Sr. Rosetta could understand why the other nun was so confused. It was only 1954, after all, and she and Mother Celestine stood out for almost disappearing among the long veils propped up on starched forms of many the other religious women in the room. They were all nuns serving in the diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts, but in simple, contemporary suits, the foundress of the Missionaries of Mary and Sr. Rosetta looked like lay people.

“Do you know that this is a meeting of nuns?” another sister gently asked Sr. Rosetta. “Yes, yes,” she said, with an Italian accent. “We are nuns, too.” “Oh,” said the other sister, intrigued. “We’re a new congregation of missionaries,” Sr. Rosetta explained.