Sister Marie-Rose Lambert

“I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine!” (Cant. 6, 3)
September 10, 2011, Sister Marie-Rose Lambert,
in religion Marie-Marcelle,
went home to God.
She was 100 years old and had been professed for 79 years.

Born in Saint-Didace, Quebec, she was the eldest of 5 children
of Pierre Lambert and Clara Trudel.

Having lost her mother at the age of five, she grew up near Sisters: her father, a baker in the Hochelaga area of Montreal, supplied bread to all the SNJM convents in the region. Marie studied at the Pensionnat Marie-Rose and at the École normale de Valleyfield.  She spent her vacations at Hochelaga Convent where her aunt, a Sister, was the cook. When speaking about the beginning of her vocation, Sister Marie wrote: “I loved the religious... I knew nothing other than the Sisters!“

Marie was 17 years old when she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. For 40 years, Sister Marie-Marcelle taught piano and singing in our boarding schools with skilfulness and success.  She was loved by her students, and at the age of 87, she would say: “I was very happy there and the Lord always helped me and favoured me with good students”.

Sister Marie left teaching at the age of 60 so as to render various services to the community.  Small of stature, with fragile health,  she was hardworking and engaging.  Her welcoming presence at the telephone switchboard was remarkable.  She relaxed by knitting and doing embroidery.  She composed musical accompaniments and loved reading spiritual books which fostered her relationship with the Good Lord: “I want Him to be 100% in my life."  The book she kept by her bedside was: “The True Face of Jesus”.

At the age of 91, Sister Marie went to the Infirmary for good, where for 9 years she prepared herself to encounter the One who first loved her.