Memorial Mass celebrated for Sr. Thaddeus

Intermountain Catholic

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Sister of Charity of the Incarnate Word Sister M. Thaddeus Quinlan

SALT LAKE CITY - Eighteen years of local ministry and a lifetime of love were celebrated June 11 at the Memorial Mass for Sister of Charity of the Incarnate Word M. Thaddeus Quinlan, who served at CHRISTUS St. Joseph Villa from 1986 to 2004. She died June 8, 2010 at St. Placius Convent, Villa de Matel, Houston, Texas.

That the Memorial Mass at the villa was held on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart was a happy coincidence, said Msgr. Colin Bircumshaw, celebrant, "for the feast itself has a special form of devotion to the word incarnate" and Christ asked Sr. Thaddeus to live the charisms of her order. The image of the Sacred Heart is a symbol of Christ's love, and Sr. Thaddeus lived out that love, he said.

Sr. Thaddeus came to St. Joseph Villa when she was 70 and ministered for 18 years. "That's total dedication to the Sacred Heart of Jesus," said Msgr. Bircumshaw, who is pastor of Saint Ann Parish.

Sr. Thaddeus was born Johanna Quinlan in 1915 to Patrick and Catherine O'Brien in Bandon, County Cork, Ireland. She entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in Houston, Texas, on Jan. 7, 1932. Her final profession of vows was Dec. 8, 1942, the same year she graduated from St. Mary School of Nursing in Port Arthur. Her first mission was at St. Mary's Hospital in Port Arthur, Texas in 1938. Her last mission was at St. Joseph Villa, after which she retired to Marian Convent.

"The sisters with whom she lived claimed her as the saintliest person they had ever met," said Sister of Charity of the Incarnate Word Michele Curtin during the Memorial Mass. "Evidently, Sr. Thaddeus used her retirement years well. She used them to grow in intimacy with the Lord. Now she is enjoying his presence and we are left wiping the tears. But deep in our hearts we know that love is stronger than death."

Sr. Thaddeus was a brilliant nurse, and could tell just by looking if a person were dehydrated, Sr. Michele said. "She was on call 24 hours a day and thought nothing of going over in the middle of the night to be at the bedside of a dying person. She was truly a loving person."

Sr. Thaddeus is survived by three nieces: Nan Lombard, Marian Maloney and Mary Quinlan; nephew Willie O. Driscoll; and several cousins.