Sister Mary Patrice Clifford OSU

Sister Mary Patrice Clifford, OSU, was born Lillian Patricia Clifford on September 2, 1935, in Oak Park, IL. After her family moved to New Orleans, she attended Ursuline Academy and graduated in 1953. She entered the Ursuline community that summer and pronounced her first vows in 1956. While a student at the College of New Rochelle, NY, she celebrated her final profession in 1959 and graduated Magna cum Laude with a B.A. in French later that year. She also studied at Laval University in Quebec, Canada, earning a Master’s Degree in French.
She taught in Illinois and Texas as well as in New Orleans. In 1984, Sr. Patrice was part of the founding international community in N’Gaoundere, Cameroon. She taught in the secondary school there called College de Mazenod and in her later years, she tutored pre-seminarians in English, delighting when in time, they were ordained as priests. When interviewed in 2014, she said: “[Saint] Angela urges us not to consider ministry as a burden but to serve others with joy. The response of my students leads me to believe they realize that I thoroughly enjoy helping them and that I truly love them.”
After serving for almost 34 years in Cameroon, Sr. Patrice returned to the New Orleans Ursuline Community. When her health failed, she moved to Our Lady of Wisdom Healthcare Center where she died on March 29, 2020. She was preceded in death by her parents, Connell and Eunice (Jacob) Clifford and her only sister, Mary Clifford Bigot. Surviving her are her brother-in-law Claude Bigot (Denise) and six nieces and nephews, Marie-Noelle, Patrick, Francois, and Marc Bigot, Monique Thornton and Christine Leclere, and eight grand-nieces and nephews.
Services for Sr. Patrice will be held when it will be possible to gather for a Memorial Mass and celebration of her life. Gifts in memory of Sr. Patrice can be sent to the Ursuline Sisters, 353 S. Sappington Rd., St. Louis, MO 63122, either for their retirement fund or for their ministry in Cameroon; to Ursuline Academy, 2635 State. St., New Orleans, LA 70118; or to the Shrine of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, 2734 Nashville Ave., New Orleans, LA 70115. JACOB SCHOEN & SON FUNERAL HOME, 3827 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA in charge of arrangements. Condolences may be expressed at www.schoenfh.com

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