Remembrance of the Life of Sister Agnes Marie (formerly Sister Mary Cordula) Hagan SL

Sister Agnes Marie (formerly Sister Mary Cordula) Hagan SL died peacefully at Loretto Living Center early morning Nov. 7, 2024. Community members gathered for prayers at her bedside. She was 92 and in the 73rd year of her Loretto commitment.

Sister Agnes Marie was born Nov. 27, 1931, to Mary Bowling Hagan and George Barry Hagan, who was the manager of the rail depot of New Haven, Kentucky. Agnes Marie was the sixth of the Hagans’ nine children, one of just three girls. The children attended the parish school, St. Catherine’s, where Sisters of Loretto once taught.  Agnes Marie and the other Hagans, however, were taught by Ursuline Sisters.  Agnes’ younger sister, Frances Lucille, became Ursuline Sister George Mary. When Agnes graduated from St. Catherine’s High School, she went to work as an office clerk and typist.

A year after she finished high school, Agnes Marie wrote to Mother Edwarda Ashe at Loretto Motherhouse, “I am 18 years old and am in good health and have the desire to give my life completely to Christ.  Since Loretto is my ideal of a perfectly heavenly place, I naturally thought of entering there if possible.”  Loretto was indeed a natural choice for Agnes Marie Hagan.  New Haven, Ky., where she grew up, had been a cradle of vocations ever since Maryland Catholics settled on Pottinger’s Creek in 1781. Agnes Marie, along with her whole family, took great pride in the four generations and 37 members of their extended family of Hagans, Bowlings, Howards, Simses, McCauleys, Browns, Mahoneys and Thompsons, who preceded Agnes Marie as Sisters of Loretto. Agnes was received into the Sisters of Loretto April 25,1952, taking the name her aunt had had, Sister Mary Cordula. She made her first vows on May 24, 1954.

With her novitiate classmates, Agnes was among the first young sisters to go to the St. Louis House of Studies to complete their undergraduate degrees before being sent to teach. Agnes Marie received a bachelor’s degree in education, with a minor in history, in 1956 from Webster College. Then it was on to the succession of places and schools that was the usual path for teaching sisters. First, St. Mary’s Grade School in Sterling, Ill., then St. Mary Star of the Sea, Freeport, Texas. Agnes was in Pasadena, Calif., at Holy Family School when she began her graduate studies in education and administration at Loyola. She completed that degree at Central Missouri State College in Warrensburg, Mo., in 1969, while teaching at Sacred Heart Grade School in Kansas City, Mo. When Sacred Heart became Our Lady of the Americas, Agnes Marie became its principal, working with families and businesses to make it one of Kansas City’s premier Hispanic schools. 

After 15 years at Our Lady of the Americas, Agnes Marie changed jobs, combining the roles of teacher and parish worker at Nativity Parish and School in Independence, Mo.  She was there for five years, and then served two more years at Cathedral Parish in downtown Kansas City.  

Finally in 1989, Agnes Marie realized the goal she had written on every survey Loretto sent to members: “With due respect for the wishes of my parents [and family], I would like to be assigned [closer to home.]”  Moving to Louisville, Ky., she taught at Holy Family School for six years and was part of Project Woman, a social support program conducted by several women’s congregations.  

Agnes Marie was a longtime educator and social worker. When she left the teaching field, she remained in Louisville as a member of the Community Services Department at Nazareth Home, a long-term care facility of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. Also in Louisville, for many years Agnes volunteered at St. Boniface Soup Kitchen and was a beloved worker every Wednesday at St. John’s Center for Homeless Men. Always she was available as sister, aunt, great aunt and good friend to family members nearby.

With increasing health issues, Agnes Marie reluctantly moved to Loretto Motherhouse in 2023, where for a short while she tutored, served as a driver for the Motherhouse Community and took part in Motherhouse social activities. Her strength failed, however, even while her calm acceptance continued until her death. A funeral Mass for Agnes Marie was celebrated Nov. 26 at Loretto Motherhouse. The Rev. Scott Wimsett, pastor of St. Charles Parish in Lebanon, Ky., was the celebrant. She was buried in Our Lady of Sorrows Cemetery at the Motherhouse, where her aunt and namesake Sister Cordula is buried, along with many of the 37 Loretto Sisters to whom Agnes Marie is related by blood and dedication.

For many years after Agnes Marie had moved on from Our Lady of the Americas in Kansas City, her former students and their parents would stop Loretto members on the street to praise Agnes Marie’s unflagging energy on behalf of their school. They said she was determined, calm and unflappable — perhaps the legacy of growing up with many brothers. A dedicated and faith-filled woman, Agnes Marie was known by her loving family as having a grateful heart and being very accepting of others’ choices and decisions, loving them unconditionally. She loved us all that way.

Please keep Sister Agnes Marie, her family and all her loved ones in your prayers. May she rest in peace.