Mauritia was the daughter of John and Della Mae Cecil Edelen, born January 23, 1912, in Louisville, Ky. Except for her senior year, Mauritia attended Holy Cross School in Holy Cross, beginning in the first grade. She enrolled in Mount Saint Joseph Academy for her senior year. After she graduated in 1931, Mauritia spent a year in training at St. Anthony Hospital Nursing School in Louisville. When she was 20 years old, she entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph. She received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Mauritia, March 18, 1933.
Sister Mauritia prepared for the teaching apostolate. All through her 42 years of teaching, Sister Mauritia taught the primary grades. St. Denis School at Fancy Farm, Ky., was her first assignment for two years. In 1935, Sister was missioned to Nebraska and taught at Wynot for two years and three years at Paul. She came back to Kentucky and spent three years at Wax before returning to Nebraska in 1944 to teach at St. Mary in Nebraska City. In 1946, she returned to Kentucky and taught at Rome, and at St. Joseph in Owensboro. She returned to New Mexico in 1949 and taught at Blanco for one year. She came back to Kentucky and taught at Central City, Clementsville, Calvary, Hodgenville, Jeffersontown, Holy Cross and St. Bernard in Louisville. She spent the spring semester of 1971 at San Fidel, N.M. Her last teaching assignments were at Peonia and Raywick, Ky. It was during her assignment to Paul, Neb., that Sister Mauritia professed her final vows on March 19, 1938, in the chapel of St. Bernard Academy in Nebraska City. Sister resigned from teaching in 1977 and spent three years at St. Boniface Retirement Center in Louisville, visiting the sick and caring for the needs of the elderly in that area of the city. Sister Mauritia is remembered for her gentleness as a teacher of little children and her compassionate concern for others.
Because of diminishing health of mind and body, Sister Mauritia retired to the Motherhouse in 1980. She died on October 17, 1988. On October 19, Father Anthony Shonis, chaplain, celebrated the funeral Mass. Sister Mauritia’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery.