Jubilarian Sister Antonine Biven

Sister Antonine Biven, known to her family as Mildred Louise, was born and raised in the west end of Louisville. She was educated by Ursuline Sisters at St. George grade school, Ursuline Academy and Ursuline College. As a child, she studied piano. In eighth grade and into high school, she was encouraged to learn the E-flat saxophone so she could play in her school bands. Her senior year, Ursuline Academy classmates pooled their money to rent Memorial Auditorium so she could give a piano concert. She memorized and performed seven difficult pieces for the event! Other students learned one piece each to perform in between her performances. On a bus ride home, someone sitting nearby noticed her sheet music and asked, “Do you play?” Mildred Louise answered, “A little.”

As a postulant, she played pop songs for her classmates. The mother superior did not approve. Sister Antonine recalls, “[Sister] Bernadine Nash watched at the door. When she heard Mother coming, she’d signal, and I’d start playing ‘Mother at Your Feet Kneeling.’ ”

Sister Antonine attributes her calling to Sister Mary Laurentia Foley and her own mother, Lillian Elizabeth Biven. In her early years as a Sister, she was reassigned after short periods. “I thought they were bringing me back to reform me,” laughed Sister Antonine, recalling the story. “But I didn’t ask, ‘Why?’ ” When she was called to return to Louisville after five years teaching music in Jackson, Mississippi, the pastor drove all the way to Louisville to ask the Sisters to reconsider. “They did not,” recalled Sister Antonine. Later, she learned the shortened assignments were due to her talents as a teacher. She was needed elsewhere and often reassigned.

Sister Antonine earned two master’s degrees: one in music from Notre Dame University and a second in religious education from Loyola University New Orleans. Sister Antonine served parishes in Louisville, Columbia, South Carolina, and Jackson, Mississippi, as a music teacher, band leader and arranger of operettas for students to perform. In Louisville, she also served as music director for St. Helen and Our Lady of Lourdes parishes.

Sister Antonine taught and inspired hundreds of students over the years and mentored many of the Ursuline community’s novices. She also served her community on three different Leadership Teams.

St. Mary Catholic Church, in Maryville, Kentucky, where she and Sister Anne Mary Lochner served together for 11 years, was her favorite assignment. “I used ALL my talents there,” said Sister Antonine. “We did prayer services, family ministry and religious education.” Many from the parish have stayed in touch with her over the years, sending photos and news. Professional musician Bruce Mattingly, of New York City, attributes his success to Sister Antonine.

When Catholic churches in Louisville began to renovate according to the new rite of architecture, Sister Antonine was asked to help by talking with parishioners about their concerns. “I listened with an understanding heart,” smiled Sister Antonine. “For many, this was very difficult and emotional.”

Sister Antonine was also treasurer of the community’s former “Hospitality House” for women who were discerning a vocation to religious life. She now serves the community as an apostolate of prayer. She enjoys talking with the service people who pick up their trash, bring the mail, or deliver packages from Amazon. She knows each of them by name, including those who fill in for them while the regulars are out. Her mission in life is to “act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with God.” Mi 6:8