Sister Maria Mercedes Hartmann, SSND
(née Gretchen Hartmann)
First Profession 1943
Motherhouse
Baltimore, Maryland
Sister Maria Mercedes Hartmann, a trained social worker and teacher who worked closely with Catholic Charities for many years, died Thursday of a heart attack in the Maria Health Center at Villa Assumpta. She was 87.
Born Gretchen Margaret Hartmann in Ebensburg, Pa., she encountered nuns as a fifth-grader at Holy Name Parochial School. She was not impressed. In an autobiography she wrote before joining the sisters, Sister Maria Mercedes said of that time: "Most sisters told far-fetched and ridiculous stories showing the power of Satan and the horrors of Hell. So I paid no attention to them."
After graduating from public high school, she came to Maryland to attend the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. Her family had said they would pay for her college education, provided she spend the first year at a Catholic school. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in history and earned her master's in social work from Loyola University in Chicago.
Sister Maria Mercedes worked as a social worker in New York and Pennsylvania.
Sister Maria Mercedes didn't seriously consider joining the School Sisters of Notre Dame until she broke her arm in college and was prayed over by Mother General Mary Almeda, who was visiting. Sister Maria Mercedes often said she believed that moment was an exceptional blessing in her life.
Sister Maria Mercedes professed her vows in 1943.
For three decades, she taught religion and sociology at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. She wrote a book, a study of college volunteers working with "antisocial adolescents," according to a 1962 story in The Sun.
For four years, she served at the National Catholic Charities Office and spent more than a decade as coordinator of Catholic Charities in Baltimore, from 1982 to 1994. Earlier in her career, she started a Catholic Charities office in Johnstown, Pa.
In later years, she also spent time working with sisters on aging issues. She traveled to parishes and helped members of the community learn to care for their elderly parents.
Sister Maria Mercedes loved to garden in her spare time, tending to the flowers at Notre Dame.
She is one of 678 nuns who signed up for the Nun Study in 1990, a research effort designed to understand Alzheimer's disease. Her brain will be studied by researchers.
A Mass will be offered at 10 a.m. today at Villa Assumpta, 6401 Charles St. in Towson. She will be buried in the College of Notre Dame of Maryland cemetery.
Sister Maria Mercedes is survived by nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews.
(Baltimore Sun, May 28, 2002)
A story Sister Maria Mercedes used to tell about her college years involved roasting marshmallows in her dorm room. It seems that when the gas sconces were disconnected in College Hall , there was one in her room that was missed. She and her classmates would have late night parties roasting marshmallows until the night they were discovered. Her sconce was disconnected that day!
(SSND Archives)
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord!
(née Gretchen Hartmann)
First Profession 1943
Motherhouse
Baltimore, Maryland
Sister Maria Mercedes Hartmann, a trained social worker and teacher who worked closely with Catholic Charities for many years, died Thursday of a heart attack in the Maria Health Center at Villa Assumpta. She was 87.
Born Gretchen Margaret Hartmann in Ebensburg, Pa., she encountered nuns as a fifth-grader at Holy Name Parochial School. She was not impressed. In an autobiography she wrote before joining the sisters, Sister Maria Mercedes said of that time: "Most sisters told far-fetched and ridiculous stories showing the power of Satan and the horrors of Hell. So I paid no attention to them."
After graduating from public high school, she came to Maryland to attend the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. Her family had said they would pay for her college education, provided she spend the first year at a Catholic school. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in history and earned her master's in social work from Loyola University in Chicago.
Sister Maria Mercedes worked as a social worker in New York and Pennsylvania.
Sister Maria Mercedes didn't seriously consider joining the School Sisters of Notre Dame until she broke her arm in college and was prayed over by Mother General Mary Almeda, who was visiting. Sister Maria Mercedes often said she believed that moment was an exceptional blessing in her life.
Sister Maria Mercedes professed her vows in 1943.
For three decades, she taught religion and sociology at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. She wrote a book, a study of college volunteers working with "antisocial adolescents," according to a 1962 story in The Sun.
For four years, she served at the National Catholic Charities Office and spent more than a decade as coordinator of Catholic Charities in Baltimore, from 1982 to 1994. Earlier in her career, she started a Catholic Charities office in Johnstown, Pa.
In later years, she also spent time working with sisters on aging issues. She traveled to parishes and helped members of the community learn to care for their elderly parents.
Sister Maria Mercedes loved to garden in her spare time, tending to the flowers at Notre Dame.
She is one of 678 nuns who signed up for the Nun Study in 1990, a research effort designed to understand Alzheimer's disease. Her brain will be studied by researchers.
A Mass will be offered at 10 a.m. today at Villa Assumpta, 6401 Charles St. in Towson. She will be buried in the College of Notre Dame of Maryland cemetery.
Sister Maria Mercedes is survived by nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews.
(Baltimore Sun, May 28, 2002)
A story Sister Maria Mercedes used to tell about her college years involved roasting marshmallows in her dorm room. It seems that when the gas sconces were disconnected in College Hall , there was one in her room that was missed. She and her classmates would have late night parties roasting marshmallows until the night they were discovered. Her sconce was disconnected that day!
(SSND Archives)
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord!
