Emily Mary Trost was born on August 12, 1916, in Hamilton, Ohio, to George W. Trost and Nellie Mae Martin. Six of her siblings died in infancy. Three brothers survived: Elmer, Bill, and Harry.

The early years were turbulent for the Trost children. Their father was sent to prison for trying to rob a bank, and their mother struggled to make a living for the family. At times she and her two younger brothers lived in the Children’s Home in Cincinnati.

By 1925, their mother found a house, her older brother had a job and the family lived together in Pittsburgh. The reunion did not last long. “Times were hard, and the weather was cold in Pennsylvania,” Sister Priscilla recalled. “Mother caught frequent colds and developed tuberculosis.” When Emily was eleven, she, Bill and Harry were once again wards of the state. They stayed in foster care for eight years. When she turned eighteen, Emily was instructed to leave the foster home and to make her own way. Perhaps Romans 5:3-5 applies: “affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint.” Emily had only finished ninth-grade. She moved to Cincinnati to be closer to her mother, took a job in a cap factory, and attended night school.

Emily had been baptized a Methodist Episcopalian and taught Sunday school at a Presbyterian church. “I felt a desire to deepen my spiritual life.” She met a Catholic priest whose sincere living and explanation of Catholicism inspired her to convert to Catholicism at age nineteen. A year later she entered the Passionist Nuns near Scranton, Pa. However, she became ill and had to leave.

Emily found a job as a housekeeper and nursemaid to a Catholic family. She took care of a child, Stephen, from the time when he was two years old until he was four and a half. Much later, Stephen contacted Sister Priscilla when she was 93 and thanked her for helping him.

Emily learned about the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration from the booklet, Eucharistic Adoration. “It was the truth of the Real Presence that inspired me to embrace the Catholic faith.” She applied and soon after, with acceptance letter in hand, she was on her way to Clyde. She entered on December 7, 1941. “It was Pearl Harbor Day,” she said. “I have been happily wedded to Christ through war and peace, through thick and thin, through love ever since.” She made her first monastic profession on September 1, 1943, receiving the name Mary Priscilla. Her final profession was on September 11, 1948. Her brothers came to accept Sister Mary Priscilla’s conversion to Catholicism and call to religious life. Both younger brothers shared in her Silver Jubilee celebration. “They were glad I was happy,” she said.

Over the years, Sister Priscilla lived at our communities in Clyde, Saint Louis, Kansas City, and Sand Springs, Oklahoma. Her tasks included the altar bread department, sacristy, and sewing. One of her favorite projects was refinishing the niches in the Relic Chapel. It took six months. “What an exhilarating joy it was when all 144 niches were back in the Relic Chapel, and the saints’ relics could be venerated again.”

In 1978, Sister Priscilla joined Sister Pascaline and a few sisters attracted to small group living. In Oklahoma, those founding sisters wanted to create an atmosphere for contemplative prayer. They found the right property in Sand Springs. After six months of clearing trees and construction, the Sisters moved into Osage Monatery+Forest of Peace on the Feast of Corpus Christi, 1980. “Our goals were to be open to all people, all religions, all faiths, all cultures,” Sister Mary Priscilla said. “We were enriched by the different people who spent time there.”

The Forest of Peace hosted countless guests for retreats over the 28 years Sister Priscilla was there. Many remarked that she was the heart of the place, with her loving attentiveness, interest in people, and her humor. Her assigned tasks included sacristy, laundry and cleaning. She was also the one to be called to deal with any snake that appeared, which she did fearlessly..

Sister Priscilla was a member of the Osage community until it closed in 2008. She then transferred to Our Lady of Rickenbach in Clyde. Sister Mary Priscilla died at 100 years of age on September 22, 2016. Her funeral liturgy and burial at our Mount Calvary Cemetery were on September 26, 2016.