In Loving Memory...

Sister M. Anthony Teresa, CSC 
(Emily Marie Sarzeniak)
Birth: September 10, 1913
Profession: August 15, 1932
Death: September 30, 2004

Sister Anthony Teresa was a devoted fan of television cowboys and movie Westerns. According to one who lived with her, “Gunsmoke” was her “second Bible.”

I’ll bet you didn’t know that about her.

A little thought, however, may indicate how that could be. In the cowboy shows, the good guys always win. Right is vindicated, justice is done, the hero gets the girl, and at the end of the show, a perfect world is in place, at least for these few characters. In other words, the will of God is done, and everyone lives happily ever after. That’s called Heaven.

There is another aspect. Cowboys are watching over large herds of cattle. Cattle have among the lowest IQs on the planet – someone has to take care of them. Someone has to see that they get food, rest, water, and protection from enemies. Someone behaves toward the cattle the way God behaves toward us. I submit that Sister Anthony Teresa understood that metaphor better than most of us.

Sister Anthony was born Emily Marie Sarzeniak in Michigan City, Indiana, on September 10, 1913. Her parents were Joseph and Katherine, and Joseph is listed merely as “laborer.” Emily attended Saint Stanislaus School, and then Saint Mary’s High School, which was then taught by the School Sisters of Notre Dame.  However, Sister Godelieve, CSC, lived near Emily’s aunt in Michigan City and helped Emily prepare to enter the novitiate when she decided that was where God wanted her. Emily considered the other congregation, but she wanted to visit her family and knew that Holy Cross permitted home visits.

She entered the novitiate on September 14, 1929. This was just four days after her 16th birthday; it was also the anniversary of her baptism. She received the habit on August 15, 1930, made her first profession in 1932 and her final profession in 1935.

Her first 20 years on mission found her in grade schools of the Midwest – South Bend, Elkhart, LaPorte, Morris. The furthest she ever got from the motherhouse was one year in Cairo, Illinois. She was an excellent fluter, and after Cairo she was called back to flute for the provincial administration. (A fluter would iron, with hot metal rods, the intricate pleats of the habit’s headpieces.)

On paper, Sister Anthony Teresa spent a very unexciting life. But, of course, some of our most exciting episodes don’t get down on paper. Then about 1965 television made its way into the houses, and the cowboys appeared to brighten her world.

Sister Anthony Teresa spent 17 years in retirement. Recently she had a little wheeled armchair in which she could “walk” through the halls. She was happy to accept a push, but she would warn the pusher, “Don’t go too fast!”

She died last Thursday, September 30, three weeks after her 91st birthday. Cowboys traditionally ride off into the sunset, but we believe she suddenly found herself standing in the light of purest day.

Written by Sister M. Georgia, CSC

Memorial contributions may be made to the Sisters of the Holy Cross Ministry With the Poor Fund, Saint Mary’s, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556.