Benedictine sister dies of virus amid outbreak at monastery

A COVID-19 outbreak at a Roman Catholic monastery in Richland has claimed the life of a Benedictine sister who had marked her 70th year in the religious order in 2020.

Sister Christine ( Helen) Makowski died Tuesday at age 99, according to a Facebook posting by the Benedictine Sisters of Pittsburgh.

The monastery has been closed to visitors during the outbreak.

Twenty-four of the 33 Benedictine Sisters of Pittsburgh’s members who reside at the monastery had tested positive as of last Wednesday, according to postings on its website and Facebook page.

Sister Makowski and her younger sibling, Sister Julie Makowski, of East Vandergrift, both joined the order 70 years ago.

Sister Christine Makowski spent many years as a teacher and administrator at St. Benedict Academy High School in Ross,

where the sisters had an adjacent monastery before closing it and moving to Richland. After the academy closed in 1985, she became the manager for its building, which was used for a variety of programs.

Throughout her life, Sister Makowski “worked, loved, laughed and prayed with the deepest conviction that all was being done that ‘God May Be Glorified!’” the order said in its Facebook post.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, those who tested positive have quarantined, while others were working hard to take care of them as best they could, wearing personal protective equipment to bring the others food and drink, according to the monastery.

“This may not be ideal, but it is what we can do to support one another in Community,” said a Facebook posting from last week.

A phone message to the monastery office was not returned Tuesday.

The sisters trace their history in the Diocese of Pittsburgh to the late 19th century, when they arrived to help teach the children of German immigrants, and they maintained a long tradition of education over the generations. They moved from Ross to their Richland location on Bakerstown Road in 2013.