A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Thursday, Feb. 5, at 10:30 a.m. in the Chapel of Mary Immaculate at the motherhouse of the Sisters of Christian Charity in Mendham, N.J., for Sister Marcella Riggin, who died on Jan. 30 at Mallinckrodt Convent, also in New Jersey. She was 96. Last year, she celebrated her 80th year as a Sister of Christian Charity.
Sister Riggin’s Mass of Christian Burial will be livestreamed at sccus.org.
Born in Baltimore, Md., Anita Riggin was one of the three children of Albert and Marcella (Bienlein) Riggin. After graduating from Holy Cross School in Baltimore, Anita continued her education at Immaculata High School in Mendham. With her twin sister, Sister Marcelene Riggin, who died in 2010, she entered the candidacy at the motherhouse of the Sisters of Christian Charity in 1944.
Sister Riggin was invested as a religious sister in 1945, receiving the religious name Sister Marcella. Sister professed her first vows in 1947 and her perpetual vows in 1953.
After teaching at St. Mary Assumption School in Pittstown, Penn., for a year, Sister Riggin earned a registered nurse diploma from St. Michael’s Hospital School of Nursing in Newark, N.J., in 1951. She ministered to Divine Providence Hospital in Williamsport, Penn., then a new hospital of the Sisters of Christian Charity.
Click here to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Then, in 1953, Sister Riggin earned certification as a nurse anesthetist from Sacred Heart Hospital in Allentown, Penn. She was a nurse anesthetist at Divine Providence Hospital from 1953 to 1960, followed by a year of teaching at St. Joseph School in Jim Thorpe, Penn. Sister Riggin then worked in anesthesiology at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Penn. When the sisters opened Holy Spirit Hospital in Camp Hill, Penn., she was its first supervising anesthetist.
In 1970, Sister Riggin became a nurse in Rome, where the General Administration of the Sisters of Christian Charity resided and hosted guests in the tourist wing at Via Boccea. In 1979, she returned to the United States, where he was an IV therapist at Divine Providence Hospital.
After four years of caring for her mother during her final illness, Sister Riggin served as director of nursing at Holy Family Convent in Danville, then in various capacities at Holy Spirit Hospital. From 1995 to 1997, she was a nurse at the motherhouse infirmary in Mendham.
From 1997 to 2001, Sister Riggin assisted in the school and convent at St. Nicholas in Jersey City, N.J. From 2001 to 2004, she ministered at Holy Family Convent in Danville. She served at Sacred Heart Convent in Wilmette, Ill., from 2004 to 2008, before returning to Holy Family Convent. In 2018, Sister Riggin was among the sisters who moved to the new motherhouse in Mendham. She continued to serve wherever possible and was also part of the ministry of prayer and presence.
In addition to her twin sister, Sister Marcelene Riggin, Sister Riggin was predeceased by her parents and an older sister, Eleanor Riggin, who died in 2015. She is survived by the Sisters of Christian Charity and several extended family members, including cousins and their families.
Visitation for Sister Riggin will be held in the Chapel of Mary Immaculate at the motherhouse in Mendham on Wednesday, Feb. 4, at 1:30 p.m., with vespers being prayed at 4:30 p.m. Her Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Thursday, Feb. 5, at 10:30 a.m. in the Chapel of Mary Immaculate. Interment will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery on the grounds of the motherhouse.
Please make memorial donations in Sister Marcella Riggin’s name to the Sisters of Christian Charity, 350 Bernardsville Rd. Mendham, N.J., 07945.
