Sister M. Celine Pizur

NOVEMBER 30, 1911 - MARCH 15, 2001

Sister M. Celine (Mary) Pizur died on March 15, 2001. She was 89 and in her 72nd year of religious life.

Mary was born on November 30, 1911, the daughter of Michael and Mary (Kebles) Pizur. She entered the School Sisters of St. Francis in 1927 and was given the religious name of Sister Celine. She made first vows in August 1928 and final vows in August 1935.

Sister Agnes earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1959 from Villa Maria College in Erie, Pa., and studied art in the 1970s at San Antonio College in San Antonio, Texas.

Over seven decades as an educator, Sister Celine taught in Catholic grade schools in the Pennsylvania towns of Pittsburgh, Erie, Tarentum, McKees Rocks, Barnesboro, Farrell, New Castle, and Bethlehem. Sister taught the primary grades and high school art at Mount Assisi Academy in Bellevue, Pa., throughout the 1950s.

From 1968 to 1982, Sister Celine taught art at our St. Francis Academy in San Antonio, before moving on to her final teaching assignment at St. Boniface School in Erie, Pa. (1982-1994). From the time of her return to Mount Assisi Convent in 1994 until her death in 2001, Sister remained dedicated to the ministry of prayer.

Sister had a quiet, unassuming way of expressing her artistic talents and demonstrated a great deal of patience with her beloved students. She very much wanted them to learn art and made every effort to help them do so.

Sister Celine is remembered for her kind smile, joyful spirit, gentle manner and deep gratitude for anything done for her. She had a great love for God’s beauty all around us. As one Sister recalled, “She could look at a leaf, a flower or a sunset and not only look with an artist’s eye, but with the soul, as well and praise God for all creation.”

Sister Celine is buried in St. Francis Cemetery at Mt. Assisi Place in Pittsburgh, Pa.