Individual Details
Ruth Mary Barthle OSF
(April 14, 1923 - January 11, 2021)
Religious profession in Poor Clares--January 25, 1965-Caroica, Bolivia
'SHE IS OUR MOTHER TERESA'
St. Petersburg Times; St. Petersburg; Apr 25, 1998; Waveney Ann Moore;
More than half a century ago, Ruth Barthle, a young small-town girl, took her first determined steps toward religious life.
Last Sunday, 220 admirers gathered for Sister Ruth's 75th birthday, as much to celebrate the milestone as to honor her commitment to a vocation so long chosen.
"We love her," said Rickey Pearson, who helped plan the surprise party at the Maria Center at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in Gulfport.
"We will do anything for her because she is so dedicated," added Pearson, one of 44 volunteers who work with Sister Ruth at Daystar, a downtown St. Petersburg charity that serves the homeless and others in need.
Though Sister Ruth's vocation began at age 18, when she joined the Franciscan sisters of Allegany in upstate New York, the call to religious life actually came when she was 9.
"I heard a sermon about St. Francis," said Sister Ruth, who often quotes from the Prayer of St. Francis. "He followed Christ so completely. He just saw God in everything. I think it is the ideal that the world needs."
It is a quality the San Antonio, Fla., native believes is exemplified by those who volunteer at her side to provide emergency food, clothing and money to the poor.
"They give of their life so much," she said. "It is the volunteers and benefactors who make this the place it is."
Others disagree. It is she, they say, who exemplifies the piety of St. Francis.
"She is our Mother Teresa," Pearson said earnestly, recalling times when Sister Ruth ventured into neighborhoods many would consider unsafe so she could help someone.
"Everything is for the homeless and the poor," Pearson said. "She is very anxious over a lot of people that come in there. She worries about them. She is so caring. You can feel the love of Christ in her."
Monsignor John P. McNulty, who started Daystar, an outreach program of St. Mary Our Lady of Grace Church, in 1982, offers similar praise.
Sister Ruth gives "complete dedication and constant application to the cause of those people," he said. "It is hard work and she gives her fullness. We just wanted to show appreciation of that on her birthday."
Last Wednesday morning, Sister Ruth was in her office at the bustling Daystar center, located in a small building at 226 Sixth St. S. Its rooms are small. Here, people in need apply for assistance. Here, too, are stores of basic goods, from bread to toilet paper to razors.
On this particular morning, the waiting room was packed with anxious-looking men, women and children, black and white, singles and families. The overflow waited outside, where a colorful painting of the magi following a star looked down at them from a large window.
"I think we see a lot of people who lose their jobs," Sister Ruth said, assessing the varied clientele who by word-of-mouth find her place of hope in the city's downtown.
Mentally disabled, single parents and others down on their luck make up the 60 to 80 weekday requests for help, said Sister Ruth. Such assistance has broader impact, she said, since many of those seeking help also are asking on behalf of their children and spouses.
For Sister Ruth, a descendant of one of Pasco County's founding families, ministering to the poor is a way of fulfilling her calling.
"This is one way of serving Christ in the poor. Jesus comes to us in a different form every day," she said.
"I get more gratification from my family, my vocation, the older I get."
There are no regrets for this 75-year-old, who left her close-knit family to join a convent as a teenager. "When I got to be in my teens, I enjoyed the joys of life," she recalled recently. "We liked to go out and dance. We liked to go on picnics. We liked to ride horses."
But the nudge she felt in earlier years grew persistent.
"I kept hearing his voice," she said of God's call.
Her parents, committed Catholics and the first couple to be married at St. Anthony's Catholic Church in San Antonio, were encouraging.
"My mother was very happy," Sister Ruth said.
Her father, she added, "wasn't so sure that he wanted me to leave."
But she did. And she took her simple vows 1 1/2 years after arriving at the Allegany convent. Her final vows were said in 1949.
Since taking up religious life, Sister Ruth has worked as an X-ray technician at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, which like St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Petersburg was started by Franciscan sisters. She also worked at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden, N.J., and St. Francis Hospital in Olean, N.Y.
Before joining Daystar in 1982, she lived in Bolivia, where she was part of the Poor Clares, a Franciscan order. There was culture shock when she returned to the United States after 17 years of cloistered life, which consisted mainly of prayer, Sister Ruth said.
But she cherishes this phase of her life as well.
"On one hand you see the needs and the suffering of the people and on the other hand you see the generosity of the volunteers and the benefactors," she said of her experience at Daystar.
"We have got to see the good in people. We helped a young girl several months ago and several months later she came back and gave me $20."
At present, Sister Ruth, who lives at St. Paul's Convent, which was built for 19 sisters and now is home to just five, has no plans to retire.
"If I really had to retire, I would like to be a volunteer in a hospital to do pastoral work" she said.
