In Loving Memory...

Sister M. Francis Therese, CSC
(Catherine Suzanne Smith)
Birth: October 26, 1910
Profession: August 15, 1933
Death: May 3, 2005

Sister Francis Therese, Catherine Smith, was born in County Cavan, Ireland, to Phil and Mary Ann Farrelly Smith, October 26, 1910. Later her family moved to the United States to better themselves and “to pick up off the streets” all the gold and silver in America, the land of opportunity. They settled in New York City.

There were six children, John, Ann, Veronica, Charles, Marie and Catherine. All are deceased. Sister has many nieces and nephews living in various states.

Among her memories of her childhood in Ireland are the family’s summer trips to the beach. They did not have a car, so a friend who owned an ambulance would take them. It was great fun, especially several times going through all the red lights. The family had much fun celebrating all possible occasions. They always had good food and thoroughly enjoyed being together, but had no special family traditions.

When the family arrived in New York, Catherine attended Sacred Heart School for one or two years and then transferred to Saint Paul the Apostle where the Holy Cross sisters taught. There, Sister Paul was a great influence on her. After graduation she went to the Textile High School in New York.

After she finished school she worked in the Adjustment Bureau at the New York Lord and Taylor Department Store where she had to handle many complaints by writing letters to the unhappy customers.

She always wanted to be a sister and go “far away to do things for God.” As time went on she realized more and more that she had a religious vocation. Sister Una, who had been the principal at St. Paul’s, helped her get ready to come to Saint Mary’s to enter the novitiate. When she was received into the Congregation she received the name Sister Francis Therese, which pleased her very much because the Little Flower had been canonized just the year before and she had great devotion to her.

As a sister she earned a bachelor’s degree from Dunbarton College and a master’s degree in speech and drama at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She also attended New York University and Fordham University.

She taught in both elementary and high schools and coached basketball. In high school she directed plays and was chairperson of the National Forensic League; her students successfully competed in many speech competitions. She also taught business courses at Kingsboro College in New York for two years.

Her ministries took her to Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. Her favorite years involved teaching 7th and 8th grades and being the assistant principal at Saint Mary’s Parish School in Alexandria, Virginia, where the students there called her “Franny T.” In May 2004, a group of them called her and she loved talking to them. Once when she went into her classroom, the desks were all facing the back of the room; the students were hiding in the bathroom where she found them.

Her mother played the violin and her father played the flute; so her love of music was inherited from them. All her siblings played some musical instrument and she took violin lessons, including two years from Professor Seidel, grandfather of Sisters Patricia, Mary and Beth Mulvaney. These last few years she has enjoyed painting and reading. She has crocheted lovely afghans and table cloths.

Sister was on exclaustration for 15 years caring for her mother. During those years she taught in public schools and was able to have a full-time caregiver for her mother.

When Sister was “too old to do ministry” and came to campus to retire, she was in Rosary Convent, and then transferred to Saint Mary’s Convent.

The most special person Sister ever met was Mother Margaret Marie, superior at Dunbarton and at one time the provincial of the Eastern Province. Mother was exceedingly brilliant, charming, interesting and was way ahead of her time.

Sister said, “I have had a wonderful life.”

Last Saturday during the evening meal, she had a debilitating stroke. She had requested previously to remain at Saint Mary’s and be kept comfortable. Early Tuesday morning, she moved peacefully into the arms of her God, and we know she is still enjoying a wonderful life.

Written by Sister M. Francis Therese, CSC
Read by Sister M. Joan Elizabeth, 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.