Sister Rose Danich
1920-2008
When Sister Rose Danich was in grade school, one of her friends was of Russian ancestry and knew a Russian dance. Rose loved to dance. She learned the Russian dance, and the two of them performed it several times for their schoolmates. During her postulate, she performed the dance during recreation times. “Everyone seemed to enjoy the dance because they kept asking me to dance during recreation. I don’t think they ever saw a Russian dance before.” When she was asked to dance during the novitiate, the novice mistress, Sister Mary Philip Ryan, at first couldn’t imagine what the Russian dance was like. She had anticipated some leaps and bounds, but Sister Rose did none of those. The dance, however, required athletic ability and good knees.
Sister Rose wrote that in later years many of the sisters would ask her if she still did the Russian dance, and she had to tell them that “my knees don’t work like they used to work.” She wrote that when she and her group made their Golden Jubilee, Sister Rosemary Ferguson still remembered the Russian dance and mentioned it in her talk at the Eucharistic celebration.
Benjamin and Barbara (Kovacevich) Danich, Sister Rose’s parents, were both born in Slavoniju, Jugoslavia of Croatian ancestry. Several years after their marriage and the death of two children, they immigrated to the United States, and made their home in Akron, Ohio, where four more children were born to them: Catherine, John, Mary, and Louis. The parents were lonesome for their families and homeland, so after several years they took their children back to Yugoslavia and lived in Djakovo, Slavoniju. While there, a seventh child came into the family, a daughter, born on June 10, 1920, and christened Rose Mary. When Rose was two years old, the family returned to the States and this time settled in Dearborn, Michigan. There an eighth child, Elizabeth, was born.
The Great Depression years were at hand, but Benjamin Danich had a steady job at the Ford factory. The family was not at all wealthy, but never knew real hardship. “Mom knew how to manage the finances very well,” Sister Rose wrote. The children had many chores. “We really learned how to work and do without material things.” In her autobiography she wrote, “I was a tomboy growing up, and enjoyed all the sports that the boys played. I was the first girl in the neighborhood to ride a bicycle.” This horrified some of the neighbors.
The Danich children all attended Salina School, a public school in Dearborn, and learned about their religion from their parents and in catechetical classes at St. Gabriel and St. Jerome Croatian Parishes. Every Sunday the family attended Mass, “with Mom and Dad showing us good examples.” When Rose completed eighth grade, she spent two years at Fordson High School, then went out to work. On April 14, 1939, both she and her father became naturalized citizens of the United States.
Rose was twenty-three years of age when she attended a retreat in Detroit with the Young Ladies’ Sodality. Attracted to the religious life, she talked to the retreat master, who told her to pray hard. When the retreat ended, she told her parents that she wanted to become a religious sister. Her mother was delighted, her father was not, although later he was very proud of her. Her mother was devoted to St. Francis of Assisi, and suggested that she enter the Franciscan Order. They sought a Franciscan church, and found one. A Franciscan sister was taking care of the candles and Rose tried to talk to her. The sister, however, neither looked at her nor answered her. “End of Franciscan vocation!”
A short time later Rose met a young woman who worked at the Detroit Chancery Building, and confessed her desire to enter the convent but that she had not decided on a congregation. The young woman introduced her to Sister Lucina Klein, the principal at Our Lady of Sorrows in Detroit. Some time before that, Rose had a dream in which she was dressed in white, and wondered what it meant. When she met the Dominican Sisters in their white habits, she understood the meaning of her dream. She wrote, “I fell in love with the sisters, as well as the beautiful white habits they wore. I’m sure that our Blessed Mother and her Son led me to the right person at the right time.” The sisters made her postulant’s outfit, and gave her a list of the things to buy.
On December 28, 1943, she arrived in Adrian and entered the postulate. The sisters were all on retreat, and no one was talking. She began to fear that the sisters in this congregation were not allowed to talk. “When they finally did I was happy and said, ‘You’re allowed to talk, thank God!’” Although she wrote about the happiness in her home, life there must have been strict. She wrote, “I believe I had more freedom in the convent than I did at home.”
With her group, Rose received the habit and her religious name (Sister Rose Barbara) on August 17, 1944, and professed her first vows on August 18, 1945. Within a short time she was on her way to Cleveland, Ohio, where she taught primary and middle grade children at St. Lawrence School for eight years. She studied at Siena Heights College (now University) in Adrian during the summers, and in July 1953 the College awarded her a bachelor’s degree with a major in English and minors in Spanish and history.
In fall 1953 she traveled across the country to Florida, to St. Rose of Lima School in Miami Shores. There she taught first grade for five years. She returned to Michigan in 1958, as a primary teacher at Our Lady of Sorrows in Farmington. Five years later, she taught junior high students at Our Lady Gate of Heaven in Detroit. The Christmas season of 1961 was a sad one for her, as her father died on December 19.
Her appointment for 1967 caused her some trepidation. She was assigned as principal and religious education coordinator at St. Michael in Grand Ledge, Michigan. She did a good job, however, and this ministry lasted for nine years. During her last year there, she served as principal of the school but was relieved of the religious education responsibility. Sadness again entered her life at the death of her mother in 1973. She had been studying, and in 1974 she received a certificate in religious education from the Education Office of the Diocese of Lansing.
In 1976 she again traveled across the country, this time to New Mexico where she remained for twenty-five years. She became religious education director and pastoral minister at St. Ann in Tucumcari, a ministry that lasted for seven years. Beginning with 1983, she spent three years as religious education coordinator at Sacred Heart of Jesus in Espanola. The year 1986 saw her in pastoral work for two years at St. Francis Xavier in Clayton. The balance of the time was in Albuquerque. She spent two years working with the poor at Presentation House, a year as bereavement counselor with the Catholic Cemetery Association, a few months resting, four years with the Women’s Housing Coalition as receptionist and poverty worker, four years as religious education coordinator at San Ignacio Parish, and a year in retirement as a volunteer.
