The Eighth Child and the Fifth Daughter of Michael and Mary McDermott: Bridget Therese

Sister Monica on the right - Unknown nun on the left

Sister Monica

Barbara, Sister Monica, and Cousin Michael

The 1930 Minneapolis Census with Sister Monica

Bridget Therese was born 6 Sep 1892 in Chicago, Illinois. She is the eighth child and the fifth daughter of Michael and Mary McDermott.

Bridget became a Sinsinawa Dominican nun and changed her name to Sister Monica. She died on 8 May 1979 in Sinsinawa, Grant, Wisconsin.

According to a letter from Sister Marie Laurence states: "A quiet but resolute dedication to prayer and to teaching characterized the 63 years of Dominican religious life which opened into Eternity for Sister Monica McDermott on May 8 at St. Dominic Villa.

Sister Monica was 86 years of age. Ill health brought Sister to the Villa last year. She had become happily adjusted there when her illness reached an acute condition in the last few weeks of her life. Sister Monica died of bronchial pneumonia.

Sister Monica was born September 6. 1892 in Chicago, one of twelve children - six boys and six girls. Their parents, Mary Fitzpatrick and Michael McDermott were born in England and Ireland respectively.

Growing up on Chicago's South Side, the McDermott's benefited from a devout religious atmosphere and a close family relationship. Sister Monica was baptized Theresa in Visitation Church and received most of her early schooling in St. Gabriel parish.

She worked for the Chicago Telephone Company before entering St. Clara Novitiate, where she was received August 4, 1914 and professed a year later at the age of 23.

Sister Monica's mission assignments, entirely in the Midwest, were carried out faithfully and fruitfully in congregation schools in Kansas City, Bloomington, Minneapolis (three schools), South St. Paul, Rockford, Chicago (six schools), Waukegan, Milwaukee (two schools), Peoria and Winnetka.

Sister retired from the classroom about 1968 and in her last mission assignment, Sts. Faith, Hope and Charity, she tutored small groups. After four years there, she retired to St. Clara in 1972.

Sister Monica's spiritual life was nourished by a fervent devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, expressed in her leisure years in a daily Holy Hour. She recited the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary each day. A private devotion to St. Therese of Lisieux was rewarded by numerous signs of the rose, though her prayers might not always be answered as requested, her great Faith told her it was heard.

A lovely sensitivity to the need of others, especially the sick, elicited many acts of charity, which the recipients recall with gratitude. Her 53 years of classroom teaching spent mostly in the intermediate grades with an exactness of method and firmness of discipline, earned for Sister Monica the recognition of excellent teacher from her colleagues.

Afflicted early in life with a hearing difficulty, she underwent corrective surgery but as years went on, her hearing again suffered impairment and she found communication more difficult Sister was very devoted to her many brothers and sisters all of whom she outlived. Her interest in their interests was passed on to the third and fourth generations.

Mary Jo Grill, who had leg trouble from infancy and underwent several hospitalizations, was the most recent subject of Sister's prayers. With her parents, Keith and Sharon Grill, her brothers, Tom, Greg and Jerry, and her sister, Susan, Mary Jo, now healthily active, came to the funeral and was in her father's arms as the last Alleluia was sung at her great, grand aunt's graveside.

Sister Monica's family love was reciprocal. Her sister-in-law, Edith, whose husband, Lawrence, was the last McDermott before Sister to die (1974) and members of her family, came frequently to take Sister out to dinner and a ride, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Edith and her daughter, Monica (Mrs. Matthew Kreten) [error, Monica is Agnes (McDermott) Ames daughter] visited Sister the day she died. Funeral services were May 11 in Queen of the Rosary Chapel where Fathers Raymond Ashbrener, T. M. Sparks and T. D. Smith concelebrated the Mass of the Resurrection, preceded by the Morning Praise for the faithfully departed.

Sisters Norine Hatch and Monan Burns were cross and candlebearers; Lawrence McDermott, nephew, and Sisters Martha Wiegand and Francis Mary were the readers. In the Offertory procession Edith and Betty McDermott (Mrs. Lawrence, Jr.), with Matthew and Monica Kreten and Tom and Susan Grill carried gifts to the alter. Representing her profession group were Sisters Ambrose and Vitalis.

Other relatives who came to pay final tribute to Sister Monica, the last of her generation, were Mr. and Mrs. Richard Standish, Orland Park; Mrs. Arthur Neff and Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Kreten of Tinley Park; Mrs. Edith McDermott, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence McDermott, Jr. and Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Farrell, all of Chicago.

Sister Monica was always at her place in Chapel, Refectory, Community Room. May she find a very special place in the Eternal Mansion!

Notes from Sister Marie Laurence Kortendick, O.P., Archivist, The Sinsinawa Dominicans, Sinsinawa, WI 53824 [March 11, 1991]:

Sister's teaching assignments were:

Holy Name, Kansas City, MO (2 years);

Trinity School, Bloomington, IL (4 years);

Incarnation School (9 years) and Annunciation School (1 year), Minneapolis, MN;

St. Augustine School, South St. Paul, MN (1 year);

Incarnation, again, Minneapolis, MN (1 year);

St. Patrick School, Rockford, IL (3 years);

St. Jarlath School, Chicago, IL (3 years);

St. Albert School, Minneapolis, MN (4 years);

Immaculate Conception School, Waukegan, IL (1 year);

St. Barnabas School, Chicago, IL (3 years);

St. Thomas School, Milwaukee, WI (1 years);

St. Sabina School, Chicago, IL (1 year);

Epiphany School, Chicago, IL (2 years);

Other missions: St. Giles, Oak Park, IL;

St. Thomas More, Chicago, IL;

Sts. Faith, Hope, and Charity, Winnetka, IL;

St. Matthew, Milwaukee, MN;

St. Bernard, Peoria, IL;

St. Patrick and St. Brendan, Rockford, IL;

She was at St. Clara, Sinsinawa, WI 6 years before her death."