Lorena Philomena, the fourth child of Robert Joseph and Mary Ann Fischer Fleischmann, was born on May 28, 1909, in Poseyville, Ind. Her journey of faith began three days later with her baptism at St. Francis de Sales Church, Poseyville.
Her father died of tuberculosis when she was only one year old. Her mother remarried and the family moved to Browns Valley, Ky. The family lived five miles from school and church on an unpaved road, which was frequently impassable. In the winter, heated bricks placed at their feet in the buggy kept them from freezing. In warmer weather, they were happy to go by horseback. On Sundays, if the roads were impassible, the family walked across the fields to St. Anthony Church. It was almost unthought of to miss Sunday Mass. Lorena liked to work in the garden or fields rather than do housework, so did not learn to cook until she was sent to Raywick, Ky., her second mission, where she took her turn preparing meals with the three Sisters residing in the convent.
She began her elementary education at St. Anthony School, Browns Valley in 1917, and continued there through grade 11. Her last year of high school was spent at the Mount Saint Joseph Academy.
In the fall of 1929, Lorena entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph. She received the habit and the name Sister Robert Angela in August 1930. After professing First Vows in August 1932, Sister was sent to St. Columba, Louisville to teach primary grades. Other assignments in Ursuline‑staffed schools in Kentucky were: Raywick, Bardwell, Curdsville, Holy Cross, Princeton, Louisville (St. James and St. Ignatius), Princeton, St. Alphonsus, Lyndon, Fredericktown, St. Francis, and Hardinsburg.
In 1978, she resigned from teaching, and joined other Ursulines residing at St. Boniface, Louisville, as a volunteer at the Franciscan Soup Kitchen, and in outreach to the poor and elderly homebound of the area. In 1988, Sister moved to St. Angela Home and worked as a volunteer with the Red Cross Bloodmobile, took Holy Communion to the homebound and in hospitals, and assisted with educational programs at St. Angela Education Center.
In 1992, she retired to the Motherhouse and resided in Paul Volk Hall. Shortly thereafter, she moved to the infirmary. She was one of the original group of Sisters to move into the new health care facility, Saint Joseph Villa, in June 2002. Her diabetic condition necessitated the amputation of the left leg. She accepted this suffering with her characteristic resignation and cheerfulness.
June 22, 2003, God called her to join the Ursuline saints in heaven. Father Jerry Riney, a former pupil, celebrated the funeral Mass on Wednesday morning, June 25, 2003. Sister’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery.