We Say Goodbye to Sr. Veronica Landi
Sister M. Veronica Landi, OP, a Dominican Sister for 74 years whose teaching ministry spanned nearly six decades and touched countless lives across Northern California, died peacefully on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, at the age of 95. A gifted educator, a woman of quick wit and quiet joy, and a lifelong world traveler, Sister Veronica leaves behind a legacy of faith, learning, and happiness generously shared.
Born Shirley Landi on October 12, 1930, in Stockton, California, she was the only child of Samuele Landi of Lucca, Italy, and Hana Veronica MacSweeney Landi of San Francisco. Her parents were both wonderful cooks and incredibly funny people who poured all their attention into their little girl, turning even ordinary moments — lunch, bedtime — into games. Closing every letter Shirley received from her parents was the family mantra, “Be happy!” She kept those letters her whole life, along with the lesson inside them: that a person is responsible for her own happiness, and that learning to be happy in this life is part of preparing for eternal happiness.
Shirley spent her earliest school years in Stockton at St. Agnes and then St. Mary’s High School, taught by the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael. When her family moved to San Francisco during her sophomore year, she continued with the Dominicans at St. Rose Academy, graduating with the Class of 1948, and then went on to Dominican College in San Rafael, where she earned a BA in History, later completing an MS in Education through summer sessions at Dominican. Having known the Sisters as teachers, mentors, and friends for nearly her whole life, and having long known she wanted to be a teacher herself, entering the congregation felt less like a leap than a natural next step. She entered the convent in 1950, and took the name Veronica, and made her profession on March 8, 1952.
Sister Veronica’s ministry in education spanned close to sixty years — more than forty of them in Catholic elementary schools, followed by fourteen at St. Patrick’s Seminary. She began at St. Raphael Elementary in San Rafael in 1952, teaching third grade, and in 1955 was among the founding sisters of Our Lady of Mercy School in Daly City, a beginning she always remembered with great affection. She later returned to Our Lady of Mercy as principal, serving in that role for eight years. Between those two chapters came classrooms at Annunciation in Stockton and St. Anne’s in Lodi, and a return to Annunciation, where she taught eighth grade and served as principal. She then came back to Marin, teaching fifth grade at St. Raphael Elementary from 1977 to 1980 and sixth grade at St. Isabella School in Terra Linda from 1980 to 1985, followed by ten years at Saint Clare Elementary in Santa Clara.
In her mid-sixties, Sister Veronica did something quietly remarkable: she took a sabbatical, enrolled in night classes at UC Santa Cruz, and earned an ESL certificate. In 1996, she began teaching English as a Second Language to seminarians at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park — young men from every corner of the world — a ministry she loved, and continued until 2010.
Sister Veronica lived through the great changes in religious life after Vatican II with characteristic humor and style, meeting the shift to a short habit and abbreviated veil by acquiring a few wigs and a foam head to study which one might be most flattering, and in time developing a lovely wardrobe. She was also genuinely energized by the post-conciliar Church, finding it a great gift to share responsibility for the congregation’s programs, policies, and decisions. Those who lived and worked with her knew her as fun to be with, easy-going, and never showy — a quiet presence who took everything in and could sum up a whole situation with a dry, perfectly timed observation.
Sister Veronica was a world traveler, and her photo albums told the story: China, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Kenya, Tanzania, Costa Rica, Greece, Turkey, Italy, and across the United States and Canada. But the crown of all her travels, taken with Sister Thaddeus O’Brien, was a hot-air balloon ride over Kenya, drifting above herds of giraffes and zebras.
Her ring motto, “To direct everything to Christ,” guided how she lived her religious life. Reflecting near the end of her years, she wrote: “Having enjoyed a rich and rewarding career as an elementary school teacher and principal in several locations, and then serving as an ESL instructor at St. Patrick’s Seminary, I am grateful. My prayer life and my ministries have fulfilled me. The sisters I have lived with and with whom I have worked have inspired me. I have also lived by another motto, one instilled in me by my parents from a young age — be happy! I believe we are each responsible for our own happiness, and that is important in preparing for eternal happiness.”
Sister Veronica will be remembered for her wit, her warmth, and her gift for turning even the smallest moments into something to be happy about. She had directed everything, faithfully, to Christ. And along the way, she had been happy.
Sister Veronica is predeceased by her parents, Samuele and Hana Landi, and is survived by multiple cousins and her Dominican Sisters.
A Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday, August 28, 2026, at the Gathering Space of the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael (1520 Grand Avenue, San Rafael, CA 94901) at 10:00 a.m. A reception will follow.
Memorial gifts in Sister Veronica’s honor may be made to the Care of the Senior Sisters Fund, Dominican Sisters of San Rafael, Advancement Office, 1520 Grand Avenue, San Rafael, CA 94901 or online at www.sanrafaelop.org/get-involved/ways-to-give
Education Ministry
• St. Raphael Elementary, San Rafael 1952-55 (Teacher, Grade 3)
• Our Lady of Mercy, Daly City 1955-59 (Teacher, Grade 2)
• Annunciation, Stockton 1959-64 (Grades 2, 5)
• St. Anne’s, Lodi 1964-65 (Teacher, Grade 6, 7)
• Annunciation, Stockton 1966-69 (Teacher, Grade 8; Principal)
• Our Lady of Mercy, Daly City 1969-77 (Principal)
• St. Raphael Elementary, San Rafael 1977-80 (Teacher, Grade 5)
• St. Isabella School, San Rafael 1980-85 (Teacher, Grade 6)
• Saint Clare Elementary School, San Jose 1985-95 (Teacher)
• St. Patrick’s Seminary, Menlo Park 1996-2010 (ESL Teacher)