In Loving Memory...

Sister M. Brigida, CSC
(Helen Agnes Dwyer)
Birth: November 26, 1918
Profession: August 15, 1950
Death: June 8, 2007

When we remember Sister Brigida, we describe her as gentle, calm, meek, humble, gracious, sweet, peace-filled and simple in the Gospel sense of that word. We also remember her as a woman of integrity, moral courage, dependability and great faith.

Brigida was born Helen Agnes Dwyer on November 26, 1918, in Geneva, Nebraska, to Richard and Helen Shanahan Dwyer. Her parents had come to rural Nebraska from the upper peninsula of Michigan. Brigida’s grandparents had all immigrated to Michigan from County Cork, Ireland. A number of her relatives had homesteaded in Nebraska and it appears that her parents came to be near these family members and to have more stable work. She was the first child of her parents and was followed a few years later by a brother. Her father was a drayman, carrying freight from the rail lines to local towns. Her mother kept the home. Helen attended St. Joseph parish grade school in Geneva and the public high school. As was the custom of the time, after her high school graduation, she tried her hand as a district schoolteacher, but soon began her lifelong work of office support. In Geneva she was a member of the church choir and active in the Sodality, serving as prefect at one point in time.

Her father, who was 17 years older than her mother, died in 1938, and it appears that Helen was the main support for her mother and invalid brother after her father’s death. Her brother died after the end of the Second World War and Helen began the process of entering religious life. In the sheltered life of rural Nebraska she had only known the School Sisters of Notre Dame, who taught her in grade school, and she apparently considered entering that community. She was close to her cousin Robert J. Dwyer, who was rector of the cathedral in Salt Lake City at that time. He suggested that Helen consider the Sisters of the Holy Cross and in 1947 he referred her to Mother Mary Agnes (Mahoney), the then provincial of the sisters who resided in Ogden, Utah.

No correspondence between Helen and Mary Agnes remains, but we do know that in responding to the queries Brigida gave her motivation for entering the community as “I feel that by doing this, I can serve God best.” Her cousin, who was later to become the archbishop of Portland, Oregon, wrote in his letter of recommendation, “her present decision is the result of long planning.” We also know that the sisters at Judge Memorial in Salt Lake City prepared her clothing for entrance into the community. All of this preparation was done by long distance, for Brigida never met or even saw a Holy Cross sister until the day Sister M. Peter (Murphy) opened the door of the novitiate to her.

In the summer of 1947 Helen moved her mother to Hannibal, Missouri, and made her final preparations to come to Holy Cross. At the age of 28 she entered the congregation on January 23, 1948. She received the habit and was given a form of her grandmother Brigid’s name on August 15, 1948. She pronounced her first vows on August 15, 1950, and made her perpetual profession on the same date in 1953.

As soon as she completed her canonical year she was assigned to the finance office of the congregation, then located in the tower building. She began in August 1949 and continued without break until she retired in May 1991. In her oral history she said that she was with Mother M. Irmina (Noonan) for a little while, but she really never knew her. She also said Mother M. Veronique (McKenny) was good to her as she began her lifelong ministry and that she taught her much about the community.

When Sister M. Gerald (Hartney) was elected general treasurer in 1949, Brigida really began her service in an uninterrupted way. She served with Sisters Gerald, Bertrand (Sullivan), Jeanette Fettig and Kathleen Moroney. It has been said that she felt she was not skilled enough to serve in other missions, but the fact of the matter is that the she was too skilled and valuable to be taken from the work she did. General treasurers come and go, but Brigida kept them together and on the right track for all those years. Her name appears on countless papers that document the life and history of the congregation. Because she was the only notary public at the generalate for some many years, the signature of Helen A. Dwyer appears on more documents than perhaps any other member of the congregation. When Sister Kathleen Anne Nelligan was superior general, she offered Sister Brigida the opportunity to minister somewhere other than Saint Mary’s, but she chose to stay in her position.

When Brigida was getting her paperwork together to enter the community, there apparently was a problem with finding proof of her confirmation, so her sponsor wrote to verify the fact. In her letter she wrote that she “was always impressed by her good qualities.”

Brigida, we have all been impressed and blessed by your very many good qualities. In her most quiet and gentle of ways, she placed all in good order, including so many records of the congregation, this wake service, the mass of the resurrection we will celebrate tomorrow and the bedroom in which she died. She was always available to those with whom she worked and lived, just as she had been to her family. Her quiet, peace-filled presence was evidence of her relationship with God.

She was a woman of deep faith and prayer. When she left her work in the general treasurer’s office, she said she would like more time for personal prayer, for Scripture-based prayer. The readings she chose for her funeral service are reflective of that deep relationship with our God. 

As a congregation we have been blessed with good financial management from the time of Mother Colette (Cunnea). Sister Brigida was a considerable portion of that great gift which has been given to all of us. She did indeed achieve her desire; she did serve God best in every moment of her life in the congregation.

Written by Sister Geraldine M. Hoyler, 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.