Sister Lucia professes perpetual vows as Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation

Twelve religious sisters of the Dominican Sisters of Saint 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 Lucia Christi Blankartz, O.P., a former parishioner of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Rapid City.

Sister Lucia Christi is the daughter of Kassandra Jolley (Christopher) and John Blankartz. She is a graduate of St. Thomas More High School in Rapid City, SD; Sister Lucia Christi attended University of Mary in Bismarck, ND, and Aquinas College in Nashville TN, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies and Elementary Education. Sister Lucia Christi is currently assigned to St. James Catholic School in Elizabethtown, KY, where she will be teaching theology for grades six to eight.

The Mass for the Rite of Perpetual Religious Profession was celebrated at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Nashville. The Most Reverend J. Mark Spalding, Bishop of the Diocese of Nashville, was the main celebrant. The homilist was Father Peter Martyr Yungwirth, O.P. (Dominican Province of Saint Joseph). There were over thirty priests concelebrating, including Father Mark McCormick, Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Rapid City.

In addition to the sisters making perpetual profession of vows, five young women will profess their first vows of poverty, chastity and obedience with the Nashville Dominicans on August 10, 2023.

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, The Netherlands, and Limerick, Ireland. For more information on the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation, please visit their website at www.nashvilledominican.org.

(Photos courtesy Diocese of Nashville)