Sr. Mary Helen Herbstritt

Sister Mary Helen Herbstritt, a Benedictine Religious Sister for 64 years, died September 4, 2026, just two days after her 82nd birthday.

Eileen Marie was born in St. Marys, Pennsylvania on September 2, 1944, to the late Floyd and Catherine (Cheatle) Herbstritt, the youngest of 10 children. Growing up she was taught by Benedictine Sisters, whose witness inspired her own vocation. At the age of 18, she entered St Joseph’s Monastery in 1962. She professed first vows in 1964, and solemn vows in 1969. Sr. Helen earned her BS in Education from Villa Maria College, an MS in Education from the University of Dayton, and an MA in Music from St. Joseph’s College, Rensselaer, Indiana. In 2024, she celebrated her diamond jubilee - sixty years of vowed religious life.

During her years of religious life, Sr. Helen taught elementary school and religious education for seventeen years. Sister served as organist, choir director, liturgist, and piano teacher for decades. She remembered many of her students in detail, and with fondness. At St. Joseph’s Monastery, she held many roles of service, including subprioress, sacristan, vocation director, and council member. In 2014, after the closing of St. Joseph’s Monastery, Sr. Helen relocated to join the Olivetan Benedictines in Jonesboro, Arkansas. She shared her gifts and talents with her new community, and will be remembered for her joyful spirit, her delight in music and scripture, and her great love of God, her religious sisters, her family, friends and loved ones in Pennsylvania and beyond. The Herbstritt family greatly treasured the time she took to provide updates, usually at Christmas, with newsletters that helped the family tree stay connected.

She was preceded in death by her parents; sisters, Anne Kennedy, Marguerite “Midge” Fritz Lenze, and Rita and Catherine Herbstritt, who died in childhood; and three brothers, Mark Herbstritt, Jim "Bud" Herbstritt, and Thomas Herbstritt.

She is survived by her Sisters in community; two brothers, Roger and Maurice Herbstritt; and many nieces, nephews, and former students.

Visitation will be at Holy Angels Convent on Thursday, September 10, at 6:30 p.m., with the Rosary and Night Prayer at 7:00 p.m. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, September 11, at 10:00 a.m. in the convent chapel, and interment will follow at Mount Olivet Cemetery on the convent grounds.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Holy Angels Convent Retirement Fund, 1699 CR 766, Jonesboro, AR, 72405.