Sister Mary Clarissa Rose

St. Louis, Mo. ~ Sister Mary Clarissa Rose R.S.M., a Sister of Mercy and longtime teacher at St. Joseph High School, died at the Mercy Retirement Home in St. Louis, Mo., on Sunday, January 9, 2011.  She had been a resident there for the past two years.

Sister Clarissa is survived by her sister, Yvonne of Ridgeland; her sister-in-law, Margaret Jo Rose of Vicksburg; a nephew, Patrick Rose of Vicksburg; a niece, Jean Marie Rose Weissinger of Jackson; and the Mercy community.

Sister Clarissa was born in Biloxi in 1927, the daughter of Chester and Claire Brady Rose.  Her parents and brother, Chester, are deceased.

She entered the Sisters of Mercy in St. Louis and professed her vows in 1947.  She received a Bachelor of Science degree in business from Our Lady of the Lake College in San Antonio, Texas, and her Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

All of her years in ministry were spent in Mississippi.  She taught at St. Aloysius, Meridian; St. Joseph, Pass Christian; St. John Inter-Parochial High, Gulfport; St. Joseph, Greenville; St. Francis Xavier, Vicksburg; St. Aloysius, Vicksburg; and her last assignment was as a business education teacher and yearbook sponsor at St. Joseph, Jackson, where she taught for many years.  In her retirement, she volunteered with the BEGIN literacy program in Jackson and she served as Eucharist minister for St. Peter Cathedral.

Sister Clarissa was an avid alumna of Notre Dame and was active in the Jackson Notre Dame Club.

A prayer service will be held at St. Peter Cathedral Friday, Jan. 14, 2011, at 7 p.m., preceded by visitation from 5 until 7.  A funeral Mass will be said at St. Peter Cathedral at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, January 15, 2011, with Wright and Ferguson Funeral Home of Jackson in charge.  Burial at the Sisters of Mercy lot at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Vicksburg will bat at 2:30 p.m. with Riles Funeral Home of Vicksburg in charge.

Donations may be made to St. Joseph High School Chapel Fund, P. O. Box 2027, Madison, MS  39130 or Sisters of Mercy Ministry Fund, 2039 N. Geyer Road, St. Louis, MO  63131.