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19 January 2020

Obituary of Sister Philippa Coogan
(extracted from "Chicago Tribune", 19 JAN 1984):


SISTER PHILIPPA, PIONEER CATHOLIC SEMINARY TEACHER

[photo; caption: Sr. Philippa Coogan]

SISTER PHILIPPA Coogan, 75, a former professor of English at 
Mundelein College, was the first woman to teach full time in a 
Chicago archdiocesan Catholic seminary.

Mass for Sister Philippa will be said at 11 a.m. Thursday in the 
chapel at Marian Hall, 1050 Carmel Dr., Dubuque, Ia. She died there 
Monday.

Sister Philippa was born in Lincoln, Ill., the youngest of 10 
children. Two of her seven brothers were Jesuit priests, John and 
Philip. Another, Joseph, was a physician. Her two sisters, Sister 
M. Jane and Sister Celeste, are nuns.

She received a doctorate in English literature from Catholic 
University of America in Washington, D.C., in 1947. She was a 
professor of English at Mundelein College from 1957 to 1962 after 
having taught at Clarke College in Dubuque. Her specialty was the 
works of Chaucer.

"SISTER PHILIPPA was truly special," said former Mundelein College 
President Sister Ann Ida Gannon. "She had a quick wit. Once she came 
to me about a student who looked as though she were not going to be
able to graduate because she was not studying hard enough.

"Sister Philippa said, 'I'm really worried about her.' I told her 
that the girl does not seem to be getting an ulcer about it.

"Sister Philippa responded, 'Yes, but she certainly is a carrier.'"

Sister Philippa was chairman of the composition department of the 
National Council of Teachers on English and was a popular speaker.

She taught in the 1960s at St. Mary of the Lake Theological Seminary 
in Mundelein and later for 15 years at Niles [Ill.] College, also an 
archdiocesan seminary.

"SHE WAS A remarkable woman," said Rev. Martin Winters, who taught 
with her at Niles College.

"She had a mind of her own. She was much a lady. She did not hold 
back in giving her opinion. She was very direct and very much a 
character."

In 1982, she left the seminary because of poor health and went to 
her religious order's infirmary in Dubuque.

Sister Philippa is survived by two sisters.