Katrina was an only child, born Jan. 10, 1849, to Henry and Katrina Bloemer of Louisville, Ky. She attended St. Martin Elementary School. The Ursuline teachers prepared her for Ursuline Academy in Louisville where she was given the advantages of a classical and Christian education. At age 15, she entered the novitiate of the Ursuline Sisters of the Immaculate Conception in Louisville. On February 9, 1864, Katrina received the Ursuline habit, the fifteenth young woman to receive the habit of this young Ursuline community only six years away from its Straubing, Germany roots. She was given the name Sister Mary Augustine.
Sister Mary Augustine’s first teaching assignment was under the supervision of Mother Pia Schoenhofer at Ursuline Academy in Louisville. Five years after profession of vows, Sister Augustine was appointed mistress of novices. Sister was sent to Mount Saint Joseph Academy in 1878. She remained for 12 years as director of education, a skillful organizer and effective disciplinarian. In 1890, she returned to the Motherhouse in Louisville and held a community office and teaching positions there for seven years. At the request of Bishop William George McCloskey in 1897, she was again assigned to Mount Saint Joseph Academy. Sister Augustine was a courageous pioneer, a successful administrator and builder, and a scholarly teacher. Nothing interfered with her energy for teaching. Despite the responsibilities of superior and administrator of the Academy, she reserved for herself at least one class to teach ‑‑ German. One of her early students at the Academy, Mary Leona Willett, entered the Ursuline community, received the name Sister Aloysius, and returned to teach in the Academy. The combined vision and deep spiritual kinship of these two talented educators gave a distinct quality to the school and laid the foundation for an independent community of Ursuline Sisters.
As an only child, Sister Augustine received the undivided devotion of her parents. Their generous goodwill and financial contributions proved to be providential gifts in the pioneering days and the early years of expansion of Mount Saint Joseph Academy.
Sister Augustine died on March 28, 1906. Following the funeral Mass on April 2, Sister Augustine’s remains were taken to the cemetery east of the pines for burial. In 1910, her remains were moved to the new cemetery on the east campus.