This article was written by Sheila McCoy for the Morrison County Record
Aug 9, 2025
View the original article here.
Before he became Pope Leo XIV, Father Robert Prevost was a young Augustinian priest attending meetings in Chicago — and Sister Ardis Cloutier was there, taking the minutes.
Now preparing to celebrate her 95th birthday on Aug. 12, Cloutier, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, recalls those days with fondness and admiration for the man who would one day lead the Catholic Church.
“I remember asking him why he had taken a cab (from a gathering we had been at) and why he hadn’t asked someone for a ride,” she said, remembering one late-night encounter. “He said he didn’t want to take anyone away from the gathering, so he just called a cab. That was just how he was — kind and thoughtful.”
The two first met while Cloutier was working in Chicago as secretary to the principal at St. Rita’s High School. She had previously been executive director of Stauros USA, a Passionist organization dedicated to addressing suffering through spiritual and holistic support. Prevost had arrived from South America for a meeting, and Cloutier, responsible for recording the minutes, recalled one conversation clearly. “He asked me if I wanted to come to Peru, and I assured him I did not,” she said with a laugh.
Though her time working with now-Pope Leo XIV was just one chapter of her remarkable life, it remains a meaningful memory among decades of service, education and leadership.
A life rooted in faith
Cloutier was born Aug. 12, 1930, the only child of Wesley and Ardis (Marrow) Cloutier. Her mother died of complications from endocarditis when Ardis was just 4 years old. “I barely remember her,” Cloutier said. “One thing I remember the most is that she had freckles on her arms. I suppose it’s because she held me a lot.”
After her mother’s death, Cloutier spent a lot of time with both her paternal grandmother in Turton and her maternal grandmother in Langford, South Dakota. When her father remarried, she was sent at age 11 to attend St. Mary’s School in Zell, South Dakota, a boarding school run by the Benedictine Sisters. “Can you believe it was a boarding school for first through eighth grade?” she said. Cloutier said she didn’t realize as a child that she was living through the Great Depression. Her family was relatively secure — her grandfather owned a grocery store and her grandmother was well cared for.
Witness to history
She vividly remembers Dec. 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked. “We were in the living room and heard on the radio, ‘We break with a special announcement. The Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor,’” she said. “Then I knew Uncle Ernie would be going to war. I knew my dad wouldn’t — he was too old.” Though her uncle survived, she said he was never quite the same.
In 1943, the family moved to Fergus Falls, and Cloutier entered the public school system. It was her first experience outside of boarding school. “I was lonesome at first, but made friends quickly,” she said. Soon after, Franciscan Sisters ministering in Fergus Falls introduced the family to St. Francis High School in Little Falls. Cloutier transferred there and quickly felt at home.
A calling takes root
Her experience at St. Francis shaped both her career and her calling. While working in the X-ray department at St. Gabriel’s Hospital during high school — a job that helped offset tuition costs — she became interested in health care. She also developed a deep admiration for the sisters she lived among, and in her senior year, she entered the postulancy.
She joined the Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls on Aug. 12, 1948, taking the name Sister Mary Mario. In 1967, at her father’s request, she returned to using her baptismal name.
After high school, she studied X-ray technology and worked at St. Francis Hospital in Breckenridge. She later earned degrees in biology and chemistry from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, and completed further training in Madison, Wisconsin, becoming a registered medical technologist in 1957.
She returned to Breckenridge, where she worked as a lab supervisor and taught chemistry and microbiology to nursing students. After 27 years there, she transferred to St. Gabriel’s Hospital in Little Falls for six years. During that time, she twice served as president of the Minnesota Society for Medical Technology and held leadership positions in national organizations.
New missions, lasting impact
In 1984, Cloutier was asked to serve as community secretary for the Franciscan Sisters. Later, inspired by Sister Juanita’s love for Chicago, she enrolled at the Catholic Theological Union and earned a master’s degree in theological studies in 1990.
That same year, she was hired as executive director of Stauros USA in Chicago. Over nine years, she launched a quarterly publication, organized seminars on human suffering, and developed a Bible study program for persons with disabilities. Her work took her to Israel three times, and to conferences in Spain and Italy.
After returning to Little Falls, she was elected to the congregation’s leadership team. One of her greatest joys, she said, was working with the older sisters and attending their wakes and funerals. When her term ended, she returned to Chicago to work at St. Rita’s High School — where she would meet Father Robert Prevost.
A lasting presence
Now retired, Cloutier resides at the convent in Little Falls. Though her days of international travel and hospital work are behind her, she remains devoted to her community and continues to brighten the days of others through prayer, kind words or a handwritten note.
