Clara Weilert was born Feb. 9, 1896 on a farm near Catherine, Kansas, the fifth of thirteen children. Like other members of her family, she was gifted with musical talent and a good voice; she was also talented in art and poetry. While attending the parish school, taught by Sisters of St. Agnes, she sometimes tried her hand at painting pictures, though she had no training in art.

At the age of eighteen Clara felt a strong desire to dedicate herself to the service of God, particularly to the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. She entered at Clyde on December 16, 1914, the very day on which Father Lukas Etlin, the Chaplain, himself a talented artist, had finished a novena for a candidate who would be able to help him with the art work for the community. Regarding Clara as an answer to his prayers, he tested her drawing ability, and began giving her lessons in art. She proved to be a very apt pupil who amply fulfilled his expectations.

As a postulant Clara helped in the laundry at the orphanage, and other general work. Between times she worked at art and taught art at St. Joseph's Academy. She entered the novitiate on Jan. 29, 1916 and made her first profession of vows on February 3, 1917 as Sister M. Cyrilla. Her perpetual vows were made on Feb. 10, 1923. She received Consecration of Virgins in 1952 and celebrated her Golden Jubilee in 1967.

In July, 1923 Sister fractured her right limb in a fall from the hay loft. At Maryville hospital, gangrene infection was feared, but Mother M Dolorosa applied a relic of St. Pius X and by morning there was remarkable improvement. However, it was several months before Sister was able to walk normally again.

From the start Sister gave herself generously to her vocation, with full participation in the common life. Her rich alto voice lent strong support to the schola and to the choir for many years. Enthusiastic by nature, she was zealous for Liturgical worship, the Divine Office and the perpetual adoration. She was also an outspoken champion of whatever cause she deemed to be right.

Only a cursory list of her artistic productions can be given here, bearing in mind also that from 1928 on she had an efficient helper in Sister M. Angelica Diffendal, one of her art students before and after entering, who worked in close collaboration with her through the years.

In the summer of 1924, under Father Lukas' direction, Sister M. Cyrilla painted the thirteen winged cherubs in the semi-circle bordering the large apse mosaic of the Clyde chapel. She also painted the five angels encircling the rear of the altar, adjoining those in mosaic at the sides. 

Through the years, five sets of Stations were painted for the various chapels of the Congregation. Life-size pictures of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph flanked the sanctuary of the infirmary chapel, and the arch was adorned with symbolic designs. The refectory was adorned with a large painting of Christ and the Disciples at Emmaus at the lower end, and the Crucifix at the opposite end was surrounded with appropriate lettering and designs.

For the Mundelein priory, reproductions of Mary's Seven Sorrows according to Joseph Janssens were made for the Dolorous Mother chapel, and a painting of the Risen Christ and St. Thomas for the Holy Thorn chapel. Sister also designed the mosaic picture for the triumphal arch in the adoration chapel. During a six-months' stay at Mundelein, she and Sister M. Angelica took a course in art at DePaul University in Chicago.

In addition, there were many number of paintings, large and small, of Christ under various aspects, especially the Sacred Heart; of the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph, Angels and Saints. Many of these were sold. When the walls of the Clyde chapel were cleaned in 1935, the two artists did a major share of the work, and retouched many of the ornamental designs. They also designed covers for the magazine and booklets, for the embroidery department, for monstrances, etc., and produced many hand-painted folders for festive occasions. Often these contained poems composed by Sister M. Cyrilla.

The last major work undertaken by Sisters M .Cyrilla and Angelica was the interior decoration of the Relic Chapel in 1965. Sister M. Cyrilla was then in her 70th year and her health had begun to decline. Early in 1975 she developed an ailment, which by July confined her to St. Mary's Infirmary. In time she was reduced to complete helplessness. Yet her determination to hold on to life was strong, and she retained her sense of humor. As her condition worsened, she accepted the reality of approaching death and gave much edification to others.

In God's loving Providence, it was her faithful friend and co-worker who was at her side when death came rather suddenly on the 4th of March, 1975. Sister M. Angelica had just finished praying the Rosary with her and was about to leave for her adoration period at 1:30 when she noticed a sudden change in Sister M. Cyrilla. Realizing Sister was dying, she called for help, then supported her in her arms, and in a few minutes Sister passed peacefully from death to eternal life. She was seventy-nine years old and had spent sixty-one years in the religious life.