Sr. Catherine Greeley McCarthy

Sister Mercedes of the Blessed Sacrament, O.C.D. (Catherine Greeley McCarthy) passed away peacefully at Mount Carmel Nursing Home in Manchester on Nov. 21, 2017.
Born in East Boston to Charles J. and Anne (Winston) McCarthy, Sr. Mercedes was one of eight children in a Catholic family. The members of her family were gifted in music and highly artistic. While she was attending Fitton High School in East Boston, Sr. Mercedes' parents arranged singing lessons for her. At 14 she won a contest and was selected to sing arias on the radio. She was a featured radio vocalist on Boston's weekly variety show "La Touraine Hour."
Upon completion of high school, Catherine received a scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music and studied opera under Boris Goldovsky. She performed at various New England venues, including the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, Arthur Fiedler at the piano. She continued her studies in New York with renowned teachers and coaches, including coach William Herman who also coached Robert Merrill, Roberta Peters and Patrice Munsel whom she would meet at his studio. She was also a student of Madame Savage, who had been Caruso's French coach, and she moved in a circle which included George Ballanchine. She lived at a boarding house for women, the Devonclaire, where she met the famous opera singer Lucilla Udovich who became her life-long friend and mentor. Lucille came to see Sr. Mercedes at the Concord Carmel on some of her trips to the United States.
Knowing that she needed exposure to a greater variety of approaches to opera, Catherine decided to go to Rome. There for seven years she studied voice, learned Italian, earned a music degree at the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia and participated in the exciting but highly competitive world of opera.
Catherine's dear friend Lucille was also studying in Rome and became a protégée of Beniamino Gigli and later an understudy of Maria Callas. Catherine had the opportunity to sing with Lucille there. As time went on though, Catherine became frustrated with the struggle for 'a break' as well as with her teacher. Uncertain of what to do next, she went to see Padre Pio, famous as a confessor and spiritual director.
Catherine poured out her questions only to receive a very simple answer from the future saint. "Give it up. Do something for God." With that the conference was over. Sr. Mercedes remembers sitting on the steps crying. How could she give it all up? Eventually she found the strength to break off her career in Rome and return to the States.
On returning to the United States she lived in Teaneck, N.J. and sang at the Paterson State Opera under Armand Boyagian. There she performed with, among others, Paul Plishka, later of the Metropolitan Opera. On retiring from the operatic stage, directed by her older sister, Sister Brian, rsm, Catherine entered the Carmelite Monastery of Concord in January, 1962 at the age of 37. She stated, "My voice was a gift from God; entering the monastery will be the best life for me." She was solemnly professed in October 1966.
In the 1960s, when Sr. Mercedes entered Carmel, the Second Vatican Council, which would radically alter the forms of religious life, was taking place; it concluded in 1965. Change came to Concord Carmel gradually, however. During Sr. Mercedes' early years in Carmel, there was no music in Carmel because of the emphasis on silence and solitude. The sisters chanted or sang on one note, recto tono. They did not own a piano or an organ. It would not be until later that music would be integrated into their contemplative vocation of prayer and their community life. At this time, Sr. Mercedes used to "practice" the piano on the table in her "cell," doing the fingering but making no noise.
Once she was free to express her musical talent, Sr. Mercedes became the community's organist and choir director, and her gifts flourished. Directed by her, the sisters gave a concert of carols and Christmas music every Christmas Eve before Midnight Mass. Sr. Mercedes also taught other sisters to sing, among them the community's present community soloist, Sr. Claudette Blais. Many sisters can remember Sr. Mercedes telling them: "Pull in your diaphragm, stand up straight, and SING!"
Sr. Mercedes is survived by her brother, Brian McCarthy of San Diego, and numerous nieces and nephews, grand nieces and nephews. Her Carmelite sisters, Emmanuel, Claudette, Theresa, Gabriel, Louise, and Hilary as well as two sisters in the process of canonical transfer from other communities, Katharine and Mary, will miss her very much.
There will be a wake at the Carmelite Monastery, 275 Pleasant St., Concord, Tuesday, Nov. 28 from 2-4 p.m. and again from 6-8 p.m.
The Mass of the Resurrection followed by the interment will be celebrated Wednesday November 29 at 11:00 a.m. in the Monastery Chapel.