Florida Catholic | Last Of Her Kind

Last of her kind | Part 2

ANA RODRIGUEZ–SOTO | FLORIDA CATHOLIC STAFF

Published: 05.08.08

Courtesy Photo
Victory Noll Sister Patricia Knapp, left, is pictured in this 1956 photo with fellow Victory Noll missionary Sister Teresa Gerlits — who later would work in Florida for 34 years — and the jeep they used to get around Catalina Island in California.

CORAL SPRINGS | Sister Patricia Knapp’s departure will mark the end of an era that dates back to 1952, when Victory Noll missionaries first came to work in places such as Punta Gorda, Sebring and Belle Glade, cities under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of St. Augustine that then covered most of the state.

The missions became part of the Diocese of Miami when it was established in 1958, making Sister Knapp the last of the Victory Noll sisters to serve in the archdiocese.

“There’s no one else down here and there’s no one else to send,” she said, although Victory Noll sisters continue their ministry in New Mexico, Utah, California, Indiana and Illinois.

Sister Knapp joined the order in 1940 at age 21, after working as a housekeeper and babysitter for a Chicago family, and before that at a Jewish bakery. She found out about the order while reading an article in Our Sunday Visitor, the national Catholic newspaper founded by Archbishop John F. Noll of Fort Wayne, Ind., a friend and benefactor of the congregation whose name has become part of its.

The congregation was founded in 1922 by Father John Sigstein as Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters. Their motherhouse is known as Victory Noll, and Archbishop Noll is buried in its cemetery.

Victory Noll sisters were ahead of their time in the sense that they were not bound to teaching or nursing. Their mission is to serve the poor and oppressed “in a personal, noninstitutional way” by proclaiming the Gospel, working for justice and empowering the laity. Members take on ministries such as religious education of children and adults, and providing social services to the poor and elderly.

“We always took the Catholic census,” said Sister Knapp, who worked in Michigan, Colorado and California before coming to Florida.

“I did everything, from making believe I could play the organ” to singing and social services, she said, recalling the first door she knocked on while taking a parish census in Colorado.

Are you Catholic? Sister Knapp asked.

“Thank God, no!” said the woman before slamming the door in her face.

Sister Knapp had learned a lesson: “That was their privilege. They didn’t have to be Catholic.”

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