Sister Rosita Weiler's Story & Gallery
Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Rosita Weiler was born in 1903 in Athens, Wisconsin, and grew up on a small farm there. Sister Rosita was the sixth of nine children. Her mother died two weeks after the birth of the youngest child when Sister Rosita was seven. Her grandmother stayed with the family for a few months until her oldest sister was ready to care for the children. It was her task to care for the baby, and “O, how dreadfully it often interfered with my love of freedom,” she wrote in her autobiography. As soon as the little one was able to walk, she roamed the fields and woods with Sister Rosita. With the help and encouragement of her mentor, Sister Julietta Nescher, Sister Rosita was received into the novitiate in 1920 and made her final profession in 1928. She received her bachelor of science degree from Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa, and ministered as a teacher for 29 years. She was a substitute teacher at Aquinas High School in La Crosse, Wisconsin, during the school’s first two years in operation.
Sister Rosita is one of the community’s early painters, sharing her talent in 1928 by painting the second and fourth Stations of the Cross for the community’s St. Francis Chapel at St. Rose Convent in La Crosse. She recalls how in the early days, she helped paint china fired by Sister Marietta in the kiln that was located where the St. Rose steam plant stands today. In 1996, at the age of 93, Sister Rosita painted a “15th station” — the resurrected Christ — for the newly-renovated St. Francis Chapel. The painting shows the newly-risen Christ standing full-length in a field of flowers with rocks, symbolizing the tomb, at his feet. The La Crosse Tribune quotes her as saying, “The flowers greet him in spring, you know.” The gift shop at St. Rose was stocked for many years with the greeting cards that she painted and decorated with tatting.
Sister Rosita taught in both elementary and secondary schools in Iowa, Washington and Wisconsin. From 1953 to 1964, she served the FSPA congregation as director of the aspirants. Sister Rosita later worked as sacristan and as part-time receptionist for 18 years at St. Rose before retiring there in 1984. She retired to the Villa St. Joseph in La Crosse in January of 2002.
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