Eight Catholic nuns died in the past week after contracting COVID-19 in a Wisconsin convent for retired nuns; four of them died on the same day, New York Post reported.

Sister Debra Marie Sciano, who lives at Notre Dame of Elm Grove in suburban Milwaukee, said the deaths were a tragic, the sisters’ advanced age notwithstanding.

One of the 88 sisters living at Elm Grove contracted the virus around Thanksgiving. Then, on Dec. 9, Sisters Rose M. Feess and Mary Elva Wiesner died.

Sister Dorothy MacIntyre died Dec. 11 and Sister Mary Alexius Portz died Sunday, Dec. 13, according to the website for the order that hosts the retirement home, the School Sisters of Notre Dame.

Four of the eight — Sisters Cynthia Borman, Joan Emily Kaul, Lillia Langreck and Michael Marie Laux — all died Dec. 14.

All of the women worked as educators, including Wiesner, who taught in Catholic elementary schools for more than 40 years and worked as gift shop coordinator at the home.

Some of the sisters served as missionaries, musicians, or peace and justice activists. One of the sisters was a published poet and another spent her summers working on an American Indian reservation in South Dakota.

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