Sister Pierre Dembinski RSM 1921-2022
Courtesy of Melissa Dembinski Wawrzyniak.
Sister Pierre Dembinski RSM
I interviewed Sr. Pierre Dembinski (Margaret) at her residence at the Sisters of Mercy Motherhouse in 2015. She asked me not to publish this interview until after her death. Sr. Pierre was born Margaret Dembinski in Erie, on October 21, 1921, and passed away on January 29, 2022 at the age of 100.
She was a native daughter of St. Casimir Church and School. Her uncle, Fr. John Dembinski was the founding Pastor, and that is how she began her interview, as she was most proud of her Uncle Priests.
Fr. John Dembinski was born in Żerków, Poland; his older brother died and his parents came here with him around 1900 or so. Sr. Pierre’s father’s family was a family of eleven. Her father, Telesfor Dembinski, only went to the seventh grade, but he was most brilliant.
They built a brick home on Hess Avenue across from the Church.
Fr. John was very stately, young and handsome, and spoke perfect English.
The Bishop asked Fr. John to establish a Polish Parish on the lower east side. It was to be St. Casimir. They built the Church so the classrooms would be underneath the Church. It was more affordable. They had four big classrooms. They were putting in twenty-foot pile-ons for the foundation of the Church, and the next day the pile-ons were sunk. They did not know it was on quicksand; so they decided to add cement and put the pile-ons on top.
They doubled the grades; two in each room. They used a one-room schoolhouse and put it on the playground for the eighth grade classroom.
Fr. John Dembinski and his brother Vincent (who was a policeman,) were driving home from a hunting trip to do a funeral. They had an accident, the brakes locked, and Fr. John became trapped underneath the car. Vincent lifted it up a little bit, and Fr. John crawled out and was able to walk into St. Vincent Hospital. However, due to his injuries he developed pneumonia and died after three days.
Margaret was in third grade when Fr. John died. He was laid out in the Rectory, with his Chalice in hand. She did not want to see it, but her father took her anyway and placed her in front of the casket. She remembers the procession into Church, the Bishop and all the Priests. It was very traumatic for her. A girl told Margaret, “Well, now your family won’t have nothing to say for this Parish anymore.” The family expected Fr. Peter Dembinski to be the next Pastor of St. Casimir, but Bishop Gannon had other plans. Some of the family left to join St. Ann’s Church.
Fr. Peter Dembinski was the younger brother of Fr. John. His life was very different with Bishop Gannon. He was sent to Sykesville, Big Soldier, and Kramer Pennsylvania; all coal-mining towns. His parishioners worked very hard and were very poor. When Fr. Peter came home for a visit, he asked his nieces Helen and Margaret (Sr. Pierre,) to come help with forty-hours and the Parish Mission. Margaret went for a couple of weeks and stayed ten years. She just couldn’t leave.
Margaret (Sr. Pierre) felt a calling to be a sister. Fr. Peter asked her not to join the convent until after his death and wanted her to be a Sister of Mercy. She was twenty-seven years old when he died. Fr. Peter died on the 28th of June 1949, the day before his feast day. Margaret joined the convent in September and made a novena to the Blessed Mother to help her. She talked to Mother De Sales.
Sr. Pierre then talked about her parents. At age 19, her father worked in the coal mines in Pennsylvania. He told his mother that he was going to Erie to see his brother Fr. John and decided to stay. Fr. John had four women in his office for him to meet and her father picked out the girl in the gray dress, Rose Szlogowski.
They married and Margaret was born in a flat on 7th Street and later moved to a flat on 5th Street. Sister Pierre’s siblings were Robert, Francis, Eleanor, Rosemary, John, and Ruth.
Her father got a job at Hammermill in the Power Department and was made Foreman. Hammermill was so good to families that worked there. They always received something for Christmas, a mesh bag with nuts, apples, oranges, and candy. Her three brothers and sisters also worked there. Her dad pulled Margaret’s application, because he felt something else special for her.
They were poor growing up, but they did not know any different, they always had enough to eat.
Sister Pierre attended St. Casimir Grade School. She was taught in English and Polish and had a good education. The 2nd and 3rd Grades were taught in the Church at one time. They had big green curtains they pulled closed over the Sanctuary after Mass.
They had First Friday Processions and Forty Hours. June was dedicated for the Sacred Heart and May and October were for the Blessed Mother. The nuns charged 10 cents per child, so only one of them could go at a time, because they were poor.
Her brother Francis was in World War II in the Pacific Islands. His platoon was lost in the jungle and their Sgt. was killed. Francis (a Corporal,) took over, and took the first watch. They were surrounded by Japanese and a most beautiful woman and child appeared to him. She said, “Francis, do you want to get out of here?” It was pitch black and she drew a map of how to get out and said to leave now. Meanwhile, he was shot, but he didn’t say anything because he was the only one who knew how to get out. When dawn broke, they saw the camp, and Francis passed out. They carried him as a hero, but he wasn’t a hero, God was. Francis died when he was only fifty-three years old. However, he did not want a military funeral. He was done with it.
