In Loving Memory...

Sister M. Ellarita, CSC
(Marguerite Helen Sullivan)
Birth: December 15, 1913
Profession: August 15, 1938
Death: June 24, 2006

Today we gather in thanksgiving for the life-giving presence of Sister Ellarita in our congregation. We will miss her, but we rejoice that God has taken his servant home into eternal life.

Ellarita started life as Marguerite Helen Sullivan born in Lowell, Massachusetts, on December 15, 1913. There was a bit of a controversy at her baptism when the priest asked what was to be her name. Her father said Helen, but her godfather said no because her mother wanted Marguerite. The priest, using his pastoral authority, said it would be Marguerite, the mother’s choice. However, her father won because she was always called Helen. It is not reported but we surmise Helen, aka Marguerite, slept peacefully through it all. Her parents were of Irish-German descent, and Helen was the third of eight children. A sister and brother are still living.

During her high school years she attended several parish missions and retreats. One year, Father Fitzgerald, a Holy Cross priest, gave a retreat for young women. During that retreat, Helen felt a call to religious life and decided to make a novena to St. Therese of Liseux. She felt that if she received roses from anyone it would indicate she should follow the call. She was very close to her sister Mary, and one evening Mary brought her a gorgeous bouquet of roses. She told Mary that Mary’s gift was her answer about vocation. When Mary heard this, she was sorry to have picked that time to bring her roses! Prior to the vocation call, Helen was employed by a local woolen mill in Lowell.

Although her only contact with Holy Cross was Father Fitzgerald, Helen had the faith and the courage to join the Sisters of the Holy Cross “sight unseen.” That quiet faith and courage was evident throughout her life. She seemed to have accumulated in her spirituality a deep love of God as found in St. Therese.

When her formation period ended, Helen began a lifetime profession in elementary education serving mostly in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia with brief stints in New York and Texas schools. It was noted that Ellarita was a talented teacher, much loved by the children. Beyond the children, so many people spoke of her quiet, joyous and loving spirit. The nursing staff at Saint Mary’s speaks of emptiness in their hearts since she is not present with them now.

In Ephesians, Paul speaks: “For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ … and since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given us, we are to exercise them – prophecy, ministry, administration, teaching.”

In the one body of Christ that we are, Holy Cross would have been poorer without Ellarita fulfilling her portion for the good of the whole. Holy Cross would have been less without her gentle, loving presence.

Written by Sister Olivia Marie Hutcheson, 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.