Published with the approval and assistance of Nicky Dilts
Occasionally in these posts, we like to highlight projects our researchers are working on. This post is not about an academic project, but about a family history exploration with some deep personal meaning.
Nicky Dilts is her family’s historian, and there was a branch that she was missing on her family tree. Her grandmother, Clorinda Pasquinucci, had spoken of an aunt that became a Catholic Sister of some order or another. In Nicky’s possession were two memorials of her great-great-aunt. The first was a photograph, and the second was a prayer book gifted to her grandmother from this mysterious Sister-aunt. The prayer book is signed “To my dear Clorinda[,] Best wishes for a Merry Christmas 1933[,] Pray for Aunt Frances Sr. Baptistine.”
With this artifact, Nicky had a community name, a baptismal name, and a time period. From her extended research, she knew her likely last name – Massa – and that she had emigrated from Italy. The one thing she didn’t know for certain was what Community Sister Baptistine was in. Thankfully, the distinctive habit – with the notable cornette head covering, worn before 1964 –meant that Sister Baptistine could only be a Daughter of Charity.
Nicky called us with her information, and we were able to match it instantly. We are able to provide the information found in the Community ledgers and confirm what she knew already, including Sister Baptistine’s birthplace in Levanti, Italy and her parents, Emanuel Massa and Christine Luceti. Moreover, we could share Sister’s date of birth, date of death, date she entered the Community, and where she had served on ministry.
For some genealogists, especially looking further back, this is the limit to what we are able to provide to people, before the explosion of recordkeeping. Sister Baptistine’s file, however, contained a goldmine of information. Some things were vital documents, where, although we disappointed Nicky in not having Sister Baptistine’s birth certificate, we did have her naturalization certificate when she became a U.S. citizen.
And, after Sister’s death, her file had correspondence between the Community and some of those same family members whom Nicky’s genealogical work had documented, showing the family’s support for the Community and the Community’s concern for a grieving family. It gave an account of her final days and her devotion to the Brady Maternity Home in Albany, where she lived, ministered, and eventually died after 49 years there.
![Typewritten text reading: "June 28, 1966[.] Dear Mrs. Stevens and Miss Massa, I am addressing this letter to both of you so that together you will learn all about the last days of your dear Sister and our beloved companion. Sisters is a great loss to all of us as we all loved her and admired her for her kindness and her holiness. Sister was on active duty all day Saturday, June 25. She served our chaplain's breakfast and did all the other little things that she did all day, the last of which was to go around the home and bless the little children with Holy Water. This gave Sister the opportunity to meet all the personnel and to keep in touch with the children she loved so much."](https://docarchivesblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/picture3.png?w=500)
Some of these documents even went into further detail about Sister’s family:
![Portion of a letter from Mrs. C. Lagario reading: "These are the names of Sisters relatives. Mr. Frank Montegane[,] Mr. & Mrs. I. Montegane[,] Mr. & Mrs. H. Bawers[,] Mr. & Mrs. M. Schenone[,] Mr. & Mrs. . Lamerdin[,] Mr & Mrs. H. Gaerndt[,] Mr. & Mrs. J. Labario[,] Mrs. Caroline Labario Our prayer are with you. Mrs. C. Lagario"](https://docarchivesblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/picture4.png?w=500)
Although we use this blog to highlight some projects of academic researchers, our most common category of users is genealogists, and our most common question is “My aunt/great-aunt was a Daughter of Charity; do you have any pictures of her?” It is a question we are always happy to provide an answer to.
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