Born December 8, 1896, in Elizabethtown, Ky., Catherine was the daughter of William and Florence Thomas Castile. The Castile family moved to Stithton when Catherine was 6 years old. Her formal education began at Stithton Public School. The Ursulines from Mount Saint Joseph opened St. Patrick School in Stithton in 1913, and Catherine attended school there. She commuted daily by train to attend the public high school in Vine Grove. Catherine entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph. After a six-month postulancy, she received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Mary Rudolph on August 5, 1918.
Sister Mary Rudolph began her teaching apostolate at St. Ann School in Howardstown, Ky., and continued teaching the upper grades and high school classes in the parochial and public schools in Kentucky that were staffed by the Mount Saint Joseph Ursulines: St. Mary, Calvary, and Louisville (St. Columba). Sister was off duty at Mount Saint Joseph in 1931-1936. In the fall semester of 1936, Sister tutored the children of the black family who lived on the farm. She spent the spring semester and the following year at Sorgho. Other assignments in Kentucky took her to Flaherty, St. Charles-Marion County, Fredericktown, St. Francis and Mayfield. In 1947, she taught in Paul, Neb., for one year, returned to Kentucky and taught at St. Columba in Louisville, St. Raphael, Knottsville (Mary Carrico), St. Raphael, Leitchfield (St. Paul), and New Haven. She had cataract surgery in 1965, and resumed teaching in 1966 at St. Catherine High School in New Haven. She retired from classroom teaching in 1967 and returned to Mary Carrico Convent in Knottsville visiting the sick and shut-ins in rest homes, private homes, and hospitals. In 1971, Sister was off duty at the Motherhouse for five years. In 1976, she returned to Knottsville and, as long as health permitted, lived in the convent. She felt at home there, having lived there so many years.
She came back to the Motherhouse in 1978. For a few years she was able to enjoy the many activities provided for the senior Sisters and making crafts for the annual picnic. At age 91, all her energies spent, she passed away on September 30, 1988. Father Bernard Powers, chaplain, and a former pupil, Father Irvin Mouser, celebrated her funeral Mass on October 2, 1988. Sister’s remains are laid to rest in the convent cemetery.