Sister Mary Bonaventure Dunnigan, IHM

Sister Mary Bonaventure Dunnigan, IHM, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary died on Tuesday, February 27, 1894, at St. Cecilia’s Convent in Scranton, PA.

She was born in 1841 in Philadelphia, PA, and given the name Mary. She was the daughter of the late Patrick and Mary Mann Dunnigan. She entered the IHM Congregation at St. Joseph’s Novitiate in Susquehanna, PA, in 1859, and received the religious habit on November 24, 1859.

Sister Mary Bonaventure served as the mistress of novices for the IHM Congregation from 1875 to 1878.

She served as a teacher at the following schools: St. Mary Parochial School in Providence, RI; St. Joseph School in Williamsport, PA; and Holy Rosary School in Scranton, PA, in 1882. Sister also served as superior at St. Rose’s Convent in Carbondale, PA.

The funeral will be Thursday, March 1 at 10:00 a.m. at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton, PA, followed by interment at Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton, PA.

“To Sister M. Bonaventure, who died February 27, 1894, the call was welcome for she was a great sufferer. Sister M. Bonaventure, who was Miss Mary Dunnigan, was born in Philadelphia in 1841. At the age of eighteen she entered the novitiate at Saint Joseph’s. She was in Philadelphia at the time of the foundation of the Scranton Diocese, but at the retirement of Sister M. Aloysius as mistress of novices, Sister Bonaventure came from Philadelphia to take her place. After serving the community as mistress of novices for three years, she was appointed superior at Saint Rose’s. One who lived in close intimacy with her said: “Her good deeds, her examples of purity, piety, and charity will live as long as this generation remembers her sweet face and her kind words of encouragement.” Sister Bonaventure died at Saint Cecilia’s and her funeral was held from Saint Peter’s Cathedral. The funeral sermon was preached by Very Reverend Father Finnen, V. G.”

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. 272