Join us in celebrating Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Celesta Day, our new featured artist in FSPA’s 175th anniversary Visual Art Experience.
Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Celesta Day was born in 1935 and grew up in Jefferson, Iowa. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and nursing, master’s degrees in business administration and spirituality and a doctorate in ministry. She began her health care career in the 1950s and received her early education and professional training in Carroll, Iowa. Sister Celesta helped with the early development of the first emergency department at St. Francis Hospital in La Crosse, Wisconsin. During her years as administrator there, she worked to establish the first paramedic services in the area.
The Carroll Times Herald speaks to Sister Celesta’s achievements: “She served as a registered nurse in La Crosse and St. Joseph’s Hospital, Hillsboro before earning a degree in healthcare administration. She then worked as an administrator in Hillsboro, Wisconsin from 1966 to 1970 before serving as Franciscan-Skemp, (now Mayo Clinic) Hospital, La Crosse, first in planning and development (1979 to 1982) and then as administrator (1983 to 1988). She has also served the FSPA community as vice president from 1970 to 1978 and as director of Mission Effectiveness for FSPA-sponsored hospitals and Viterbo University from 1989 to 2005.” After retiring she continued to serve as a corporate member for FSPA-sponsored health care institutions, trustee for Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and member of the La Crosse Diocese Ecumenical Commission.
Given Sister Celesta’s background in health care, she has an innate understanding of the human form which appears in much of her artwork. After taking classes with Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Margaret Ann Schlosser, she has completed several landscape paintings. She is a skilled iconographer and has completed numerous icons since attending the first iconography workshop organized by the FSPA in Naperville, Illinois, and traveling to Cluj, Romania, as part of the Renaissance of Iconography Project in 2004.
Enjoy Sister Celesta's video interview and art gallery