(CNN) — In one week, eight nuns who lived at Notre Dame de Elm Grove in Wisconsin died from COVID-19. All of them, in their own way, were mentors in the community.
The Notre Dame School Sisters confirmed the deaths to CNN affiliate WTMJ, adding that the sisters died of complications caused by the virus.
“Each of our sisters is really important,” Sister Debra Sciano, provincial leader of the School Sisters of the Central Pacific Province of Notre Dame, told the news station. “Not just for us, but we feel like they have touched thousands of lives that we will never realize.”
The community was first established as an orphanage but later became a home for elderly and infirm sisters, according to the School Sisters of Notre Dame website.
The deaths come several months after six nuns died of COVID-19 at the Convent of Our Lady of the Angels in Greenfield, which serves retired nuns from the School Sisters of San Francisco and the School Sisters of Notre Dame.
The congregation said it has confirmed cases among the nuns living in the facility, but did not disclose the number of infections, according to the affiliate.
He added that the sisters have been following CDC guidelines, including wearing masks, physical distancing and regular hand washing, the station reported.
“We are being extremely careful in terms of bringing their meals to the rooms and they cannot congregate,” Sciano told the affiliate. “More tests twice a week to detect the virus.”
Among the nuns who died from the virus was Sister Rose Feess, known for her “ability to teach, especially her attention to grammar and writing, her faith, her sharp wit and her love of cats,” wrote the Notre School. Dame from Milwaukee in a Facebook post.
Another, Sister Lillia Langreck, had been “heavily involved in social and racial justice efforts” for the past 60 years, according to the affiliate, including the Milwaukee marches for just houses and integrated transportation.
CNN’s Artemis Moshtaghian contributed to this report.
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