For recreation she yearns to parasail again, as she did with her nephew one summer's day in 1984. "That would be so much fun," said the tiny woman clad in her everyday outfit of a simple brown skirt with vest and a white blouse.
Her next adventure probably will be a November trip to Israel, a birthday present from those who attended her party last Sunday and many who could not but wanted to honor her nonetheless.
"I say God has given me so much," Sister Ruth said earlier this week. "He is overwhelmingly generous to me."
The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
[Illustration]
BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO, MIKE PEASE; BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO, (2); Caption: Sister Ruth Barthle; Sister Ruth and her sister, Margaret Kiefer, posed outside their father's store in San Antonio, Fla., in this 1941 photo; Sister Ruth took her simple vows in 1943.
Sr. Ruth Marie Barthle
April 14, 1923 - January 11, 2021
Sr. Ruth Marie Barthle, OSF The family is sad to announce the passing of our beloved Aunt, Great Aunt, Cousin, friend, and Religious Mentor on January 11, 2021. She died surrounded by her fellow sisters at her Mother House in Allegany, New York.
Sister Ruth was born in San Antonio, FL on April 14, 1923 the daughter of Joseph A. Barthle and Clara Cecilia Sultenfuss. She was predeceased by her siblings Mary Schambeau (Gerald), Margaret Kiefer (Al), Joseph Barthle (Jeanette), and Albert Barthle (Stella). She was christened in St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in San Antonio on April 17, 1923.
She joined the Order of St. Francis in 1942 at the convent of St. Elizabeth in Allegany. She received her Holy Profession August 16, 1943 and was sent to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa.
She also spent numerous years in Bolivia with the sisters of the Poor Clares. Returning to St. Petersburg she helped start Day Star with Monsignor McNulty and eventually ended up running it for several years until she retired to St. Elizabeth in Tampa where she was involved in the prison ministry, (her favorite ministry). Her final years were spent back at her Mother house in Allegany. She was 97.
Services will be held at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church on Thursday January 21st with a Rosary at 9:00 am and a Mass to follow at 10:00 am.
'SHE IS OUR MOTHER TERESA'
St. Petersburg Times; St. Petersburg; Apr 25, 1998; Waveney Ann Moore;
More than half a century ago, Ruth Barthle, a young small-town girl, took her first determined steps toward religious life.
Last Sunday, 220 admirers gathered for Sister Ruth's 75th birthday, as much to celebrate the milestone as to honor her commitment to a vocation so long chosen.
"We love her," said Rickey Pearson, who helped plan the surprise party at the Maria Center at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in Gulfport.
"We will do anything for her because she is so dedicated," added Pearson, one of 44 volunteers who work with Sister Ruth at Daystar, a downtown St. Petersburg charity that serves the homeless and others in need.
Though Sister Ruth's vocation began at age 18, when she joined the Franciscan sisters of Allegany in upstate New York, the call to religious life actually came when she was 9.
"I heard a sermon about St. Francis," said Sister Ruth, who often quotes from the Prayer of St. Francis. "He followed Christ so completely. He just saw God in everything. I think it is the ideal that the world needs."
It is a quality the San Antonio, Fla., native believes is exemplified by those who volunteer at her side to provide emergency food, clothing and money to the poor.
"They give of their life so much," she said. "It is the volunteers and benefactors who make this the place it is."
Others disagree. It is she, they say, who exemplifies the piety of St. Francis.
"She is our Mother Teresa," Pearson said earnestly, recalling times when Sister Ruth ventured into neighborhoods many would consider unsafe so she could help someone.
"Everything is for the homeless and the poor," Pearson said. "She is very anxious over a lot of people that come in there. She worries about them. She is so caring. You can feel the love of Christ in her."
Monsignor John P. McNulty, who started Daystar, an outreach program of St. Mary Our Lady of Grace Church, in 1982, offers similar praise.
Sister Ruth gives "complete dedication and constant application to the cause of those people," he said. "It is hard work and she gives her fullness. We just wanted to show appreciation of that on her birthday."
Last Wednesday morning, Sister Ruth was in her office at the bustling Daystar center, located in a small building at 226 Sixth St. S. Its rooms are small. Here, people in need apply for assistance. Here, too, are stores of basic goods, from bread to toilet paper to razors.
On this particular morning, the waiting room was packed with anxious-looking men, women and children, black and white, singles and families. The overflow waited outside, where a colorful painting of the magi following a star looked down at them from a large window.
"I think we see a lot of people who lose their jobs," Sister Ruth said, assessing the varied clientele who by word-of-mouth find her place of hope in the city's downtown.
Mentally disabled, single parents and others down on their luck make up the 60 to 80 weekday requests for help, said Sister Ruth. Such assistance has broader impact, she said, since many of those seeking help also are asking on behalf of their children and spouses.
