The Community mourns the death of Sister Colleen Ann Nagle, FSE
LOWELL, MI (06-16-2025) - God called Sister Colleen Ann Nagle, FSE, into eternal life on Saturday, June 14, 2025. This brought to completion a long journey of illness which she had embraced with deep faith. She was very peaceful about the critical turn her health had taken in the last few days, and she faced with grace the sudden arrival of “Sister Death,” as St. Francis of Assisi called the inevitable last moment of life. Sister Colleen Ann lived at our center in Lowell, Michigan since 1981 and was the Executive Director of the Franciscan Life Process Center. Sister Colleen Ann was the daughter of the late John and Colleen Nagle. She was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, baptized at the local St. Wenceslaus Church, and received her first sacraments of communion and penance, as well as confirmation at St. Joseph Church, Waupun, Wisconsin. She graduated from Williams Bay High School in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, in 1967. A 1971 graduate of Viterbo College in La Crosse, Sister Colleen Ann was familiar with the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration who operated the college (now university). During her college years, the Sisters had begun an experimental program of renewal of religious life as called for by Vatican II. As a young adult seeking direction, challenge and a full life, Colleen was attracted to the hope she saw in the Sisters. In 1973, the initial renewal program birthed the foundation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist and she and Mary Traynor (now Sister Mary Frances) were the first two women to join the newly-founded Congregation. Sister Colleen Ann began her formal journey of religious life in 1973, and has held [...]