Sister M. Hyacinth Flynn, IHM
Sister M. Hyacinth Flynn, IHM, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary died on Saturday, September 28, 1895 at Saint Ceclia Academy in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
She was born in 1836 in Ireland, and given the name Harriet. She entered the IHM Congregation in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1868, received the religious habit on December 3, 1868, and made profession of her vows on November 22, 1870 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania.
Sister Hyacinth served as a teacher at Laurel Hill Academy in Susquehanna Depot, PA; Saint Cecilia Academy in Scranton, PA; and Saint John the Evangelist School in Pittston, PA.
Interment is at Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Memorial contributions may be made to support the retired IHM Sisters c/o the IHM Sisters Retirement Fund, IHM Center, 2300 Adams Avenue, Scranton, PA 18509.
"On the sixth of August, 1871, Bishop O'Hara assembled those fifteen Sisters at Laurel Hill Academy and conducted for them there the exercises of the annual retreat. At the close of the retreat, he unfolded to them his plan concerning a new foundation. He exhorted them to take up the cross of separation from their mother house, assuring them that God, Who is ever watchful for His own would repay their sacrifice and take care of them. At the same time, he left the choice of remaining in the new foundation or returning to Reading, to the individual Sisters. Three of the Sisters elected to return. The other twelve signified to the Bishop their willingness to remain in the diocese and placed themselves under his jurisdiction. They were Sister M. Joseph, Sister M. Agatha, Sister M. Henrietta, Sister M. Benedict, Sister M. Genevieve, Sister M. Xavier, Sister M. Rose, Sister M. Francis, Sister M. Anastasia, Sister M. Borgia, Sister M. Hyacinth, and Sister M. Casimir. Laurel Hill Academy was made a temporary mother house and novitiate. Sister M. Joseph, at that time superior at Pittston, was appointed by Bishop O'Hara as Mother Superior of the new foundation."
Saint Cecilia Academy, Scranton, Pennsylvania
"The building was a two-story frame structure, nearer to Linden Street than the present convent which is diagonally opposite the Cathedral. The house was opened and blessed on the feast of the Visitation, July 2, 1872, and named Saint Cecilia Academy. Mother Joseph opened the house. With her were Sister M. Hyacinth as Sister-assistant, Sister M. Casimir as bursar, and Sister M. Aloysius as mistress of novices, Sister M. Francis, and Sister M. Genevieve. On September 8th, the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, the novitiate was transferred from Susquehanna and Saint Cecilia's became the mother house and novitiate of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the Scranton Diocese. On September 26th the Academy was opened as a resident and day school."
" On the eve of Saint Michael's Feast in 1895, Sister M. Hyacinth, who had been superior at Saint John's, Pittston, for many years, died full of years and merit."
Excerpted from The Sisters of the I.H.M.: The Story of The Founding of The Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and Their Work In The Scranton Diocese by Sister M. Immaculata Gillespie, IHM, P.J. Kenedy & Sons, NY, 1921, pp. 139, 145, 272
