Twelve religious sisters of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation in Nashville, Tennessee, professed perpetual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience on July 25. Among those who made their Perpetual Profession was Sister Maria Lucia Rosenhoover, O.P., a former parishioner of Holy Spirit Parish in Huntsville.

Sister Maria Lucia is the daughter of deceased Stacey Sorrell Rosenhoover of Romulus MI, and Remy Rosenhoover married to Karen Rosenhoover parishioners of St Joseph’s in Huntsville. Sister is a graduate of St. Bernard Preparatory School in Cullman. Father Paschal Pautler, a recently ordained Benedictine monk and graduate of St. Bernard’s, was the first to introduce her to the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. After entering the convent, Sister attended Aquinas College in Nashville, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in interdisciplinary studies. She is currently teaching second grade at St. Henry School in Nashville.

The Mass for the Rite of Perpetual Religious Profession was celebrated at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville. Bishop J. Mark Spalding of Nashville was the main celebrant. The homilist was Father Peter Martyr Yungwirth, O.P. (Dominican Province of St. Joseph). Also concelebrating the Mass was St. Bernard Abbey’s Abbot Emeritus Cletus D. Meagher, O.S.B., Father Paschal Pautler, and over thirty attending priests.

In addition to the sisters making their perpetual profession of vows, five young women professed their first vows of poverty, chastity and obedience with the Nashville Dominicans on Aug. 10.

In 1860, the Congregation of Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia was established in Nashville, where its motherhouse is located. The Sisters of St. Cecilia are dedicated to the apostolate of Catholic education. The community of 300 sisters serves in 52 schools throughout the United States and abroad, with mission houses in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia; Vancouver, British Columbia; Bracciano, Italy; Elgin, Scotland; Sittard, Netherlands; and Limerick, Ireland. For more information on the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation, please visit www.nashvilledominican.org.