She returned to Adrian in 2001, and resided in the Dominican Life Center/Regina Residence for seven years. In August 2008 the state of her health made it necessary for her to move into the Maria Building, where she died on September 17, 2008.
Sister Rose’s wake-remembrance service was held on September 18 in St. Catherine Chapel. Present were her sister Elizabeth Iadipaolo, her nieces Therese Iadipaolo and Beth Piacentini, her nephew Matthew Iadipaolo, other relatives, and her many Dominican friends. After extending sympathy and welcome, Sister Joan Sustersic, Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, summarized Sister Rose’s life and ministry, and spoke of her last years in Adrian.
Sister Rose was a hard worker and volunteered here in many areas—particularly the chapel. She was a deeply spiritual woman. So often we saw her walking the grounds praying her rosary. Mass and common prayer gave her life. Her health was wonderful for a woman of eighty-eight and she had amazing energy. However, on August 13 she went to the doctor because she didn’t feel well and had abdominal swelling. The diagnosis was possible ovarian cancer.
A couple of weeks ago, she met with the Hospice Staff and decided that she would like to have their services. They gave her what she needed to be kept comfortable. Her condition changed on Wednesday. She was very peaceful in the dying process—even welcomed it.
Sister Kay Muzzy ministered in New Mexico at the same time that Sister Rose was there. In a letter she wrote to Sister Rose and read at the wake, she said in part:
I remember when you came back from Medjugorje, you told me about the vision you had with Our Blessed Mother. Mary was so real to you, and so beautiful… I want to thank you for your delicious homemade soup, for exercising Copper [Kay’s dog] at noontime on the days be didn’t go to school with me.
You touched the lives of so many people when you lived at HUD in Albuquerque… You organized prayer groups with the retired folk and drove some of them to daily Mass.
Sister Noreen Marie George spoke for the Profession Crowd of August 1945. She said in part:
Sister Rose’s beautiful smile always cheered us and put us at peace. And we knew that she kept us in her prayers all these years.
Those of you who remember young Sister Rose Barbara may recall her performing (by request) the Russian Cossack dance. You know—the one in which the dancers squat, hands on hips, then kick out their legs—no props, nothing to hang on to—just kicking in time to fast music.
Sisters who have lived with Sister Rose, or have known her somehow or other, remember her as one who was very kind, had great devotion to Mary, loved working with the very poor, and felt deeply the suffering of others. What a way to be remembered!
Sister Joan Liberty was in the crowd behind Sister Rose. She remembered Sister Rose’s kindness.
We had to make our own habits as novices. Everyone was not a seamstress. I never saw a needle until I entered the convent. Sister Rose was a magnificent seamstress, so she would come down when we were working. One day I was having trouble. The material kept getting away from me. Sister Rose came over to me and said, “You’re sitting on the wrong side of the machine.” They were the kind you pedaled. She said, “Get over on the other side.” After that, things were better… When it came time to make my cloak for profession, I asked her to help me. She said, “Give me the material and I’ll make it.” She had so many friends. She didn’t seek love. She was loved because she was always helping others.
Matthew Iadipaolo, Sister Rose’s nephew, shared some memories.
She was a wonderful aunt. I remember her coming to our house. My mom would have us clean the house from top to bottom.
I remember quite vividly a trip I made to Adrian in 1968. Sister Rose needed a ride home to Adrian, and no one was around to give her a ride. I had a new car, a stick shift. I was nineteen years old, working part-time, going to college. In the trip from Dearborn to Adrian, I had Sister Rose in front and another sister in the back. Then Sister Rose said, “I’m hungry.” I pulled into a hot dog stand. She said, “No, we don’t want hot dogs.” So I pulled out. Then we came to a Big Boy restaurant, and she said, “Let’s go there.” I got a bit upset. I had very little money. The two sisters had good meals, and I ordered a cup of coffee. In spite of everything, we were having a good time. When I got up to pay the bill, it was more than I had. I was just getting ready to say, “Can I leave my watch?” when an elderly man who had been sitting nearby came, took the bill out of my hand, and said, “I’ll pay.” I thought, “There is a God!”
Sister Marie Damian Schoenlein remembered:
More than fifty years ago we were at St. Rose of Lima in Florida assigned to teach first grade. She was in a wing, and I had the room next to her. She had a very powerful voice. When she taught and disciplined, she used that powerful voice. The doors were always open. I never had to discipline my children. I’d just say, “Do you want to go next door?” … We had a lot of fun at the convent. I remember her dancing on the table.
When we started the Literacy Center here, she came to help but she didn’t want to teach. We told her she could sharpen the pencils and fill the candy dishes. But before too long, she couldn’t help any longer. And now we ask her to intercede with God for the Literacy Center.
Sister Winifred Lynch told a humorous story.
I was part of the group at St. Rose of Lima in Miami Shores. We had a beautiful new school and convent, but a superior who was difficult. I was sitting in my classroom one day and Sister Rose came in looking quite pale. She said that she was going to tell Sister that she wasn’t going to renew her vows, but then the crucifix fell down. I said, “That’s a good sign. You’d better stay.” She was wonderful. She had great love for the Congregation.
Sister Rose’s funeral liturgy was celebrated on September 19 in the presence of her family and many Dominican friends. She was then interred in the Congregational cemetery.