by Renee Tomcanin
The classrooms were empty and the sound of footsteps walking slowly against the paved roads was the only noise heard. A light snowfall the night before left a blanket across the grass and a chill in the air for those waiting outside to show their respect. Hundreds of friends, faculty, alumni and students, gathered together, to give respect to an extraordinary woman who touched the lives of everyone who crossed her path. The Bruckmann Chapel was beautifully decorated to celebrate the passing of Cabrini College’s foundress Sister Ursula Infante on Tuesday, April 18, 2001.
Mother Ursula’s funeral was a celebration of a life lived, rather than a sad recollection of what was lost. Feelings of love, respect and admiration permeated the air as individuals took a moment to reflect during the viewing on all that Sister Ursula did for them and others.
At 11 a.m., the Mass began as President Dr. Antoinette Iadarola welcomed those in attendance by reminiscing on the times that she spent with Mother Ursula. Iadarola recalled Mother Ursula’s passionate love for God and people along with her sense of humor. Mother Ursula stated to Iadarola that “vegetables were not necessary for salvation or a long life,” at one of their last meals together.
The Mass continued with the words of principal celebrant Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington, D.C.; Cabrini’s chaplain, Rev. Steven Alvero; the Very Rev. Robert McManus; the Very Rev. Charles Schaeflein; Rev. John Stabeno; Rev. John Delli Carpini; Rev. Jason Kulczynski; and Rev. Jack Replogle concelebrated. The sound of beautiful hymns, such as “How Great Thou Art,” one of Mother Ursula’s favorite songs, and “On Eagle’s Wings,” were sung by The Cabrini College Community Chorus accompanied by organist Joseph Holden and directed by Adeline Bethany.
Cardinal McCarrick delivered the homily with a personal story that he had heard about Mother Cabrini. A short time before Mother Cabrini passed away, she was sick with pneumonia and instructed by the doctors and nurses to rest and stay in bed. She crept out of her room and was later found wrapping Christmas presents for orphans. Her friends told her to get back into bed and to “Rest, rest, rest!” She replied, “work, work, work. There will be plenty of time to rest in paradise.” Cardinal McCarrick felt that this story fit Mother Ursula well. He called for the congregation to “celebrate the rest she so well deserves.”
Dr. Mary Louise Sullivan, M.S.C., eulogized Mother Ursula by reading aloud a letter that she convinced Mother Ursula to write in 1985 after her 70th anniversary of service to the order. This letter, which Sister Mary Louise felt would better portray the kind of person Sister Ursula really was, was a detailed account of the day Mother Ursula decided to enter the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She took off her ring and diamond earrings, changed into a beige suit, and took off leaving a note behind. Mother Ursula wanted to become a sister at the age of 14 but was told by Mother Cabrini that she must wait until she was 18. At age 18, in 1915, Mother Ursula’s mother thought she was going to work when in actuality she was going to New York to accept her vocation.
The audience in the chapel listened attentively as Sister Mary Louise read the words of a woman she had known since the age of six. As a final tribute, “Nearer My God To Thee” was played by trumpeters from the Valley Forge Military Academy and College in accordance with the bells atop the chapel.
After the services, attendees headed over to the Mansion for a reception. The voices of women telling about the times when Mother Ursula was president could be overheard as people walked to the buffet table. Mother Ursula was president while Joan Gionnoscoli Jankowsky, Angela Abbonizio Zager, both class of 1964, and Sue Scanlon Carter, class of 1965, attended Cabrini. Their faces lit up with respect and joy and they told of their personal interactions with Mother Ursula.
“She was like a little black shadow. We would see her black habit flowing as she would run from place to place,” Jankowsky said.
“She ran it all,” Zager said when describing Mother Ursula’s duties as admissions director, president, and librarian to name a few.
They even commented on how four years ago at Mother Ursula’s 100th birthday party, she could still remember who they were and what their maiden names were.
“She had a great memory,” Carter said.
Mother Ursula lived on the third floor of the mansion while these girls attended Cabrini. They admired her strength and dedication to everything she did.
“She was a woman who wanted women to succeed,” Zager said. “We were her girls. I still have the white blazer we used to have to wear.”
“She was a feminist before it was fashionable,” Carter added. Jankowsky mentioned that Infante gave her a women’s athletic scholarship, something that was unheard of at the time.
Lisa Mininno, class of 1996, was a recipient of the Mother Ursula Award in 1998. This award is given to a student who shows exemplary work in and outside of the classroom.
“I was honored to be given an award in her name. She was an extraordinary woman. Without her none of us would have been here or met our friends,” Mininno said.
After the service had ended, Sister Mary Louise said it was exactly what Infante would have wanted. It was basic and traditional.
“She would have loved the trumpeters, ” Sister Mary Louise said. “She loved this college, but most of all she loved the students.”
Mother Ursula is a role model for the past, present and the future, In her own words, “The Sacred Heart of Jesus is my all!”
Read Mother Ursula’s letter on page 10.
