60th First Vows
Sister Marguerite A. Tran
Birth name: TRAN Thi Man
Birthplace: North Vietnam
First profession: 1964
Final profession: 1971
Education: Bachelor’s in science and high school teaching certificate, Dalat University in Vietnam, 1971
Teaching certificate, Sydney University, Sydney, Australia
Bachelor’s in science, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri, 1982
Teacher’s certificate, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield, 1983
DAR Americanism Medal, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 1998
Master’s in pastoral ministry, Aquinas Institute of Theology, St. Louis, 2006
Service in the archdiocese: Service in St. Louis, Springfield and Kansas City, most recently as community leader and novice director in St. Louis, 1992-present
Service outside the archdiocese: Service in South Vietnam, 1964-75
Service in Australia, 1975-79
Service in Dioceses of Springfield-Cape Girardeau and Kansas City, Missouri, 1979-92
About Sister Marguerite A. Tran: God the Father has formed me, a normal child that I was. The Father has chosen North Vietnam as my birthplace, then safely carried me to the South. He called me to religious life in Congregation of Mary, Queen, and I just quietly rested safely in His secured arms without any worry. I took my first vows in 1964, when I was 18 years of age. The Motherhouse sent me to Australia in 1975 then to the United States in 1979 to establish a new foundation of our community in the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri. There, God opened my eyes, my heart and my mind about the richness and beauty of religious spiritualities all around. I appreciate the freedom to love, to serve and to worship God. The community also supports by letting me to continue earning degrees I needed to serve people in God’s name. I didn’t come to religious life to be a teacher, a formator or a leader… although I was a teacher, a formator and a leader. With all the permissions needed, in 1992 we opened a community and novitiate in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. I am currently the community leader and novice director. In God’s tender loving care I am growing still in life, in faith and vocation. There are numerous people who have touched me in a thousand different ways throughout my life. I thank you. One thing I beg: when my pilgrimage on earth is over, there will be my Savior Jesus Christ together with our Mother Mary would carry me “one way, non-stop” to the heavenly home to be with the Father. I know my shortcomings, but I confidently trust in the unconditional, merciful love that God has graced me with all my life. Religious life is what God chose for me from eternity. Now I live every minute of it in loving appreciation.
