Born on April 2, 1895, Alma Genevieve was one of 12 children of Martin and Genevieve Payne Knott of Rome, Ky. She received her education in the public schools of Daviess County. When Alma was 16 she entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph and following a 16-month postulancy, she received the Ursuline habit on November 21, 1912, and the name Sister Rosalia.
Sister Rosalia’s apostolate was the teaching of music in the elementary schools staffed by the Ursuline Sisters. Her early assignments took her to Clementsville, Ky., for one year and to Curdsville, Ky., for one year. She was then assigned to St. Paul School in Louisville where she taught for 10 years. During this time, Sister suffered a severe stroke from which she recovered sufficiently to continue teaching music. She taught one year at St. Joseph in Owensboro, and five years at St. Angela Home in Louisville before being assigned to Mount Saint Joseph in 1931, where she served as sacristan until 1958. In 1958, she returned to St. Angela Home for three years, serving as sacristan. She returned to the Motherhouse in 1961, but alternated, for short periods of time, between St. Leonard and St. Paul in Louisville.
Beginning in 1962, Sister enjoyed full retirement at Mount Saint Joseph. Although her health rapidly declined, she was seriously ill only during the last several weeks before she died on November 12, 1978. On November 14, Msgr. Bernard Powers, Father Anthony Ziegler, chaplain, Father Bernard Barnes OSM, celebrated the funeral Mass. Sister Rosalia’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery. Among her survivors was her Ursuline niece, Sister Mary Louise Knott.