May 25, 2011

A Mass of Christian Burial for Sister of Charity of Cincinnati Maria Fidelis Ritter was celebrated May 23 in the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception at the congregation’s motherhouse. Sister Maria Fidelis, 90, died May 17 at Mother Margaret Hall. She was a Sister of Charity for 70 years.

A native of Dayton, Sister Maria Fidelis began training as a nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton immediately after high school. After entering the Sisters of Charity in 1940, she earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the College of Mount St. Joseph and a master’s degree in psychiatric nursing from Catholic University of America.

Sister Maria Fidelis went on to minister at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati in the psychiatric unit, as supervisor of the outpatient clinic and as the hospital’s home health coordinator. She also worked as a registered nurse instructor at Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton for one year and then as supervisor of the emergency department. In addition, she served as the head nurse and administrator at Mother Margaret Hall. Sister Maria Fidelis also helped establish the first Recovery International self-help group in the Cincinnati area. She ministered at hospitals in Colorado and in hospice care in Florida.

Returning to Cincinnati in 1985, Sister Maria Fidelis began what she called a “ministry on wheels,” serving as a driver for Mother Margaret Hall and motherhouse residents needing transportation.

Interment was in the Sisters of Charity cemetery.