Remembering Sister Brigid Jacobs, OSF
Norma Jean Jacobs was born on February 26, 1936, in Freeport, Illinois. She was the daughter of Ruth (Lahre) and Robert Jacobs. Although she had no siblings, she did claim as her distant relative Mother Alfred Moes, foundress of the Joliet Franciscans. Perhaps it was that genetic connection that gave her a feisty personality, an attraction to owning a dog and a talent for leadership in a variety of groups and causes.
Norma Jean left Freeport to join the Joliet Franciscans in 1954 after graduating from St. Joseph Elementary School and Aquin High School. She received the name Sister Brigid Marie. Rather than returning to her baptismal name after the Second Vatican Council, as many sisters did, she just dropped “Marie.” Sister Brigid received a BA with a major in sociology from the College of St. Francis in Joliet as well as an MA in theology.
Read more about Sister Brigid’s life here.