Saint Benedict’s Monastery
St. Joseph, Minn.
March 4, 1940 – July 19, 2021
The Eucharist of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, July 26, 2021, at the Sacred Heart Chapel, Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, Minn., for Sister Bridget Donaldson, who died on July 19, 2021, at Saint Scholastica Convent, St. Cloud, Minn. Burial will be in the monastery cemetery. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Benson Funeral Home. Friends may call at Saint Scholastica Convent on Sunday, July 25, for a Prayer Service at 1 p.m. followed by visitation until 4:15 p.m., or for a Vigil Prayer Service at 7 p.m. at Saint Benedict’s Monastery. Visitation continues at 9 a.m. on July 26 until the time of the funeral.
Bridget Donaldson was born March 4, 1940, to Ralph and Josephine Marie (Monarski) Donaldson in Eau Claire, Wis., the eighth of nine children. She attended St. Patrick’s Grade School and Regis High School in Eau Claire. On September 5, 1957, she entered Saint Bede Monastery, was received into the novitiate June 10, 1958, as Sister Scholastica, made first monastic profession on July 11, 1959, and perpetual monastic profession on July 11, 1962. S. Bridget celebrated her golden jubilee in 2009 and her 60th Jubilee in 2019.
S. Bridget received her B.S. degree in education with minors in theology and social studies at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn., and her M.S. degree in pastoral studies at Loyola University in Chicago, Ill.
Teaching was one of S. Bridget’s first ministries. She taught for 13 years in Wisconsin, including grades 5 and 6 at St. Thomas More in La Crosse, grade 6 at St. Mary’s in Richland Center and grades 6 through 8 at St. Patrick’s in Eau Claire. After her years of teaching, she served as director of religious education at St. Patrick’s in Elroy, Wis., and on the Development Advisory Board at Saint Bede Monastery. For 35 years, she served at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Parish in Holmen, Wis. Here, she was pastoral associate, director of Holmen Area Food Pantry, was involved with a suicide prevention hotline and a member of the Monastic Council at Saint Bede Monastery. S. Bridget also served in various capacities as a volunteer, including Governor’s Task Force on Families and Children, Wisconsin Executive Residence Board, People to People: International Initiative for Understanding, Marriage Encounter and the Diocesan Religion Textbook Advisory Board. In 2015, she received the Iverson-Freking Ecumenical Recognition Award.
S. Bridget is survived by members of her Benedictine community, her brother, Patrick, and sisters, Elizabeth (John†) Maloney, Barbara Collins (Nate) and Rita (David†) McCarthy. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brothers Robert (Mary†), John, Rev. Thomas Donaldson, and her sister, Sister Mary Jo Donaldson, OSB.
Please direct memorial gifts to the Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict Outreach Ministries.