Wednesday, June 17, 2009

A Mass of Christian Burial for Carmelite Sister Michael Rosarie Devaney, 80, was held on June 17 at St. Patrick’s Home in Bronx, N.Y. She died on June 9 after a long illness.

Sister Michael was a native of Jersey City, N.J. She was a member of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm for more than 60 years and was the former superior general of her community.

Sister Michael entered the Carmelites on Sept. 8, 1948 and professed her final vows on Dec. 8, 1954. She trained as a lab and x-ray technician and served at the Mary Manning Walsh Home in New York City; St. Margaret Hall in Cincinnati; and St. Patrick’s Home in the Bronx.

In 1968 Sister Michael was appointed superior of the Josephine Baird Home in New York City, where she ministered for four years. In September 1972, Sister Michael was elected the vicar general of the Carmelite congregation. Six years later, she was elected superior general and was the first to succeed the Carmelite congregation’s foundress, Mother Mary Angeline Teresa McCrory, whose cause for beatification and canonization is being investigated in Rome. Sister Michael initiated the cause for beatification and canonization She also established the Teresian Society to promote Mother Angeline’s cause.

Sister Michael held the office of superior general until 1990. In 1991 she was appointed superior of Our Lady’s Manor in Dublin, Ireland, where she served for six years. She returned to the United States and was assigned to St. Patrick’s Home in the Bronx. where she assisted in the pastoral care department.

Burial was in Queen of Carmel Cemetery on the grounds of the Carmelite Sisters’ motherhouse in Germantown, N.Y.