-five years, three of which, from 1942 to 1945, were lived in the internment camps of Los Banos.
There were breaks here and there in those thirty-five years during which she attended Maryknoll Normal College in Manila for two years and later Maryknoll Teachers College from which in 1947 she was awarded a Bachelors degree in Education.
Sister also served in Transfiguration Parish in Chinatown, New York for a short time as Assistant Superior and later in 1958 as Superior. In 1961 she was appointed Superior at St. Ann’s in St. Louis, Missouri. But her heart was in the Philippines and she always returned there from these interludes in the United States.
In the Philippines Sister Beata served in Malabon at St. James Academy from 1947 to 1958 and was Superior there in 1952; in Baguio at Atab School and Convent School from 1964 to 1969; in Lucena at Maryknoll Academy from 1969 to 1970; in Pakil, Laguna at Maryknoll High School from 1970 to 1973; in Quezon City at Maryknoll College from 1973 to 1976; and back to Malabon from 1976 to 1978. Her life revolved around students and she enjoyed teaching. But it seemed she liked tutoring even better, and she did a lot of that through the years of her retirement.
When Sister retired fully in 1979 she transferred from the Philippines to Monrovia, California. At this time she said, “It really will be hard leaving the Philippines for good. However, leaving places one has grown to love seems very much a part of every missioner’s life.” She remained at Monrovia until failing health prompted her to request a move to the Center in 1991. In 1993 she was admitted to the Maryknoll Residential Care Assisted Living Unit where she continued to be quite active until 2003. At the time of her death, Sister was a member of the Eden Community residing in the Assisted Living Unit.
When Sister was assigned to the Center she said she would be in mission by prayer and in companionship. She chose East Timor as her prayer ministry and faithfully kept that mission before her God.
We welcome Sister’s family and our Maryknoll brother, Father Michael Duggan, who will preside at the Liturgy of Christian Burial.