Meet Sister Marcine Quintus

Sister Marcine is now in her second retirement. The 89-year old sister made her first profession as a Benedictine Sister in 1950. She progressed in her vocation and ministry from nursing to being an instructor of nursing and eventually Director of Nursing at Mount Marty College, Yankton, retiring initially in 2000. Not long after that, Sister Marcine was called back as interim director. She then took over the baking department at Sacred Heart Monastery until retiring a second time in the summer of 2014. But even retirement from that kind of work has not slowed down Sister Marcine Quintus. She continues to be involved in ministries at the monastery.

Sister Marcine Quintus on Faith…

She believes faith is something that needs to and can grow daily especially as we age, “…as you grow, circumstances present themselves in different ways, and you have to respond with faith and learn and grow,” she said. “I wonder how people survive without faith. Our Benedictine promise of ‘conversatio’ means that we are faithful to our monastic way of life and open to the growth and change that life hands us. St. Benedict was very wise.”

“You can have the knowledge,” she said, “but you don’t have the wisdom until you can put it into practice.” Some people suggest Sister Marcine has acquired plenty of that wisdom. She still gladly and joyfully conveys to others what wisdom and faith she has acquired each and every day. How does she do that? “Just by working and living with others,” she shared. “I don’t see myself as a preacher of the faith, I think it’s more through action. You have to live what you believe; otherwise you are not very real. It would be like teaching nursing without doing nursing yourself — you have to put the theory into action.”

Above is an excerpt from an article in the April 2015 Bishop’s Bulletin: Wisdom of the Ages: Learning from Our Elderly.