Sister Mary Evelyn (Mary Gaspar) Nagle, ASC, celebrated 70 years as a vowed member of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ on July 1, 2025, in the chapel of Benedictine Living Community at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows, Belleville, IL. She made her first profession on July 1, 1955, and her final vows on July 1, 1960. She marked her anniversary with the Eucharist and a reception with the ASC community.
Sister Mary Evelyn was born in Taylorville, IL, to Joseph and Margaret (Morrissey) Nagle. Her training in Food Service included a Food Seminar at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI, courses for Management in Food Service at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, and the Management Institute at St. Scholastica Academy in Canon City, CO.
Sister Mary Evelyn’s early ministry for almost 20 years included dietary, laundry, housekeeping and cafeteria service, both in small convents and in larger institutions: St. Clare in O’Fallon, St. Michael in Paderborn, and St. John the Baptist in Smithton; large institutions included the Ruma Center in Ruma, St. Ann Home in Chester, St. Henry Seminary in Belleville, St. Teresa Academy in East St. Louis, and the Loretto Home in Alton, all in Illinois.
When the former Ruma Province began missionary work in Liberia, West Africa in the 70s, Sister Mary Evelyn’s managerial skills were needed. In Gardnersville she organized the Legion of Mary, assisted the choir director at St. Anthony Parish, served as General Manager of Maria Catholic Clinic as well as St. Michael School. She was also the ASC Associate Coordinator and served a term as president of the Religious Superiors Conference of Liberia. In Grand Cess, she taught music to elementary students, assisted primary teachers in their classrooms, and was the spiritual director for the Legion of Mary. For more than 20 years, Sister Mary Evelyn was a missionary in this West African nation.
On her return to the states, she resumed her Food Service ministry at Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis, MO, then served as a Home Caregiver with the CSJ Home Care organization, also in St. Louis.
Her community service included being administrator of the Ruma Center for several years, then as a volunteer at the Center.
Coinciding with her move to Benedictine Living Community in 2022, she began Living Mission in Later Life.
That’s quite an accomplishment