Sister Mary Helen Rosenberger

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Dec. 9 for Franciscan Sister Mary Helen Rosenberger at the motherhouse chapel of the Sisters of St. Francis in Oldenburg, Ind.

Sister Mary Helen, 94, died Dec. 5 at St. Clare Hall, the congregation’s health care facility.

A native of Brookville, Ind., Sister Mary Helen entered the Oldenburg Franciscans in 1930, professing her final vows in 1936. Her educational ministry spanned 54 years and included teaching assignments at St. Anthony in Dayton; St. Peter in Chillicothe; and St. Clement, St. Francis Seraph, Sacred Heart, St. Joseph, St. Clare and St. Catharine, all in the Cincinnati area. She also taught in Indiana and Missouri.

Sister Mary Helen retired to the Oldenburg motherhouse in 1990.

Interment was in the motherhouse cemetery.

Sister Antonita Klein

A Mass of Christian Burial for Sister of Charity of Cincinnati Antonita Klein, 93, was held Dec. 15 at the Immaculate Conception Chapel at the Sisters of Charity motherhouse. Sister Antonita, who was a Sister of Charity for 74 years, died Dec. 9 at the motherhouse.

A native of Xenia, she entered religious life in 1934. She made her first vows in 1937 and her perpetual vows in 1942.

Sister Antonita served in health care for more than 40 years.

She began as a student nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton in 1936. After earning her nursing degree in 1938, she served as head nurse at the hospital until 1939, when she moved to Mount Clemens, Mich., to work at St. Joseph Hospital. In 1942 she transitioned to St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe, N.M. assuming nursing supervisory duties. She continued serving as nursing supervisor at Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colo., Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton, and St. Mary Corwin Hospital in Pueblo, Colo.

Sister Antonita returned to the order’s Cincinnati motherhouse in 1967 to serve as head nurse of Mother Margaret Hall nursing facility until 1972. She then served as the director of the motherhouse clinic until 1993 when she retired.

In retirement Sister Antonita taught religious education in Bethel, and each week visited the Riverside Nursing Home in Delhi Township, as well as the Stanley Rowe Apartments, a high-rise complex for the elderly in Cincinnati. She brought the Eucharist to residents, assisted them with health issues and provided clothing needs and counseling.

"Sometimes listening is the most important thing," she told The Catholic Telegraph in 1982, "the greatest charity."

Interment was in the Sisters of Charity cemetery.