Sister Mary Mediatrix of All Grace, a member of the Sisters of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, wears a traditional gray robe and a white veil.
But on Sunday, as she watches Super Bowl 56 with her sisters in Corpus Christi, Texas, the heart of Cowboy country, she will add her lucky Cincinnati Bengals T-shirt. The one she is seen wearing on Twitter indulging in behavior very unexpected for a nun.
High fives and fist pumps. And victory dances.
Sister Mary came to national attention last week, thanks to the Twitter feed of one of her fellow nuns, Sister Miriam James Heidland, @onegroovynun. The ups and downs of the AFC Championship game between the Bengals and the Kansas City Chiefs and Sister Mary's highs and lows as a lifelong Bengals fan were documented in real-time.
She was all of us.
She gave Joe Burrow advice from her armchair. She hid her face. She suggested to Patrick Mahomes that it would be a good time to throw an interception.
Her halftime assessment for the Bengals: "Put more pressure on the Mahomes. Put more pressure on everyone. Throw it to Chase." She was not wrong.
Her halftime assessment for her community? "We need more wings."
Her reaction to the pivotal interception: dance.
How is a nun in Corpus Christi, Texas, solidly Dallas Cowboy country, rooting for the Bengals?
She's an Ohio girl.
St. Mary grew up in Lebanon, Ohio, graduating from Bishop Fenwick High School. She then received a pharmacy degree from Butler University. She took her first vows in 2006 and her perpetual vows in 2011. She serves as the director of development for her order.
She comes from a large family – four boys and four girls – and four siblings still live in the Cincinnati area in Lebanon, Loveland, Sharonville and Franklin. Her parents, Gerry and Gert Patterson, still live in Lebanon.
Sister Mary said she followed the Bengals but only ever saw one game in person. It was against the Steelers when she was in middle school on a very cold day shortly after Christmas.
"My uncle bought my two brothers and me tickets as a Christmas present ... We were so cold, couldn’t see well and unfortunately they lost! I’ve been to many Reds games since my Dad could get discounted tickets through GE. But for football, it was all TV."
She is set for Sunday's Super Bowl game, with Sister Miriam tweeting her preparations.
Her tongue-in-cheek prep list includes an astute study of game tape, making kale smoothies for strength to pray and cheer for the Bengals Sunday, collecting her must-have items including her Bengal rosary, a serious workout with orange hand weights to build endurance to sustain intense cheering for the nuns Super Bowl party, and sitting in her winning chair visualizing a victory for her team.
While she says there was initially some pushback on the Bengals gear, her joy won over other members of the community and now her sisters and a number of parishioners are solidly behind Team Bengals.
Sister Mary loves football. And she finds lessons for the heart at the heart of the Bengals' story, which she is sharing in interviews with radio stations, TV reporters, bloggers, Twitter and newspapers following the AFC game.
From the players, she sees the value of focus, perseverance and being in the moment. From the fans, she points to the joy, the beauty of the unity of emotion, the binding together that comes from rooting for a common outcome. She's praying for a Super Bowl win for the Bengals on Sunday, but she's also praying for both teams to play their best.
Sister Mary makes two appearances in The Enquirer's widely seen video of fan reactions to the AFC win and Super Bowl berth. And the sisters get the last word in the video, as well. "Amen. Amen, Sister Mary. Amen, Girl."
The tweets were a big hit. Sister Miriam said nuns can seem mysterious to some people, who are fascinated with seeing nuns do "normal" things. The exposure of Heidland's tweets is highlighting the work the community's sisters do in Corpus Christi and on other mission fields.
So Sunday, hope for more high fives. More fist pumps. And another victory dance.
"Amen. Amen, Sister Mary. Amen, Girl."
