2026 ANNIVERSARY Spotlight

Sister Virginia
Rose Carroll, OSF

Originally from San Antonio, Texas, Sister Virginia Rose Carroll entered the School Sisters of St. Francis from St. James the Apostle Catholic Church there in 1965, and professed first vows in 1966. She celebrates her 60th Annniversary in 2026.

A self-proclaimed “real Texan,” she is the third of nine children (five boys and four girls) raised by parents who were deeply involved in their church. They volunteered frequently, and Sister’s dad was among the men who gathered each Saturday to do handiwork and odd jobs at the parish.

It was only fitting then that, as a second-grader, young Virginia Rose joined her church Vocation Club, led by the Marianist Sisters on the first Saturday of each month. The girls were invited to visit the nearby convent where, Sister recalls, “I really liked what I saw them doing.”

Her calling to religious life deepened as a sophomore at our former St. Francis Academy in San Antonio, where she was taught by our Sisters and grew particularly fond of late Sister Joan McMullen (formerly Sister Donald). “She was fun and did such unique things in the classroom to teach history and math.”

John and Angeline Carroll were initially hesitant about their daughter entering the convent, but they warmed to the idea in time for her to enter the School Sisters of St. Francis during her senior year in high school. By 1967, she was known as Sister Rita Marie — a religious name she kept only briefly — and was before a room full of second-graders at St. Joseph School in San Antonio.

“It was scary at first,” she recalls of her early teaching days. “But then Sister Georgette (Dublino) came along and taught me how to plan out my day with the kids. She truly helped me to feel more in control.”

Sister Virginia Rose recalls Texas classrooms situated in former military barracks and the Cold War-era air raid drills that were part of school life in the late 1960s. She still laughs about the time when she didn’t know about a scheduled drill and thought the school was really under attack. “I had all the kids under their desks and there I was, crawling along the floor in my habit like a crazy person!”

In the mid-1970s, Sister found her niche as a CCD coordinator and religious education director, serving in parishes in Texas and Pennsylvania into the late 1990s. “I was good at it,” she says. “I really like working with both children and adults and spreading the world of God.”

Her mother’s failing health drew Sister back to her Texas homestead in 2002, so that she and one of her sisters could provide round-the clock care. After Angeline died in 2025, Sister Virginia Rose came to serve at the Sisters’ former motherhouse in Pittsburgh, Pa., where she worked as a receptionist at Marian Hall Home and, later, as assistant housing manager at a senior high rise.

In 2013, Sister began a five-year tenure as liaison to our retired Sisters in Pittsburgh. “Ministering to our elder Sisters by just being present to them, taking care of their physical and spiritual needs was a blessing.” It was a ministry she wasn’t sure she would be good at, but that she came to find particularly rewarding. “God has His way of getting you where he wants you to be. The assignment was a blessing to me in many ways.”

A decade on, she still looks back with great affection for a month-long ministry visit she made in 2016 to our former mission in South Africa — a place where her former mentor, Sister Joan, once served. “Being totally surrounded by the oldest mountains in the world, it felt like I was walking on holy ground. Now, every time I see mountains, I go back to that place in my mind.”

Now retired at Mt. Assisi Place in Pittsburgh, Sister Virginia Rose has plenty of time for prayer and joins her fellow residents to pray the Rosary each day. Her very presence — as a patient listener and a fun spirit — is her means of ministry nowadays. She also makes time for creative pursuits such as crocheting, coloring and crafts.

Sister has no regrets about “following her dream” into religious life. Each stop along her 60-year journey has helped to refine her image of God and to deepen her relationship with Him. “When I was young, I thought of him as this grown, imposing man with a stick,” she recalls. “Now I know He cares about what I do and accepts me just as I am.”