Sr. Guglielmo Sister M. Francine Guglielmo died on March 20 at Anna House at The Sarah Community in Bridgeton. She was 82 and a member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, a private funeral Mass took place. A memorial Mass will be celebrated at a later date.
The second child of Frances (Parinelli) and Rocco Guglielmo, she was born on June 22, 1937, in New York City. She was baptized on Aug. 8, 1937, at St. Joseph Church in New York and given the name Angelina Annunciata Scholastica after her two grandmothers. Later the name was shortened to Jean Helen.
From early childhood, Jean desired to be a missionary and thought of becoming a Maryknoll Sister. She attended St. Joseph Grade School staffed by the Missionary Zealtrices of the Sacred Heart (now known as the Apostles of the Sacred Heart). She was greatly impressed with her seventh-grade teacher and after graduation entered the aspiranture at Sacred Heart Academy, in New Haven, Connecticut. She completed high school in three years.
Jean entered the postulancy on Aug. 23, 1954, in Hamden, Connecticut. She received the habit on Feb. 28, 1955, and was given the name Francine. She pronounced first vows on Aug. 24, 1957 and final vows on Aug. 23, 1961.
Sister Francine earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Saint Louis University in 1961 and a master’s of education in library science from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in 1964.
After first profession, Sister Francine taught at St. Ambrose School in St. Louis, Our Lady of Loretto in Pittsburgh and Cor Jesu Academy in St. Louis.
During her years at Cor Jesu Academy, the congregation experienced a period of transition following the decrees of the Second Vatican Council. After much prayer, discernment and consultation, it became clear to Sister Francine that she was being called to transfer to another religious congregation. In July 1976, she took a year of absence from the Apostles of the Sacred Heart with the intention of transferring to the School Sisters of Notre Dame. She pronounced final vows as a School Sister of Notre Dame on Aug. 16, 1977.
Sister Francine began her ministry as an SSND teaching at Notre Dame High School in St. Louis for eight years. During the next 30 years, she was a pastoral minister at St. Barbara and St. Roch in St. Louis; Our Lady of Good Counsel in Bellefontaine Neighbors; St. Joseph in Manchester; St. Patrick in Wentzville; and Immaculate Conception in Dardenne Prairie.
For 19 years, Sister Francine was a procurator-advocate for the archdiocesan Metropolitan Tribunal, assisting individuals in obtaining an annulment. She reached out to inactive Catholics through a program called God’s People Called Home Ministry. She met with individuals, gave seminars, recorded a series of audio tapes and wrote a book, “Miracles of Transformation,” to approach annulments in the context of a healing and rejuvenation process.
Sister Francine was missioned to Veronica House, The Sarah Community, in 2016, and to Anna House in 2018.
Burial was in Sancta Maria in Ripa cemetery.