A funeral Mass will be offered Oct. 22 at Assisi House in Aston, Pa., for Sister Margaret St. John Brocato, who died there Oct. 14 at age 92. A Baltimore native, she had been a professed member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia for 71 years, nearly half of which was given to education and other ministries in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Sister Margaret St. John was raised in Ss. Philip and James Parish and graduated from Seton High School. She entered the congregation in 1947 and professed her first vows in 1949. She earned a bachelor’s degree in education from what is now Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, and a master’s in administration from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
She ministered primarily in elementary education as both teacher and principal. During her 32 years in the Baltimore Archdiocese, she taught at St. Clement Mary Hofbauer School in Rosedale, St. Elizabeth School in Baltimore, and the Frederick Academy of the Visitation in Frederick. She also served as principal of Immaculate Conception School in Towson. In later years she volunteered at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson.
She spent 12 years in both the Diocese of Wilmington and the Archdiocese of Washington. In 1995 Sister Margaret St. John moved to Aston, Pa., where she volunteered at Assisi House, the congregation’s retirement residence. In 2016 she became a resident of Assisi House and served in prayer and hospitality ministry until her death.
Copyright © 2020 Catholic Review Media
