BOERNE — Sister Mary Agnes Zinni, Order of Saint Benedict, recently celebrated her 100th birthday.
The Benedictine Sisters of Boerne, family and friends, joined in the Sept. 27 celebration as Sister Mary Agnes marked two extraordinary milestones: her 100th birthday and her 80th jubilee of profession.
Born in 1925, Sister Mary Agnes began religious life with the Franciscan Sisters of Rochester, New York, and was soon sent to Austin, Texas, for ministry. Life led her out of that community to follow a request from a bishop to found a community of Sisters in the Austin diocese.
When that did not come to fruition, she entered the Benedictine community, answering God’s call to a life of prayer, work and service in the spirit of St. Benedict’s Rule. She was a hospital administrator working with young moms on welfare; co-director of the Omega Retreat Center in Boerne; on teams with St. Peter Upon the Water, a center for spiritual direction formation, mysticism centering prayer groups for many years.
She was co-director at Omega when the Rev. Patrick Cronin, Joe Hayes, Ed Courtney and Marty Sablik came to talk with her and Sister Kathleen Higgins about an idea for a retreat that focused on adoration, community, theology and service, which they named ACTS.
The Sisters supported their idea and helped to host the first ACTS retreat at Omega Retreat Center. When asked about her favorite quote from the Rule of Benedict, she stated, “Never turn away when someone needs your love.” RB 4:26 A Eucharistic celebration, with Bishop Michael Boulette presiding, was held in her honor at the St. Scholastica Monastery chapel, followed by a reception.
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