The air was filled with incense and the sounds of a Mass sung by more than 15 priests stationed in the sanctuary and a choir of Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in the loft. The casket of Mother Seraphine Ireland, who died at age 88, rested in the center aisle with tall candles flickering on each side and surrounded by sisters fingering their rosaries. Archbishop Austin Dowling presided, not just because Mother Seraphine was the sister of his predecessor, Archbishop John Ireland, but because she had been a mother to the city.
Martha Jane Gates: Decades of fighting hunger, poverty and homelessness