When Margaret was a teenager in eighth grade, she hated herself; she felt down and ugly. Why am I so ugly? Her father told her, “It’s true your sisters are beautiful, your brothers are handsome, but you have something special that they don’t have.” So I felt special, and I always thought back to that time. How wonderful to have a parent who loves you and God who loves you.
Margaret attended East High School and graduated in 1941.
Something else that is special, Sr. Pierre still wears her mother’s 102 year old wedding ring.
Regarding Archbishop Gannon, Sr. Pierre said he had no use for the Polish people. Her brother, Bob, went in the seminary, and came to see the Bishop. Gannon said, “I have no use for Polack Priests in my diocese, but I can send you to Scranton.” Bob said no, I will never be a Priest now. He came home and sobbed to his parents. Father Ed Matuszak and Fathers Joe and Leonard Mroczkowski were also not accepted into our diocese.
It was Bishop Murphy who stood up at Fr. Joe’s Mroczkowski’s funeral and apologized for the treatment of the Polish Priests and the Polish people of the diocese that were hurt at that time.
Finally, Sister Pierre left us with a prayer she learned from Sister Sally that is foolproof.
“Little Jesus come around, something broken, can’t be found, can’t be healed and ask for whatever you need.”
On a Side Note:
*****According to Sr. Pierre, in 1923, there was a shooting incident involving Fr. John Dembinski. There were some burglaries in the neighborhood and Fr. John bought a gun. He had two housekeepers who lived on the top floor of the Rectory. One of the housekeepers came home late one evening and didn’t want anyone to know. The other housekeeper called out that someone was there. Fr. John called out and no one answered. He thought there was a burglar and shot and killed the housekeeper accidently. *****
Sister Pierre did not have a problem with me putting this story in, because she said it was an accident.
Special thanks to Sister Pierre’s niece, Melissa Dembinski Wawrzyniak, for pictures and assistance.
I interviewed Sr. Pierre Dembinski (Margaret) at her residence at the Sisters of Mercy Motherhouse in 2015. She asked me not to publish this interview until after her death. Sr. Pierre was born Margaret Dembinski in Erie, on October 21, 1921, and passed away on January 29, 2022 at the age of 100.
She was a native daughter of St. Casimir Church and School. Her uncle, Fr. John Dembinski was the founding Pastor, and that is how she began her interview, as she was most proud of her Uncle Priests.
Fr. John Dembinski was born in Żerków, Poland; his older brother died and his parents came here with him around 1900 or so. Sr. Pierre’s father’s family was a family of eleven. Her father, Telesfor Dembinski, only went to the seventh grade, but he was most brilliant.
They built a brick home on Hess Avenue across from the Church.
Fr. John was very stately, young and handsome, and spoke perfect English.
The Bishop asked Fr. John to establish a Polish Parish on the lower east side. It was to be St. Casimir. They built the Church so the classrooms would be underneath the Church. It was more affordable. They had four big classrooms. They were putting in twenty-foot pile-ons for the foundation of the Church, and the next day the pile-ons were sunk. They did not know it was on quicksand; so they decided to add cement and put the pile-ons on top.
They doubled the grades; two in each room. They used a one-room schoolhouse and put it on the playground for the eighth grade classroom.
Fr. John Dembinski and his brother Vincent (who was a policeman,) were driving home from a hunting trip to do a funeral. They had an accident, the brakes locked, and Fr. John became trapped underneath the car. Vincent lifted it up a little bit, and Fr. John crawled out and was able to walk into St. Vincent Hospital. However, due to his injuries he developed pneumonia and died after three days.
Margaret was in third grade when Fr. John died. He was laid out in the Rectory, with his Chalice in hand. She did not want to see it, but her father took her anyway and placed her in front of the casket. She remembers the procession into Church, the Bishop and all the Priests. It was very traumatic for her. A girl told Margaret, “Well, now your family won’t have nothing to say for this Parish anymore.” The family expected Fr. Peter Dembinski to be the next Pastor of St. Casimir, but Bishop Gannon had other plans. Some of the family left to join St. Ann’s Church.
Fr. Peter Dembinski was the younger brother of Fr. John. His life was very different with Bishop Gannon. He was sent to Sykesville, Big Soldier, and Kramer Pennsylvania; all coal-mining towns. His parishioners worked very hard and were very poor. When Fr. Peter came home for a visit, he asked his nieces Helen and Margaret (Sr. Pierre,) to come help with forty-hours and the Parish Mission. Margaret went for a couple of weeks and stayed ten years. She just couldn’t leave.
