A memorial Mass for Loretto Sister Rosalie Marie Phillips will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22, at Incarnate Word Church, 13416 Olive Blvd., in Chesterfield. Sister Rosalie Marie died Aug. 30 at Loretto Motherhouse Infirmary in Nerinx, Ky. At 103, she was Loretto’s oldest member. A long-time teacher, she spent 87 years in the Sister of Loretto at the Foot of the Cross community. The funeral Mass for her was celebrated Sept. 4 at Loretto Motherhouse.

Born June 5, 1915, in St. Louis, she was baptized Julia Phillips at St. Cecilia Parish. She entered the Loretto novitiate from St. Ann Parish in Normandy in 1931. She was received into the congregation Dec. 8, 1931, donning the habit and taking the name Sister Rosalie Marie. She made first vows Dec. 9, 1932, and final vows Aug. 15, 1936. Sister Rosalie Marie earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, minoring in social studies, in 1954 from Webster College in Webster Groves.

Sister Rosalie Marie taught first-graders almost exclusively in 55-years teaching in Catholic schools. She spent 39 years of her religious life in parishes dedicated to Mary under her title of Immaculate Conception: in Springfield (1957-1964) and New Madrid (1964-1967), Mo., and in Monrovia (1967-1980, 1982-2000), Calif. In Monrovia, after retiring from teaching, she worked in the parish thrift shop and worked the parish bingo for 18 years.

Sister Rosalie Marie resided at the Loretto Center in Webster Groves from 2000-09. She volunteered at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital Gift Shop in St. Louis on Fridays, and did personal shopping and sewing by hand for the Sisters at Loretto Center. She was known for her handmade clothes and the original designs of her hand-sewn quilts. In the Loretto governance structure, she was a representative to the Community Perspectives Committee.

In 2009, Sister Rosalie Marie retired to Loretto Motherhouse Infirmary, where she continued sewing, quilting, writing, including poetry and reflections, and voracious reading until her death.