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School Sister of Notre Dame Mary Laurentilla Back Aug. 10. She was 93. (Courtesy School Sisters of Notre Dame)

Sister Mary Laurentilla Back, S.S.N.D., dies at 93


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Catholic Review Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News, Obituaries

An 11 a.m. funeral Mass for School Sister of Notre Dame Mary Laurentilla Back will be offered Aug. 25 at the chapel at Stella Maris in Timonium. Sister Mary Laurentilla died Aug. 10. She was 93.

Born in Baltimore, Helena Virginia Back was the youngest of eight children and was a parishioner of St. Wenceslaus in East Baltimore, where she attended the parish school. In 1952, she entered the novitiate in Baltimore for the School Sisters of Notre Dame, receiving the religious name “Mary Laurentilla”.

Sister Mary Laurentilla taught at St. Patrick School in Cumberland (1950-52) and St. Mark School, Catonsville (1966-70). She was active in pastoral ministry at St. Michael, Baltimore (1974-75) and was the pastoral associate of Bon Secours Hospital in Baltimore (1976-78) before becoming director of pastoral care at Bon Secours (1978-83). Sister Mary Laurentilla was the director of pastoral care at Our Lady of the Angels in Catonsville (1998-99) and a volunteer at Villa Assumpta in Towson (2009-25).

Elsewhere, Sister Mary Laurentilla served in New York, Florida, Minnesota, New Jersey, South Carolina, Washington, D.C., Tennessee, Washington, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

She held a bachelor’s degree in English from what is now Notre Dame of Maryland University in Baltimore, a master’s degree in education (in counseling) from what is now Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore and a certificate in pastoral ministry at Trinity College in Washington. She also underwent chaplaincy training at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda.

A livestream of the funeral Mass may be viewed at: https://video.ibm.com/channel/amssnd-wellness

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