Sister Jane Dolores Biddle died in Camilla Hall relatively shy of her 93rd birthday. Sister was in the 72nd year of her religious life.
Mary Jane Biddle was born on June 3, 1930. Her father, Charles Biddle, and her mother Mary (McCarthy) Biddle raised their family of two girls in St. Francis de Sales Parish in Philadelphia.
Mary Jane attended St. Francis de Sales Elementary School (1935-1944) and West Catholic Girls’ High (1944-1948). Later, while in Community, Sister earned her degree in Elementary Education from Immaculata College.
Mary Jane worked in the business world for two years before entering our Congregation on September 8, 1950; she received her habit and her religious name Sister Jane Dolores on March 26, 1951, and pronounced her First Vows on April 5, 1953.
Shortly after Sister Jane Dolores pronounced her First Vows, she went to her first assignment teaching fourth grade children at St. Thomas School in Philadelphia until the end of that school year. Sister Jane was very adaptable, at the start of the next school year, Sister went to St. Dominic School in Philadelphia and taught fourth grade children until January 1954. Sister was ‘on the move again’ and for the next year and a half, Sister taught fourth grade children at Our Lady’s in Mt. Carmel, PA. Sister spent the next four years teaching fourth grade children at St. Barnabas School in Philadelphia.
In January 1963 through August 1966, Sister Jane served in Peru, South America. Sister taught children in San Antonio for one year; then in Nuestra Senora del Carmen for five years.
When Sister returned to North America in August 1966, Sister taught children in eighth grade for the remainder of her ministry of classroom teaching. At the outset of the school year beginning in 1966 through the school year ending 1985, Sister served in the following parish school communities: St. Matthew, St. Veronica, St. William, and Our Lady of Ransom in Philadelphia; Sacred Heart, Lancaster; St. John Bosco, Hatboro; St. Andrew, Newtown; Our Lady of Grace, Somerdale, NJ; and Our Lady of Fatima in Bensalem. Sister Jane Dolores was recognized as an excellent teacher and a beautiful, graceful, and efficient IHM Sister wherever she was missioned.
In August 1985 until April 2018, Sister served at our Motherhouse, Villa Maria House of Studies. Sister ministered graciously as an assistant to our Congregational Treasurer; Sister managed household finances; Sister greeted Sisters and guests via telephone or reception in our busy entrance to the Motherhouse. Sister was prayerful and assisted in every way. Sister Jane Dolores was a beautiful addition to this local community for 33 years.
In April 2018 Sister joined the Apostolate of Prayer Team at our Convent Home at Camilla Hall. As in all her acts of loving service, Sister continued this manner of IHM giving and living until her death on March 8, 2023. God rest her beautiful soul.
In addition to her IHM Community, her Local Community at Camilla Hall, and her sister Margaret Rogers, her nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews survive Sister Jane. Sister Jane’s parents Charles Biddle and Mary Biddle (McCarthy) and her brother-in-law William predecease Sister.
Reverend John Burger, SSC celebrated Sister Jane Dolores’s Funeral Mass on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, at 10:30 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to:
Camilla Hall Nursing Home
IHM Mission Advancement Office
230 IHM Drive
Malvern, PA 19355