Mary Bielman, the daughter of Joseph and Barbara Bielman, natives of Germany, was born in St. Joseph, Mo. on July 5, 1872. At the time of her entrance at Clyde on March 10, 1889 the family lived in Savannah, about 15 miles from St. Joseph. Mary received the religious habit on May 3, 1889 and was professed as Sister M. Perpetua on November 21, 1890. Her perpetual vows were offered on September 11, 1904. Our Sister M. Luca and Sister M. Ameliana of Atchison, Kansas were her sisters.

Sister was a lovable person, kind and thoughtful of others. Reared in a family in comfortable circumstances, she was unused to strenuous work, but embraced with almost heroic fortitude the hard manual labor of our pioneer community at Clyde.

Among other tasks, Sister served as head waitress in the convent refectory for many years. With a community of over one hundred thirty Sisters, under the former system of serving individual dishes to each table of six, this was no easy task. But she gave herself generously and was kind and patient in teaching the novices and younger sisters the 'rubrics' of serving.

Soon after our Mundelein priory opened in 1928, Sister became a member of that community and remained there for some years. She was always zealous for adoration, especially the night hours. She also helped with the laundry which was a heavy weekly task. She had this duty at Clyde before our Mundelein convent was opened, and when the laundry was taken care of at the orphanage at Conception her name was on the list regularly with those who went to help with the work there.

Sister M. Perpetua  died on September 9, 1952 at the age of eighty years.