Sister M. Carmen Madigan, SSND

Our beloved Sister M. Carmen Madigan, 98, died peacefully at 6:20 a.m. on Friday, February 5, 2016, in Notre Dame Healthcare, Our Lady of Good Counsel, Mankato, Minnesota. In the past few days there had been a marked decline in her condition, and sisters had begun to pray with her. The Funeral Mass for Sister Carmen, with Father Eugene Stenzel as presider, will be at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, February 9, in Good Counsel Chapel, Mankato. Burial of her cremains in the Good Counsel cemetery will follow at a later date. The vigil service will be at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. We extend our sympathy to her nieces and nephews and their families, her friends, former colleagues and students, and her sisters in community, the School Sisters of Notre Dame. She was preceded in death by her parents, Henry and Nell (Brown) Madigan, her sisters, Ethel Garrahy and Mary Davis, and her brothers, George, Robert and Dan. Sister Carmen was born November 26, 1917, in Madison Lake, Minnesota. Six days later, she was baptized at All Saints Church and later wrote, “For reasons unknown to all except my mother, I was named Florence Mary.” She was the oldest in her family, and her dad admitted later that he had not paid much attention to babies before. “It seems he expected me to laugh, play with rattles and wave good-bye before I was a week old. It wasn’t long, however, until he was quite an experienced baby tender.” Sister Carmen continued, “During the first ten years of my life, every two years found me gazing rapturously into the deep blue eyes of another family member until we reached the number six with an even division of boys and girls.” The Madigan parents provided their children with a strong faith experience: “Mother was never too busy to hear us say our night prayer. We really didn’t think it counted unless we said it at her knee.” Florence attended country school for two years and then, as a third grader, she enrolled in All Saints School. She vividly remembered her First Communion Day, which was also Mother’s Day, and the fact that her mother was in the hospital, having just given birth to a baby. She visited her mother and brother in the hospital that afternoon, “with dress and veil still unwrinkled.” Florence continued at All Saints through her junior year. She wrote, “It was a sad August day when I learned that All Saints High School was to close and I had to go somewhere else for my senior year.” Since Madison Lake did not have another high school, she attended Mankato High School and graduated in 1936. In the latter part of August of that same year, she heard the call to become a School Sister of Notre Dame, and was accepted for entrance on August 27. She spent three years in the candidature, taking college classes the first year. “I was captivated by the life and knew it was just what I wanted.” The next two years she taught at St. Francis de Sales School, St. Paul, and then returned to Good Counsel for reception. In a nod to her Irish heritage, she received the name Sister Mary Carmen. Following profession of vows in 1940, she began a 45-year teaching and administration ministry. Her first assignment was high school teaching at St. Agnes, St. Paul. She also attended summer classes at the College of St. Catherine. In 1942, it was decided that St. Agnes would become accredited, and therefore teachers needed to have their degrees, which Sister Carmen was still working toward. She spent the next year at several schools as a long-term substitute. In 1943, with three other sisters, she opened a mission at New Haven, Iowa, taking over from another congregation of sisters. She spent the 1944 school year at St. Francis de Sales and was able to complete the requirements for her bachelor’s degree in English during that year. Beginning in 1945, she taught English and sometimes served as associate administrator in several of the Mankato Province high schools: St. Agnes (1945-47 and 1961-64); Emmons Central, Strasburg, ND (1947-48); St. Anthony, Lismore, MN (1948-53); St. Michael, St. Michael, MN (1953-56); St. Anne, Wabasso, MN (1956-60); St. Peter, Hokah, MN (1960-61); Don Bosco, Gilbertville, IA (1964-66 and 1972-73); Trinity, Dickinson, ND (1967-72); Loyola, Mankato (1973-79); and Totino-Grace, Fridley (1979-1985). During the 1966-67 school year, she served as campus minister at the Thomas More Newman Center in Mankato, and also taught English to student sisters at Good Counsel. In 1953, she completed her Master’s degree in education at St. Thomas College. Known as an excellent English teacher, she combined her strong English background with her sense of humor to draw out the best in students. She also taught speech and debate and worked with school drama presentations. In 2007, Sister Carmen was inducted into the Loyola Catholic School Hall of Fame. The following notation appeared in the ceremony program: “Sister Carmen has affected the lives of hundreds of people as teacher and principal for over 45 years in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa. Her skills as an English teacher and administrator have helped shape the character and values of many, many students.” Heeding the advice of her father, “Don’t stay until the last dance,” Sister Carmen stopped teaching in 1985. She became the coordinator of a program at the Good Counsel Education Center, the Residence for Women. Sensing that there was a need for housing for women college students and others desiring not to live in a dormitory situation, the School Sisters of Notre Dame a few years earlier had opened up the former high school residence halls to young women. A brochure described it this way, “Good Counsel invites women students attending Mankato Colleges to live in a quiet environment with an atmosphere of serious study, mutual respect and consideration, determining, for the most part, their own lifestyle and learning.” As director, Sister Carmen was responsible for interviewing and admitting women, as well as meeting day-to-day needs that surfaced. In 1991, Sister Carmen began a sabbatical year at Wellsprings in Glens Falls, NY. Following this experience, she returned to the Good Counsel Education Center community and served in several volunteer capacities, including working in the library in the motherhouse. She continued her love of reading by joining a book club that met monthly, and tutored in the Good Counsel Learning Center. In 1995, she moved to Marian Hall and in 2005 she joined the motherhouse community. She wrote, “My days are colorful, filled with reading, volunteer work and keeping in touch with family and friends. I know that I am blessed.” A gracious, hospitable hostess, she was also an excellent cook. Very proud of her Irish ancestry, she took advantage of any opportunity to celebrate her heritage. Gratitude also marked Sister Carmen’s life. In her funeral liturgy plans, she expressed appreciation for her parents and grandparents, her brothers and sisters, her friends, and “for many years of happiness and peace as a School Sister of Notre Dame.” She also expressed the wish that her funeral liturgy be joy-filled. Sister Carmen’s liturgy theme, “Accept me, O God, as you have promised, that I may live,” marked her long life. May she now live eternally in God’s acceptance (and dance an Irish jig for emphasis!)