St. Mary’s Hospital, a ministry of the Sisters of Mercy and the oldest hospital in San Francisco, served as a nursing station during the 1918 flu pandemic. (Courtesy Mercy Heritage Center)
March 31, 2020
Catholic San Francisco
Sisters of Mercy served at more than 100 nursing stations through the country during the 1918 flu epidemic, including Mary’s Hospital in San Francisco, a ministry of the Mercy Sisters in Burlingame. The following are the names of Mercy Sisters who lost their lives serving during the outbreak. (Source: “Mercy Ministers from Coast to Coast: Sisters of Mercy Response to the Spanish Influenza Pandemic in the United States, 1918-1919,” a poster presented at the Archivists for Congregations of Women Religious Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2019. Thanks to Emily Reed-Jordan, Digital and Audiovisual Records Archivist, Mercy Heritage Center, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, Belmont, North Carolina).
Mary Mildred Gilroy - Mercy Hospital, Baltimore
Sister Mary Ann Carroll - St. Vincent’s Male Orphanage, Baltimore
Sister Mary Josephine Trichel - Served visiting sick of the community, Vicksburg, Mississippi
Sister Mary Teresita Sullivan - Served preparing meals for sick families, Trenton, New Jersey
Sister Mary Scholastica Mankel - Served Sacred Heart Catholic School, Lawrenceburg, Tennessee
Sister Mary Patricia McLaughlin - Served as district nurse, Scranton, Pennsylvania
Sister Mary Raphael O’Connor - Served Kentucky miners and families in remote town
Sister Mary Ligouri Dodds - St. Joseph’s Hospital, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Sister Mary Loretto Reddy - St. Joseph’s Orphanage, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Sister Mary Macrina Kinney - St. Jerome Hospital, Buffalo, New York
Sister Mary Annette Duffy - St. Paul’s Home (orphanage), Manchester, New Hampshire
Sister Mary Ignatius Hester - Mercy Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Sister Mary Catherine Mapes - St. Anthony Hospital, Pocatello, Idaho