Sister Wilfrid Palladino

Our community is FAMILY to me! I found home here. My Mother went home to God when I was 4 and I encountered in this community all the love and the care that I imagined family would be about.

I found my way to the Benedictine Sisters through a friend who was entering here. On her entrance day I applied to the community myself. I was 20 years old. Before I became a novice my widowed father came and visited me and I didn’t think that he looked well. I went home to care for him because I thought that he needed me but it was not so. So I came back to the convent a month later and have now been here more than 70 years. I would do it all over again.

When I was young I hated school! In fact, I tried to quit school by telling the administrators that I was 16 but they found out otherwise. It’s ironic that I ended up being a teacher but that’s what the sisters did. I also worked with the Meals on Wheels program for 19 years and had fun with the other people who helped to provide the meal services.

Some of the sisters consider me the resident security guard. There is not a window or a door lock that does not escape my attention before I can feel comfortable going to bed at night. The sisters also enjoy my puns. I don’t know where they come from. But it’s fun to see their reactions.

I like community life and prayer. I love my life and I love the sisters!