"Of the goodness of the Lord, the earth is full - As we have heard, so have we seen - rich and poor alike, . praising the Lord - pondering His love!" These words from a hymn sung during the offertory of Sr. M. Callista funeral Mass, which she herself had chosen, express the childlike wonder and loving praise which filled her heart and life as she advanced in religious life and in faith ... running with dilated heart and unspeakable sweetness of love the way of God's commandments. Death came in the late afternoon of August 11, 1984, as the priest of St. Francis Hospital, Maryville, Missouri, offered the Eucharist but a few doors from Sr. M. Callista's room, and "through Jesus, with Him, in Him," she surrendered her soul into the hands of the Father.

On the 49th anniversary of her holy profession, March 16, 1978, Sister had written: "Lord, take me when you will. Your choice of the day, the hour, is my choice. I so adore your blest will that I do not want to live one day longer, or die one day sooner than YOU will for me. Only let me love you more and more with each new breath of life you give me, and let me reach that degree of love for you that you desire, and have from all eternity willed for me, before I draw my final breath. May that last breath of mine be a perfect act of love for you to resound throughout the heavens for eternity."

Bernita Anna, daughter of Joseph P. and Mary Michels Haas, was born on a farm near. El Paso, Illinois, July 16, 1906, the fifth of eight children - five girls and three boys. Her father worked hard to support the family of ten, and was able to send only one girl away to a Catholic boarding school. Bernita attended the local country school through 8th grade, and the El Paso township high school, she and her brother Elmer driving with horse and buggy the five miles distance. Her life on the farm was a happy and valuable experience.

From early childhood Bernita loved to read, and was drawn to Catholic books and magazines 6uch as Father Lawrence's books, lives of the saints, and Tabernacle and Purgatory.

When Bernita was only two (November 1908) Sr. M. Bernard Willmann on a collecting tour, visited their home and her parents had the entire family enrolled in the Association of Perpetual Adoration at Clyde. When an aunt learned of this she prophesied: "Why did you ever do that?” Those Sisters are going to pray so hard, and they are going to get one of your girls!” As Bernita grew older she often took out the big certificate from Clyde with her name on it, and thrilled to think the Sisters were praying for her night and day. In her teens, she prayed much to know her vocation, and asked God to call her "to the sweet seclusion of the cloister," a phrase she had read in a book. When she was nineteen, she accompanied a younger sister to St. Louis to secure work. She had worked for a time in an El Paso bank. In St. Louis she obtained a secretarial position. To Bernita's delight, her new position allowed her to attend Mass and receive Holy Communion daily. At the encouragement of a priest, she renewed her prayers for light regarding her vocation and wrote to Clyde, where she entered as a postulant on September 8, 1927.

Bernita was invested March 10, 1928, and at profession, March 16, 1929, received the name Sister Mary Callista. That fall she was named prefectress of the little girls in St. Joseph's Academy, and until the school closed in June 1934 was either prefectress or teacher. She had made her final profession on April 18, 1934, and was to receive virginal consecration on November 16, 1952.

After the school was closed, Sr. M. Callista was trained to write vocation letters, and without the title of vocation director fulfilled this duty almost without interruption for twenty-two years. She also became proficient in convent bookkeeping, and when the Congregation was erected in 1938 was appointed the local bookkeeper. In 1941, she became Novice Mistress but had to be withdrawn a few months later to assume responsibilities for the Treasurer General, who required a complete rest in 1945.

In November 1944, Sr. M. Callista was appointed Treasurer General, and in 1954 Mistress of Novices  This assignment was extended to two years. In 1956, she was sent as temporary superior to finalize matters at the San Benito house in California, when the community was withdrawn from that location. From 1957-1962, she was treasurer at the Kansas City convent, then in November 1962, was elected Second Councilor and Secretary General, residing at Clyde until the transfer of the Generalate and Novitiate to St. Louis in April 1966. 

 In February 1968, she was re-appointed Secretary General, though relieved of the duties of Councilor, and she served as secretary until August 1974. In November 1974, she was transferred back to Clyde to work in the Correspondence Department. She was thrilled to be back at the cradle of her religious life, and to enter upon what she experienced as the happiest and richest period of her life. Freed from the heavier responsibilities of the past decades, she took up her duties at Clyde, helping answer letters, reading mail, and keeping Mass Intentions records; and also proofreading for SPIRIT & LIFE and HARMONY.

In November 1976, she was authorized a Eucharistic Minister a privilege she highly prized and fulfilled with great joy. She became increasingly grateful for her vocation, and for the gift of excellent health which enabled her to keep night hours of adoration frequently. In March 1979, she celebrated her Golden Jubilee.

Sister M. Callista was in the habit of rising at 2:30 or 3:00 every morning for prayer. On the day of her death, she was seen in chapel at 5:00 in the morning and later at breakfast; and again seen leaving chapel about 6:30, but the Sisters missed her presence at morning prayer. They looked for her soon after seven o’clock and found her unconscious. She was taken to the Maryville hospital and the doctor at the hospital reported she had had a brain hemorrhage. He gave very little hope of recovery. The nurses did all they could to relieve Sister, and two or more Sisters remained with her, praying short prayers in her ear. Though Sister seemed to rally a little in the early afternoon, she never regained consciousness, and died peacefully at 4:30. Those who watched at her bedside remarked that her face seemed to become younger looking as the hours.

The remains were brought to the Clyde Relic Chapel on Sunday afternoon, August 12. A Vesper  Wake service was held there on the following evening. The funeral Mass of Resurrection was. offered in the Adoration chapel on Tuesday, August 14. Her brother, Vincent, and wife, Virginia, had planned to visit Sr. M. Callista the following week, but instead came for the burial. Vincent said she had been a good violinist when she entered the convent, but did not wish to take the violin with her. Several other relatives were also present for the funeral.

Bishop John Sullivan of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese had previously arranged to pay a visit to the Clyde community and arrived the evening of August 13. He concelebrated the Eucharist with members of Conception Abbey: retired Abbot Anselm Coppersmith; Fr. Daniel Petsch; Fr.Joel Derks; and Fr. Cornelius Vanden Dorpe. Fr. Daniel had been her spiritual director,

And he  based his funeral sermon on the Gospel of the Mass: "I am the Living Bread come down from heaven.” He said Sr. M. Callista in her life demonstrated  the joy of going directly to the Abundance of Life itself, the Living Bread which gave everything and everybody value and meaning. Incidentally, Sister had an article published in the Sept.-Oct. 1979 issue of SPIRIT & LIFE, entitled, "God of My Joy." Sister was not only happy to use her gifts and skills to help others come closer to Him, especially through the stacks of letters she wrote in the last decade, but increasingly grateful to God.

Sister M. Callista was 78 years of age and had been professed fifty-five years. Posted near her bedroom door, and found again and again among her belongings, were the words of a beautiful motif which she had made her life's symphony: NEVER FORGET ALL HE HAS DONE FOR YOU! Down through the years, Sister M. Callista never forgot! Nor will she forget through the ages of eternal life!