Little Sister of the Poor Bernard du St. Sacrement (born Margaret V. Hopkins) died Oct. 3. She was 96 and in her 77th year of religious life.
Sister Bernard served the elderly poor across the country in homes administered by the Little Sisters of the Poor.
She served as mother superior in Wilmington, Del., in the 1960s. She also ministered at the first home opened by the sisters on Magazine Street in Louisville from 1966-1975.
She later served in Evansville, Ind., in 1990, where her primary task was to raise funds for a new home to be built in the Audubon neighborhood. St. Joseph Home for the Aged, located at 15 Audubon Plaza Drive, opened in 1991.
Sister Bernard became known as the “intrepid beggar,” because, like the community’s foundress, St. Jeanne Jugan, she went out into the community begging for funds to care for the elderly poor.
She was also known for taking an interest in the people who asked for her intercessory prayers until her death.
She is survived by several nieces and nephews.
The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Oct. 7 at Holy Family Church followed by burial in St. Louis Cemetery.
Expressions of sympathy may be made to the Little Sisters of the Poor, St. Joseph Home for the Aged, 15 Audubon Plaza Dr., Louisville, Ky., 40217.
