Born Oct. 20, 1890, in Beech Grove, Ky., Mary Isobel was the daughter of Benedict and Mary Lindsey McDaniel. She entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph when she was 16 years of age. Having waited for seven months, Mary Isobel received the Ursuline habit on May 31, 1907, and the name Sister Mary Benedict.
Sister Mary Benedict’s only assignment was Mount Saint Joseph. She made her perpetual vows on July 14, 1909. Sister Victoria Burnson, mother superior of the Ursuline Order in Louisville, received her vows as Rev. E.S. Fitzgerald presided. Sister Aloysius Willett was the local superior at Mount Saint Joseph.
Having lived nearly four years as an Ursuline, Sister Mary Benedict died on September 27, 1910, before Mount Saint Joseph became autonomous. She has no number in the MSJ Ursuline Order, but follows No. 32 as 32B. Following her Requiem Mass, Sister Mary Benedict was the first to be buried in “God’s Acre” on the hill east of the Mount Saint Joseph buildings.