Sister Eileen always had a love for and a vocation to serve the elderly, especially those in need. 

Sister Eileen Marie Gallagher was born August 23, 1940, in Jersey City, New Jersey. She was one of three children-two daughters and a son born to William and Delia Canning Gallagher. Eileen attended Ascension Elementary School and Cathedral High School, both in Manhattan. After graduation in 1958, Eileen entered the Little Sisters of the Poor, an international Congregation dedicated to the care of the sick and infirmed elderly. At Profession, she received the religious name Sister Augustine of the Passion. During her years with the Little Sisters of the Poor, Sister Augustine received a License as a Practical Nurse and served in Homes for the Elderly of the Little Sisters in several states.

In 1982, she petitioned, through the Office of the Vicar for Religious in the Archdiocese of New York, to transfer her vows to the Sisters of Charity of New York. Upon completion of this process, she entered the three-year Transfer Program of the Sisters of Charity and formally transferred vows in October 1986. During the transfer process, Sister Eileen completed studies for her RN at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. She later received a BSN in Nursing from Dominican College in Orangeburg, New York, an MSN in Gerontology from College of New Rochelle, and a Certificate of Studies in Thanatology.

Sister Eileen served as a staff nurse in Saint Joseph’s Hospital (later Medical Center) in Yonkers, fifteen years as a Community Home Health Nurse for Schervier Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in the Bronx, and fifteen years as Director of Nursing in Mount Saint Vincent Convent. During these years, she enjoyed working with the students from the nursing department of the College (now University) of Mount Saint Vincent. In 2019, she retired from full-time service. Sister Eileen died on May 21, 2024, in Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx in her sixty-sixth year as a vowed religious.

Sister Eileen always had a love for and a vocation to serve the elderly, especially those in need. As a high school student, she volunteered in the Home the Little Sisters of the Poor maintained in Manhattan. The complete dedication and compassionate service of the sisters drew her to enter the Congregation. With prayer and consultation, she continued her dedication to the sick and elderly with the Sisters of Charity of NY, the congregation her sister, Mary, entered in 1962.

From her earliest days as a religious, Sister Eileen was recognized as intelligent, well-organized, and a very capable nurse. Her life was one of dedication and joy serving others.

Into your hands, O God, we entrust our Sister Eileen. In this life you embraced her with your tender love. Deliver her now from all fears and bid her enter the eternal love and joy you have promised.