Sister M. Rosina Byrne, IHM

Sister M. Rosina Byrne, IHM, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary died on Friday, November 10, 1939 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Carbondale, PA.

She was born on February 27, 1871 in Friendsville, PA, and given the name Mary C. She was the daughter of the late Christopher and Mary Anne Welch Byrne. She entered the IHM Congregation on September 8, 1898, received the religious habit on July 15, 1899, and made profession of her vows on July 27, 1901.

Sister Rosina served as a teacher at the following schools: Marywood Seminary in Scranton, PA; St. Cecilia Academy in Scranton, PA; St. Patrick School in White Haven, PA; and St. Patrick School in Olyphant, PA. She served as superior and principal at St. John the Evangelist School in Scranton, PA, and St. Mary School in Upper Marlboro, MD.

Sister Rosina also wrote the words to the Marywood College Alma Mater, to which Sister M. Felicitas Ryan, IHM wrote the music in 1918. She was a contributor to a book called Idyls of Lakeside, which is a collection of poems written by the children of the Byrne family.

She is preceded in death by two brothers, Peter A. and Martin M., and an infant sister, Margaret.

She is survived by two sisters, Hannah Coleman of Friendsville, PA, and Bridget O’Reilly of St. Joseph, PA; three brothers, Patrick J., Thomas V., and Christopher C. Jr., all of Friendsville, PA; and several nieces and nephews.

The funeral will be Monday, November 13 at 9:30 a.m. at St. Catherine’s Church in Moscow, PA. Interment will follow at St. Catherine’s Cemetery, Moscow. Friends may call at St. Agnes Place, Elmhurst, on Sunday after 2 p.m.

“Laurel Hill Academy has been prolific in vocations to the priesthood and the religious state. When in 1910 it celebrated the golden jubilee of its foundation the officers of the jubilee Mass were all graduates of the Academy. A distinguished body of Alumni, men and women, gathered to do honor to their alma mater. At the same time, a collection of poems, “Idyls of Lakeside,” written by one of the Alumnae, Sister M. Rosina of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, was published and dedicated to Laurel Hill Academy in honor of its golden jubilee. ”

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, p. 86