Growing up, Connie, Anna and I were best friends and shared everything from blouses to boyfriends. We were very surprised on graduation day when Connie announced that she was planning to become a Missionary Sister of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Years went by and Anna and I both married and had children. It was difficult to keep track of Connie, now Sister Barbara Leonardo, as she traveled so often. One day, after I was married for 15 years, my telephone rang. How delighted I was to hear the voice of my old friend, Connie. She told me she was the Academic Dean of Cabrini College in Radnor, Pennsylvania. I was thrilled! She then asked if I would be willing to fill in for a month in the Registrar’s Office until she could fill the position permanently. I was hesitant since I’d been a stay-at-home mom, but Connie assured me that it would only be for four weeks.

What Sr. Barbara didn’t know in 1967 was that her phone call changed my life. For 31 years I worked in Cabrini College’s Registrar’s Office and I count those years as some of the best in my life. The MSC friends I made in that office – the late Mother Ursula Infante, the late Sr. Amadea, Sr. Catherine DeFranco and Sr. Toni Avitabile – along with my dear friend, Sr. Barbara, are among the best women I have ever encountered. I loved the students as if they were my own children, and looked forward to working within the Cabrini community every day.

The Cabrini Sisters are my dearest friends. They have smiled with me through the joys of life, and have strengthened me during darker days. A few years ago, my husband and I celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary, and as I looked around the table I noticed the beautiful familiar faces that had surprised me with their presence. These women are not just Cabrini Sisters, they are my sisters. They will be part of my family forever and for that I will be eternally grateful.

Sr. Barbara’s Story of the Heart was written by her long time friend, Mary Ann Mirra.

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Stories of the Heart: The Missionary Sisters are as diverse as the ministries in which we work. We are educators, nurses, social workers, campus ministers, pastoral care workers, spiritual directors, and administrators. We invite you to share in our stories.