Margaret (Sr. Pierre) felt a calling to be a sister. Fr. Peter asked her not to join the convent until after his death and wanted her to be a Sister of Mercy. She was twenty-seven years old when he died. Fr. Peter died on the 28th of June 1949, the day before his feast day. Margaret joined the convent in September and made a novena to the Blessed Mother to help her. She talked to Mother De Sales.
Sr. Pierre then talked about her parents. At age 19, her father worked in the coal mines in Pennsylvania. He told his mother that he was going to Erie to see his brother Fr. John and decided to stay. Fr. John had four women in his office for him to meet and her father picked out the girl in the gray dress, Rose Szlogowski.
They married and Margaret was born in a flat on 7th Street and later moved to a flat on 5th Street. Sister Pierre’s siblings were Robert, Francis, Eleanor, Rosemary, John, and Ruth.
Her father got a job at Hammermill in the Power Department and was made Foreman. Hammermill was so good to families that worked there. They always received something for Christmas, a mesh bag with nuts, apples, oranges, and candy. Her three brothers and sisters also worked there. Her dad pulled Margaret’s application, because he felt something else special for her.
They were poor growing up, but they did not know any different, they always had enough to eat.
Sister Pierre attended St. Casimir Grade School. She was taught in English and Polish and had a good education. The 2nd and 3rd Grades were taught in the Church at one time. They had big green curtains they pulled closed over the Sanctuary after Mass.
They had First Friday Processions and Forty Hours. June was dedicated for the Sacred Heart and May and October were for the Blessed Mother. The nuns charged 10 cents per child, so only one of them could go at a time, because they were poor.
Her brother Francis was in World War II in the Pacific Islands. His platoon was lost in the jungle and their Sgt. was killed. Francis (a Corporal,) took over, and took the first watch. They were surrounded by Japanese and a most beautiful woman and child appeared to him. She said, “Francis, do you want to get out of here?” It was pitch black and she drew a map of how to get out and said to leave now. Meanwhile, he was shot, but he didn’t say anything because he was the only one who knew how to get out. When dawn broke, they saw the camp, and Francis passed out. They carried him as a hero, but he wasn’t a hero, God was. Francis died when he was only fifty-three years old. However, he did not want a military funeral. He was done with it.
When Margaret was a teenager in eighth grade, she hated herself; she felt down and ugly. Why am I so ugly? Her father told her, “It’s true your sisters are beautiful, your brothers are handsome, but you have something special that they don’t have.” So I felt special, and I always thought back to that time. How wonderful to have a parent who loves you and God who loves you.
Margaret attended East High School and graduated in 1941.
Something else that is special, Sr. Pierre still wears her mother’s 102 year old wedding ring.
Regarding Archbishop Gannon, Sr. Pierre said he had no use for the Polish people. Her brother, Bob, went in the seminary, and came to see the Bishop. Gannon said, “I have no use for Polack Priests in my diocese, but I can send you to Scranton.” Bob said no, I will never be a Priest now. He came home and sobbed to his parents. Father Ed Matuszak and Fathers Joe and Leonard Mroczkowski were also not accepted into our diocese.
It was Bishop Murphy who stood up at Fr. Joe’s Mroczkowski’s funeral and apologized for the treatment of the Polish Priests and the Polish people of the diocese that were hurt at that time.
Finally, Sister Pierre left us with a prayer she learned from Sister Sally that is foolproof.
“Little Jesus come around, something broken, can’t be found, can’t be healed and ask for whatever you need.”
On a Side Note:
*****According to Sr. Pierre, in 1923, there was a shooting incident involving Fr. John Dembinski. There were some burglaries in the neighborhood and Fr. John bought a gun. He had two housekeepers who lived on the top floor of the Rectory. One of the housekeepers came home late one evening and didn’t want anyone to know. The other housekeeper called out that someone was there. Fr. John called out and no one answered. He thought there was a burglar and shot and killed the housekeeper accidently. *****
Sister Pierre did not have a problem with me putting this story in, because she said it was an accident.
Special thanks to Sister Pierre’s niece, Melissa Dembinski Wawrzyniak, for pictures and assistance.
From the collection of Eleanor Sulecki Baginski.
Margaret Dembinski 1941 East High Yearbook
Sr. Pierre (Margaret) with her sister Rosemary. (Courtesy of Melissa Dembinski Wawrzyniak)
Reverend John Dembinski founding Pastor of St. Casimir's Church. 1914-1931.
Reverend Peter Dembinski whom Margaret (Sister Pierre) worked for.
Family Photos (Courtesy of Melissa Dembinski Wawrzyniak)
Sr. Pierre with her parents Telesfor and Rose.
Sister Dembinski and myself in 2015.
See also: Rev. John C. Dembinski
