August 31, 1931 — March 14, 2025
Sister Irene Marie Sarnecki, the former Sister Mary Liliose, was born in Trenton, New Jersey, to Andrew Sarnecki and Helen Witkowski Sarnecki on August 31, 1931. She was the youngest of four children, two brothers, and one sister. She was baptized in Holy Cross Church in Trenton, New Jersey, and given the name Irene. She and her siblings were educated by the Felician Sisters at Holy Cross School.
Influenced by the Felician Franciscan Sisters who taught her in elementary school, Irene developed a tender love for Jesus and His mother, Mary, the saints, and the angels. Later in her religious life, she prayed fervently to Blessed Mary Angela, the Foundress of the Felician Sisters.
Irene did not forget the Felician Sisters who impressed her in grammar school, even as she attended Saint Mary Cathedral High School in Trenton, New Jersey, which was staffed by the Mercy Sisters.
After graduating from high school on August 2, 1949, she entered the postulancy of the Felician Sisters in Lodi, New Jersey, and was sent to teach Grade 4 in Holy Rosary School in Baltimore, Maryland.
One year later, on August 12, 1950, she began her canonical novitiate. At her investiture she received the Felician Franciscan habit and the religious name of Sister Mary Liliose. After the Second Vatican Council, the sisters were given the opportunity to take their baptismal names in religious life, and she became Sister Irene Marie.
She professed her first vows on August 13, 1951, and made her final profession on August 13, 1957.
While studying at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, Sister Irene Marie obtained her Bachelor of Science Degree in Education and, later, in 1974, a Master of Arts Degree in Religious Education from Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
With steadfastness, Sister Irene Marie dedicated 44 years of religious life to teaching the middle and upper grades in schools staffed by the Felician Sisters in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Gentle and soft-spoken, she served as a model of goodness for the students who learned much from her kind manner.
Emphasizing the attributes of courtesy, friendliness, and respect for one another, Sister Irene Marie taught the children to conduct themselves admirably. She was always conscientiously prepared and held their attention, interest, and enthusiasm during her classroom instructions.
Sister Irene Marie served as principal for nine years and local minister for fourteen years. For sixteen years, she ministered at Our Lady of Grace Home in Newark, Delaware, caring for the children entrusted to the sisters.
During her lifetime, Sister Irene Marie suffered from depression and panic attacks, which made her attention to her duties more difficult. However, she struggled to be faithful to all she had promised, entrusting herself to the merciful Christ, begging for the grace to be a worthy Felician Sister.
In 2001, she retired to the Immaculate Conception Convent in Lodi and then to Our Lady of Lourdes Care Center in Lodi, where she ministered as a part-time receptionist and offered the ministry of presence to her community. Eventually, during the final years of her life, she endured the ministry of suffering and diminishment. She was grateful for the concern of her sisters, especially Sister Mary Elaine Lechert, who had entered the convent with Sister Irene Marie, and for the excellent care given by the nursing staff of the Immaculate Conception Convent.
On Friday afternoon, March 14, 2025, with Sisters at her side, Sister Irene Marie peacefully went to her Lord.
The funeral Mass took place on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, at 11 a.m. in Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel in Lodi. Presider and homilist was the Rev Msgr. Edward Arnister, brother of Sister Mary Juanita, and a fellow Trentonian. After the funeral, the body was taken for cremation and future burial in Holy Cross Cemetery, Trenton. Sister Irene Marie was buried with her parents.
