On a farm in French Woods, New York, Mary Cecilia was born on October 1, 1912, the fifth of eight children to Victoria Cecilia (Peak) and Charles Meinrad Dirig, both natives of New York, and was baptized on October 20. In her autobiography she recounted early childhood memories: "I started school in a one-room, 8-grade country school house when I was five, walking two miles to and from school. The time between returning from school and supper was occupied with chores, filling the wood box, milking a cow or two, which I learned to do when I was as eight, helping plant the beans, corn, pumpkin seeds and potatoes. In the early spring, my brothers and I helped gather the sap for making maple syrup."

Mary experienced a number of childhood illnesses which caused her to be absent from school and in bed for weeks. It was to this period of her life that she attributed the first stirring of a religious vocation. “Being alone for long hours, as my mother could not stay with me and also take care of the multitudinous duties that were hers, I could only think, pray, and read. ” In the summer of 1924, some friends  had moved to the city came for a vacation and gave her mother a stack of old magazines. “Among them were copies of Tabernacle and Purgatory. My mother liked it and took a subscription for me as a Christmas present. I used to devour every word from cover to cover and was thus imbued with a love for the Eucharist and interest in the Benedictines. ”

The family later moved to Hancock, New York, so that her older brothers could finish high school without boarding and to provide for the high schooling of the younger children. Mary attended high school there. After graduation, Mary received word that she had won a state scholarship toward tuition at an approved college. She decided to attend St. Joseph’s College for Women, in Brooklyn, New York, rooming at a nearby boarding house. She majored in English, with a minor in French, and graduated on June 6, 1934. Her father died in September that same year. She had hoped only to teach long enough to repay her father for her college education before entering the convent, but it was the depression era and she could not find a job. She worked at home and was able to do a little substitute teaching  before entering the convent at Clyde nine months after graduation and only six months after her father’s funeral, “leaving a grieving mother and grieving myself. ” Her mother had offered each of her children to God when they were the womb; two other family members had entered religious life, a sister to the Visitation convent in Brooklyn and a brother in the Vincentians.

“The postulate and novitiate passed quickly. I was accepted for temporary profession and pronounced my first vows, receiving the name Sr. Mary Domitilla. My work in these early years was in the department that filled orders for booklet, leaflets, and other material printed in the Clyde printery.” Her education served her well for her as assistant in the editorial department, where she labored for twenty-six years, and in the Correspondence Department, at first in charge of the department and then as a letter-writer. 

She was for short periods to Tucson, to the aspirancy in San Benito, and to San Diego, always returning to Clyde. In 1976, she was transferred to our Mundelein convent, where she worked in the Altar Bread Department. When Mundelein was closed in 1978, she came to St. Louis, where at first she assisted Sr. M. Carmelita in the archives, and later becoming the official archivist and chronicler. In December, 1986, Sister went to Tucson for a few months, where she celebrated her Golden Jubilee with her companions. Then she returned to Clyde for three years, working in the Correspondence and Altar Bread Departments from 1987-1990. In September, 1990, she was invited to return to St. Louis as librarian. She gave this task over to another sister in January, 1993, keeping some small duties with the cassette tapes. In October 1993, she became a member of the health care community.

Sister M. Domitilla was very much involved in the renewal efforts mandated by the Second Vatican Council. In 1967 she served on the committee for the revision of the constitutions. She was elected delegate to the 1968 renewal chapter, and served as a delegate in all successive General Chapters until 1986, when she stepped aside “so that younger members could be chosen.”

Once, when reflecting on her monastic life during the time of retreat she wrote, “I was conceived into the Benedictine life on March 25, 1935, when I entered the convent. I was born on October 5, 1935 when I received the Benedictine habit. I was baptized on February 10, 1943, when I made first profession of vows. 1 was confirmed on February 10, 1042, when I made perpetual vows. 1 have experienced communion in adoration and every form of prayer. My priesthood is offering myself in sacrifice through charity and suffering. Death will be my anointing into glory. ” 

God called her during the celebration of the Eucharist on September 28, 1999. Burial in Mt. Calvary Cemetery followed at Clyde on October 1, 1999.