Sister Maria Philomena grew up in Northern California as the oldest child in a family of ten. She took final vows as a Slave of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25, 1998, and is now the sub-prioress of the Sisters, as well as the director of the Saint Augustine Institute of Wisdom.

Sister has taught religion, art, music, literature, history, English grammar & composition, drama, Latin, logic, and rhetoric at the high school level.

Sister Maria Philomena has penned a number of articles for From The Housetops magazine and Catholicism.org.