Sister Marian Niemann, CSJ

(S. Saint Bernard)
April 4, 1930 - January 1, 2023
A quick smile, hands ready to help, loved life

Edward and Elizabeth (Habiger) Niemann of Piqua, Kansas, welcomed their second daughter, Marian Jane, on April 4, 1930. Marian attended the local grade school, but traveled 120 miles to attend Redemptorist High in Kansas City, Missouri. Each of those four years, she needed a place to stay. Her first year, one of the sisters found a family she could live with. She earned her room and board by helping with cleaning, cooking or watching younger children. (Her older sister, Martha, later known as Sister Mary Louis, did the same while she attended school.)

After high school, although she wanted to enter the convent, her mother suggested she go to college first. After earning a bachelor’s degree in English from the College of St. Teresa (now Avila University) in Kansas City in 1952, she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. In 1953, Marian received the habit and the name Sister St. Bernard. Two years later, she began her ministry of teaching intermediate students at St. Viator in Chicago. The following year, she returned to St. Louis to teach at Our Lady of Lourdes (University City) and then at St. Edward School (1957).

Moving into secondary education, S. Marian taught at the Academy of Our Lady in Peoria, Illinois (1958), and Bishop Baraga in Marquette, Michigan (1960). On August 15 of that year, she pronounced her final vows. In 1963, she was in Green Bay, Wisconsin, at St. Joseph Academy. After a year at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Florissant, Missouri (1964), she moved to Denver, Colorado. She taught at St. Francis de Sales High School (1967) and Marycrest High School (1970).She then took a break from teaching and worked as a nurse’s aide at Galaxy Nursing Home (1971).

In 1972, Sister Marian returned to Missouri and the classroom to teach at Valle High in Ste. Genevieve. While there, she earned her master’s in English at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1973). In 1979, she taught at St. Louis Prep Seminary North in St. Louis until 1987, when she moved to Kansas City. She ministered as a freelance writer for Agnes House, a home that took in and cared for unwed mothers, babies and children. After Agnes House closed in 1990, S. Marian joined the staff of the food pantry at Redemptorist Center. The following year, she secured a position as receptionist at the Center for Business Innovation until 1993, when she became an office manager for Donohoe and Associates in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. In 1994, S. Marian ministered in family care for her parents who were not in the best of health. They moved to Kansas City, where she and her sister cared for them.

In 1998, she joined CSJ Care in Kansas City serving as a home service provider. S. Marian retired in 2004 and served as a volunteer at Habitat for Humanity as well as Journey to New Life, a non-profit that helps empower people released from prison as they face reentering society. She also came to the aid of sisters and friends who were in need of some help.

In 2018, Sister Marian moved to Nazareth Living Center in St. Louis and carried out her mission of prayer and presence.

By Sister Helen Oates

Sister Marian Niemann's recordings are available.
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