Maryknoll Sister Margaret Frances Kulage visits a prisoner in the Philippines. (Photo courtesy of Maryknoll Sisters)
Congregation’s oldest member, 107, served in Hawaii and the Philippines
Maryknoll Sister Margaret Frances Kulage, who survived a boat capsizing in shark-infested Philippine waters and teaching assignments in Kalihi to become her congregation’s oldest member, died Aug. 28 at age 107 at the Maryknoll Sisters Home Care IV in Maryknoll, N.Y. She was a Maryknoll Sister for a remarkable 85 years.
Sister Margaret Frances served in Hawaii, her first mission assignment, for two decades, working about the same amount of time in the Philippines. Other assignments brought her several times to Maryknoll headquarters in New York. She was a teacher, principal, secretary, community superior, mission coordinator, prayer minister and prison minister.
Sister Margaret Frances was born on June 24, 1907, in St. Louis, Missouri, one of nine children of Henry J. and Cunigunda Kuenz Kulage.
A graduate of Holy Cross School in St. Louis, she enrolled in the Speedwa Business School in St. Louis from 1920 to 1921, and worked for Shell Oil Company for eight years. She then joined the Maryknoll Sisters at their motherhouse in Maryknoll, N.Y., from Holy Cross Church, St. Louis, on April 5, 1929, taking the religious name Sister M. Irma Francis.
After making first vows on June 24, 1931, Sister Marge, as her friends called her, studied at The Venard, a Maryknoll junior seminary in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1936. Following final vows on June 24, 1934, she worked at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in various capacities until receiving her Hawaii assignment in 1943.
Known as a courageous and sensitive young woman, impassioned by a quest for peace and justice for the poor, Sister Marge devoted herself to catechetics, pastoral work and teaching in Hawaii for approximately 20 years. She served in Waialua from 1943 to 1945, and Kalihi Kai from 1945 to 1953.
Returning to the motherhouse, she completed her bachelor of education degree at Maryknoll Teachers College while serving as assistant superior at the motherhouse. From 1959 to 1962, she was superior at St. Theresa Convent, the residence of Maryknoll Sisters working in the Maryknoll Fathers’ offices.
Reassigned to Hawaii in 1962, she served as superior in Kalihi Kai before being assigned to Wailuku, Maui, from 1965 to 1966.
After two years in administration back at the motherhouse from 1967 to 1969, Sister Margaret Frances went to the Philippines to teach at Maryknoll College, Manila, from 1969 to 1970, then to serve as principal of La Salette Elementary School, Santiago City, Isabella, from 1970 to 1972.
From 1972 to 1978, she was the secretary to the Maryknoll Fathers’ regional superior and coordinator for the Maryknoll Sisters in Davao, Philippines. That same year, she and 11 other Maryknoll Sisters survived an ordeal at sea, spending 16 hours in shark-infested waters off the east coast of Mindanao clinging to their capsized boat.
In an account written several months later, Sister Margaret Frances recalled the incident: “At 5:15 or a little later, I looked at my watch and said to Joanie (another of the Sisters), ‘Do you realize that you and I have been travelling almost 12.5 hours already?’ A few minutes later, I found myself coming up for air … Instinctively, I must have grabbed hold of the boat as I came up … Once we were all in position, we again marveled and thanked God that no one had been hurt. This was good, not only for the obvious reason but also because blood in the water would attract sharks. Every one of us knew the area was shark-infested, but no one mentioned the fact until we were safe ashore. We hoisted (Sister) Patricia Marie’s white veil on a spar and prayed that it would be sighted.”
Sister Margaret Frances then embraced prayer ministry, discovering an interest in the charismatic movement. From 1979 to 1990, she worked visiting various Philippine prisons.
Officially retiring to the United States in 1991, Sister Marge lived at the Maryknoll Sisters residence in Monrovia, California, until her return to the motherhouse in 1995 where she resided until her death.
A vespers service was celebrated for Sister Margaret on Sept. 2 at the Annunciation Chapel, Maryknoll Sisters Center, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial the next day. She was buried in the Maryknoll Sisters Cemetery on the center grounds.