Sister Maria Mercedes Hartmann, SSND
(née Gretchen Hartmann)
First Profession 1943
Motherhouse
Baltimore, Maryland
Sister Maria Mercedes Hartmann, a trained social worker and teacher who worked closely with Catholic Charities for many years, died Thursday of a heart attack in the Maria Health Center at Villa Assumpta. She was 87.
Born Gretchen Margaret Hartmann in Ebensburg, Pa., she encountered nuns as a fifth-grader at Holy Name Parochial School. She was not impressed. In an autobiography she wrote before joining the sisters, Sister Maria Mercedes said of that time: "Most sisters told far-fetched and ridiculous stories showing the power of Satan and the horrors of Hell. So I paid no attention to them."
After graduating from public high school, she came to Maryland to attend the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. Her family had said they would pay for her college education, provided she spend the first year at a Catholic school. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in history and earned her master's in social work from Loyola University in Chicago.
Sister Maria Mercedes worked as a social worker in New York and Pennsylvania.
Sister Maria Mercedes didn't seriously consider joining the School Sisters of Notre Dame until she broke her arm in college and was prayed over by Mother General Mary Almeda, who was visiting. Sister Maria Mercedes often said she believed that moment was an exceptional blessing in her life.
Sister Maria Mercedes professed her vows in 1943.
For three decades, she taught religion and sociology at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. She wrote a book, a study of college volunteers working with "antisocial adolescents," according to a 1962 story in The Sun.
For four years, she served at the National Catholic Charities Office and spent more than a decade as coordinator of Catholic Charities in Baltimore, from 1982 to 1994. Earlier in her career, she started a Catholic Charities office in Johnstown, Pa.
In later years, she also spent time working with sisters on aging issues. She traveled to parishes and helped members of the community learn to care for their elderly parents.
Sister Maria Mercedes loved to garden in her spare time, tending to the flowers at Notre Dame.
She is one of 678 nuns who signed up for the Nun Study in 1990, a research effort designed to understand Alzheimer's disease. Her brain will be studied by researchers.
A Mass will be offered at 10 a.m. today at Villa Assumpta, 6401 Charles St. in Towson. She will be buried in the College of Notre Dame of Maryland cemetery.
Sister Maria Mercedes is survived by nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews.
(Baltimore Sun, May 28, 2002)
A story Sister Maria Mercedes used to tell about her college years involved roasting marshmallows in her dorm room. It seems that when the gas sconces were disconnected in College Hall , there was one in her room that was missed. She and her classmates would have late night parties roasting marshmallows until the night they were discovered. Her sconce was disconnected that day!
(SSND Archives)
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord!
(née Gretchen Hartmann)
First Profession 1943
Motherhouse
Baltimore, Maryland
Sister Maria Mercedes Hartmann, a trained social worker and teacher who worked closely with Catholic Charities for many years, died Thursday of a heart attack in the Maria Health Center at Villa Assumpta. She was 87.
Born Gretchen Margaret Hartmann in Ebensburg, Pa., she encountered nuns as a fifth-grader at Holy Name Parochial School. She was not impressed. In an autobiography she wrote before joining the sisters, Sister Maria Mercedes said of that time: "Most sisters told far-fetched and ridiculous stories showing the power of Satan and the horrors of Hell. So I paid no attention to them."
After graduating from public high school, she came to Maryland to attend the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. Her family had said they would pay for her college education, provided she spend the first year at a Catholic school. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in history and earned her master's in social work from Loyola University in Chicago.
Sister Maria Mercedes worked as a social worker in New York and Pennsylvania.
Sister Maria Mercedes didn't seriously consider joining the School Sisters of Notre Dame until she broke her arm in college and was prayed over by Mother General Mary Almeda, who was visiting. Sister Maria Mercedes often said she believed that moment was an exceptional blessing in her life.
Sister Maria Mercedes professed her vows in 1943.
For three decades, she taught religion and sociology at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. She wrote a book, a study of college volunteers working with "antisocial adolescents," according to a 1962 story in The Sun.
For four years, she served at the National Catholic Charities Office and spent more than a decade as coordinator of Catholic Charities in Baltimore, from 1982 to 1994. Earlier in her career, she started a Catholic Charities office in Johnstown, Pa.
In later years, she also spent time working with sisters on aging issues. She traveled to parishes and helped members of the community learn to care for their elderly parents.
Sister Maria Mercedes loved to garden in her spare time, tending to the flowers at Notre Dame.
She is one of 678 nuns who signed up for the Nun Study in 1990, a research effort designed to understand Alzheimer's disease. Her brain will be studied by researchers.
A Mass will be offered at 10 a.m. today at Villa Assumpta, 6401 Charles St. in Towson. She will be buried in the College of Notre Dame of Maryland cemetery.
Sister Maria Mercedes is survived by nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews.
(Baltimore Sun, May 28, 2002)
A story Sister Maria Mercedes used to tell about her college years involved roasting marshmallows in her dorm room. It seems that when the gas sconces were disconnected in College Hall , there was one in her room that was missed. She and her classmates would have late night parties roasting marshmallows until the night they were discovered. Her sconce was disconnected that day!
(SSND Archives)
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord!
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