For Sister Ruth, a descendant of one of Pasco County's founding families, ministering to the poor is a way of fulfilling her calling.
"This is one way of serving Christ in the poor. Jesus comes to us in a different form every day," she said.
"I get more gratification from my family, my vocation, the older I get."
There are no regrets for this 75-year-old, who left her close-knit family to join a convent as a teenager. "When I got to be in my teens, I enjoyed the joys of life," she recalled recently. "We liked to go out and dance. We liked to go on picnics. We liked to ride horses."
But the nudge she felt in earlier years grew persistent.
"I kept hearing his voice," she said of God's call.
Her parents, committed Catholics and the first couple to be married at St. Anthony's Catholic Church in San Antonio, were encouraging.
"My mother was very happy," Sister Ruth said.
Her father, she added, "wasn't so sure that he wanted me to leave."
But she did. And she took her simple vows 1 1/2 years after arriving at the Allegany convent. Her final vows were said in 1949.
Since taking up religious life, Sister Ruth has worked as an X-ray technician at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, which like St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Petersburg was started by Franciscan sisters. She also worked at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden, N.J., and St. Francis Hospital in Olean, N.Y.
Before joining Daystar in 1982, she lived in Bolivia, where she was part of the Poor Clares, a Franciscan order. There was culture shock when she returned to the United States after 17 years of cloistered life, which consisted mainly of prayer, Sister Ruth said.
But she cherishes this phase of her life as well.
"On one hand you see the needs and the suffering of the people and on the other hand you see the generosity of the volunteers and the benefactors," she said of her experience at Daystar.
"We have got to see the good in people. We helped a young girl several months ago and several months later she came back and gave me $20."
At present, Sister Ruth, who lives at St. Paul's Convent, which was built for 19 sisters and now is home to just five, has no plans to retire.
"If I really had to retire, I would like to be a volunteer in a hospital to do pastoral work" she said.
For recreation she yearns to parasail again, as she did with her nephew one summer's day in 1984. "That would be so much fun," said the tiny woman clad in her everyday outfit of a simple brown skirt with vest and a white blouse.
Her next adventure probably will be a November trip to Israel, a birthday present from those who attended her party last Sunday and many who could not but wanted to honor her nonetheless.
"I say God has given me so much," Sister Ruth said earlier this week. "He is overwhelmingly generous to me."
The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
[Illustration]
BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO, MIKE PEASE; BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO, (2); Caption: Sister Ruth Barthle; Sister Ruth and her sister, Margaret Kiefer, posed outside their father's store in San Antonio, Fla., in this 1941 photo; Sister Ruth took her simple vows in 1943.
Sr. Ruth Marie Barthle
April 14, 1923 - January 11, 2021
Sr. Ruth Marie Barthle, OSF The family is sad to announce the passing of our beloved Aunt, Great Aunt, Cousin, friend, and Religious Mentor on January 11, 2021. She died surrounded by her fellow sisters at her Mother House in Allegany, New York.
Sister Ruth was born in San Antonio, FL on April 14, 1923 the daughter of Joseph A. Barthle and Clara Cecilia Sultenfuss. She was predeceased by her siblings Mary Schambeau (Gerald), Margaret Kiefer (Al), Joseph Barthle (Jeanette), and Albert Barthle (Stella). She was christened in St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in San Antonio on April 17, 1923.
She joined the Order of St. Francis in 1942 at the convent of St. Elizabeth in Allegany. She received her Holy Profession August 16, 1943 and was sent to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa.
She also spent numerous years in Bolivia with the sisters of the Poor Clares. Returning to St. Petersburg she helped start Day Star with Monsignor McNulty and eventually ended up running it for several years until she retired to St. Elizabeth in Tampa where she was involved in the prison ministry, (her favorite ministry). Her final years were spent back at her Mother house in Allegany. She was 97.
Services will be held at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church on Thursday January 21st with a Rosary at 9:00 am and a Mass to follow at 10:00 am.
Events
| Birth | April 14, 1923 | San Antonio, FL | |||
| Death | January 11, 2021 | Allegany, New York, United States | |||
| Residence | St. Elizabeth Convent, Tampa, FL | ||||
| Telephone | 813-229-1978 | ||||
| Address | 3000 Perry Ave. N. / Tampa, FL, / |
Families
| Father | Joseph Albert Barthle (1885 - 1970) |
| Mother | Clara Cecelia Sultenfuss (1890 - 1953) |
| Sibling | Mary Cecilia Barthle (1913 - 1993) |
| Sibling | Margaret Mary Barthle (1920 - 2005) |
| Sibling | Joseph William Charles Barthle (1924 - 1996) |
| Sibling | Albert Anthony Barthle (1928 - 1971) |