Irene Komar was born on October 3, 1907, in Joliet, Illinois. She was the first child of Vilma (Mach) and Joseph Komar. When Irene was three months old, her mother died. Her father remarried, and Irene then had two stepbrothers and four stepsisters. Her stepmother died during childbirth when Irene was eighteen. Irene was left in charge of the family, whom she cherished with a mother’s love. Her brothers and sisters have lasting memories of her devoted care as she clothed, fed them, and sometimes disciplined them as they grew up.

After her brothers and sisters were grown and on their own, Irene decided to pursue religious life. Mother M. Dolorosa wisely accepted Irene, even though in those days, when the entrance age was in the teens or early twenties, she would be considered an “older” woman of 36. Irene entered at Clyde on January 19, 1945. When she was professed on September 7, 1947, she received her name, Sister Mary Salome. She made her final profession on September 15, 1951.

In her letter of request for entrance, she wrote as her motive: “I desire to love God and to offer my life in the sacrifice of prayer, adoration, penance, and reparation.” In other short letters, she reiterated her desire: “...pray for me that God may give me the grace and strength to be a living sacrifice, pleasing to God.” After the celebration of the Consecration of Virgins, she wrote: “Pray that I and my companions may burn ourselves out for Jesus and his Church like the burning candle we offered this morning.”

Sr. M. Salome’s desire was fulfilled. Her life was one of sacrifice, as she joyfully gave herself in many ways, in whatever duty or assignment she was given and wherever she was sent. She lived in Clyde, Mundelein, Tucson, San Diego, Wyoming, and St. Louis. She worked in the printery, the canning room, and the kitchen. She serve as subprioress in Tucson, librarian, bookkeeper, and portress. She was willing to learn any work if she did not know it, and could be counted on to fulfill any need. She was joyful and fun-loving, feisty but never hurtful. She bore no grudges and disliked it when anyone made a fuss over her or over the wonderful meals she prepared or the delicious bread she baked.

Due to failing health, Sister transferred to St. Louis from Dayton on August 5, 1993, and shortly thereafter was diagnosed with lung cancer. Until a few weeks before her death, she bravely made her way, very slowly, to chapel for the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours. She remained a member of the central community until November, 1997, when, due to her deteriorating condition, she moved to the first floor of St. Benedict Health Care Center.

An hour before midnight on December 31, 1997, Sr. M. Salome grasped the bedrail and, lifting herself up, cried out, “I told you, you could come! Come, Lord Jesus! Come, Lord Jesus!” Then she lay back in bed and breathed her last.

The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated in the St. Louis Monastery Chapel on Saturday, January 3, 1998 with burial in Mount Calvary Cemetery at Clyde on January 5. Sr. M. Salome’s desire, as she expressed it in her request to Mother M. Dolorosa to make her profession, to offer her life to God in the sacrifice of prayer, adoration, penance, and reparation under the guidance of the Rule of St. Benedict was fulfilled, giving us an example to follow.