Sister Mary Nadine ND 5712 PDF Download
Sylvia Ann MATHIAS
Immaculate Conception Province, USA
Date and Place of Birth: September 19, 1942 Indianapolis, Indiana
Date and Place of Profession: August 13, 1962 Toledo, Ohio
Date and Place of Death: May 14, 2025 Sylvania, Ohio
The Mother of Hope is ever with us to cheer our spirits until we reach the journey’s end in the safe harbor of Paradise.
(T. S. Sullivan, Our Lady of Hope, p. 54)
In 1947, Herman Mathias and Mary Margaret Regner Mathias moved to Bellevue, Ohio, from Indianapolis, Indiana, where Sylvia had been born. The name “Sylvia” means Hope. The family thrived in Bellevue and by 1956, seven more children were born. It was in Bellevue, Ohio, where Sylvia became acquainted with the Sisters of Notre Dame and she became an aspirant her senior year graduating from Notre Dame Academy in Toledo in 1960.
She attended Notre Dame Extension College in Toledo, Ohio, for two years working toward her Bachelor of Science in Education and finishing her degree at Mary Manse College in Toledo, Ohio. This prepared her for her teaching career, which was basically spent in the Toledo Diocese in the elementary grades. She was a conscientious teacher who quietly spent twenty-one years teaching academics as well as life lessons.
Her Master’s degree emphasized expertise in research skills which she put to good use in the twenty-five years spent as a high school librarian in Delphos and Notre Dame Academy. She was a meticulous person by nature, so it was her joy to see that everything was in perfect order in school libraries. She loved locating materials that were too difficult for students to find, but who needed the materials for research papers. All of this was great background and preparation for the next nine years of her life that were spent as the Toledo Diocesan Archivist. She loved working in the Chancery and delighted providing certificates and organizing artifacts.
She was a sensitive, caring, devout, kind, prayerful person who could easily be overlooked in a crowd, for she did not like to draw attention to herself. She had a deep love for her family and enjoyed visiting them in California where she could also enjoy the beauty of the beach and nature.
In the midst of her busy schedule, cancer became a real part of her life and ultimately, she found it necessary to give up her cherished archival work. When her condition worsened and she could no longer receive the care she required, she was transferred to Rosary Care Center. She seemed to be doing well there and then her cancer metastasized to her lungs. She was transferred to Ebeid Hospice Center of Northwest Ohio in Sylvania. Ohio, where she died two days later on the evening of Wednesday, May 14, feast of St. Matthias. It did not escape the attention of the Sisters that Sister Mary Nadine’s last name was Mathias.
May she now enjoy the beauty of her heavenly home enfolded in the arms of Our Lady of Hope.
by Dreamhost