In Loving Memory...

Sister M. Monica, CSC
(Mary Margaret Wagner)
Birth: April 6, 1910
Profession: August 15, 1935
Death: June 3, 2006

Sister Monica was a tiny lady with a big heart and a brilliant mind. While a student of hers at Dunbarton College in Washington, D.C., I often trembled in her presence. All sophomores had to take a class in Western Literature from her. She was an excellent teacher and a very demanding one. All students also had to take one of the following courses: math, Greek or Latin. My choice was math; but for those who did not like math, it was Greek or Latin. They got to know Sister Monica well.

Mary Margaret Wagner was born April 6, 1910, to Christian and Margaret Weingartner Wagner in Tiffin, Ohio. Her mother was from Sidney, Ohio, and her father, a soft drink manufacturer, was from Tiffin. Sister Monica had one brother, Joseph, and one sister, Gertrude, who were twins. They preceded her in death. She has a niece in Ohio and a nephew in Norway.

Mary Margaret completed grammar school at Ursuline Academy in Tiffin and graduated from Calvert High School in the same city. She continued her education at Saint Mary’s College, earning her bachelor’s degree in Greek and Latin in 1932. The January following her graduation, she returned to campus and entered the congregation. She was given the religious name of Sister Monica. Her graduate work was done at Catholic University in Washington, where she earned both her master’s and Ph.D. in Greek and Latin.

Sister Monica’s first assignment after making first vows in 1935 was to teach at the Academy of the Holy Cross in Washington. After six years there she began her tenure at Dunbarton College of the Holy Cross, located on the same grounds as the academy. Here she chaired the Greek and Latin department and served as vice president of the college for 19 years. In addition to her teaching and administrative duties at Dunbarton, she did postdoctoral research at Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Research Center in Washington.

In 1960 Sister Monica was assigned to Saint Mary’s College where she taught ancient history. After one year there she was elected to a six-year term as a member of the General Council of the Congregation. After completing her term on the council, she returned to Dunbarton for a two-year stint as dean of studies. From there she went to Rome as a professional translator. She also taught biblical Greek to the seminarians at the Gregorian University. While in Rome, she and Sister Catherine Tobin contributed their talents to the beginning of the Saint Mary’s College Rome Program. They were the first sisters to direct this program when it began in 1970.

After returning to the United States in the late 1970s she served in the secretariat at Saint Mary’s for five years while also serving as a member of the Moreau Regional Council for part of this time. From 1981 to 1992 she volunteered in the Cushwa-Leighton Library as an assistant to the archivist. She also was a proofreader for the Courier, the Saint Mary’s College alumnae publication. She was always very attentive to detail, wanting everything to be right.

In 1990, her delightful little book, Benchmarks, was published. It is about buildings erected or occupied during the most significant periods in the history of Saint Mary’s College and has been helpful to many who are looking for information about the college buildings. In the foreward of the book she states: “For the reflective viewer buildings do more than present an image to the eye or the mind; they speak of the human values they embody: the high purpose, the self-sacrifice, the consuming zeal of many lives. If we listen, we may be able to wake up the echoes of Saint Mary’s past, and thus appreciate her present more fully.” She was writing not only about buildings, but also about the people who lived in those buildings and the life of the people who lived there. She made those buildings come alive.

Many of us may remember the book of Father Moreau’s meditations that we used for many years. Sister Monica did the research and compiled all of the material for that book. This was only one of her many research projects. In her early years she had recognition for her poetry. She was a woman of many talents.

Although she was small in stature, her quick mind made her a good conversationalist and organizer. Her sense of hospitality opened the way for her to share her brilliance with others. She carried with her the brightness of her smile as an expression of gratitude for the least favor done to her. Monica, you always smiled when asked to offer the gifts at Mass. Now you are seeing God face to face. You really have something to smile about.

Written by Sister Anna Mae Golden, 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.