“I have tried to live each day in deep gratitude.”
Sister Mary Aquin Flaherty (Mary Bridget) was born July 8, 1921, in Dumbarton, Scotland, the only child of Thomas and Mary Lavelle Flaherty. The family traveled to America, and Mary Bridget attended Saint Veronica School and then Cathedral High School, both in Manhattan. She worked for two years while attending evening classes at Hunter College before entering the Sisters of Charity on September 8, 1942.
Sister Mary Aquin earned a BS in History from College of Mount Saint Vincent, Bronx, and an MA in American History as well as an MA in Asiatic History from Saint John’s University, Queens. She later earned New York State permanent certification in Social Studies.
Sister Mary Aquin served sixty-one years in the ministry of education as both an elementary and high school teacher. Her first fifteen years of ministry were in elementary education at Saint Joseph, Yonkers; Ascension, Saint Brigid, and Saint Bernard, in Manhattan. For the next twelve years she taught Social Studies at Bishop McDonnell High School, Brooklyn, and her alma mater, Cathedral High School. She returned to elementary education at Saint Bernard, Manhattan, for the next twenty-three years, and then became Coordinator of Religious Education for Saint Bernard Parish for four years.
During a period when Sister Aquin was the caregiver for her mother, she worked as a per diem teacher at Public School 71 in the Bronx. This experience provided a direction for her services when she retired at Mount Saint Vincent Convent in 2005. For ten years she volunteered as a substitute teacher in the elementary schools of the Archdiocese of New York. Her lessons often included descriptions of the lands and traditions of Scotland, Ireland, and Halifax, Canada, along with the living faith expressions of the people, particularly their devotion to the Eucharist. Sister Aquin’s travels enabled her to enrich the students, especially with “spreading the Good News by travel-story parables.”
After residing at Mount Saint Vincent Convent for thirteen years, Sister Aquin joined the Sisters at Kittay Senior Apartments, Bronx, in 2018. Until her final days, she entertained listeners with stories about her family and the travelers she met along her journeys. Those she worked and lived with will remember her kindness, happiness, and enthusiasm for life. In her words, “I have tried to live each day in deep gratitude.” And she did just that until her death on January 29, 2020, at her residence in Kittay.
Sister Aquin, may our Lady, for whom you had a special devotion, be your traveling companion from this life to your welcome by her son, Jesus, to life eternal.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be live-streamed on Tuesday, February 4, at 10:30 am. Click on the link to join us. https://venue.streamspot.com/217aa3db
Date of Death
January 29, 2020
Age
98
Wake
Mount Saint Vincent Convent
Assembly Room
6301 Riverdale Ave., Bronx, NY
Tuesday, February 4, 2020, 9 a.m.
Reflection/Sharing: 10:30 a.m.
Mass of Christian Burial
Mount Saint Vincent Convent
Assembly Room
Tuesday, February 4, 2020, 11 a.m
Burial
St. Joseph Cemetery, Yonkers, NY
Missions
Archdiocese of New York
- St. Joseph, Yonkers
1944–45, Teacher, Gr. 1 - Ascension, Manhattan
1945–54, Teacher, Gr. 1 - St. Brigid, Manhattan
1954–58, Teacher, Gr. 1 - St. Bernard, Manhattan
1958–59, Teacher, Gr. 4
1976–80, Teacher, Language Arts
1980–85, Teacher, Gr. 7
1985–92, Teacher, Gr. 8
1992–97, Teacher, Gr. 1
1999–03, CCD Coordinator - Cathedral H.S., Manhattan
1967–71, Teacher, Social Studies - St. Bernard/St. Francis Xavier, Manhattan
1997–99, Remedial reading and math - Archdiocesan Catholic Schools
2003–05, Substitute Teacher
2005–15, Volunteer Substitute Teacher - Mount Saint Vincent Convent, Bronx
2005–18, Prayer, Service, Witness - Kittay Senior Apartments, Bronx
2018–20, Prayer, Service, Witness
Diocese of Brooklyn
- Bishop McDonnell Memorial HS, Brooklyn
1959–67, Teacher, Social Studies
Eternal rest dear Sister. What a fabulous woman.❤️
Dear Sister Aquin,
You were my home room and civics teacher in 1961. In the past few years you flitted in and out of my mind. Bless you for all you nurtured in us.
May she rest in peace. Condolences to her friends & family.
May her soul Rest In Peace. She was a very dear friend of mine and was at my moms side when dying with cancer. I traveled with Sr. Aquin to various places. Yes indeed she always had a heart filled with gratitude.
May the angels lead her home into her eternal reward .
I know she is definitely praying for us.
Love,
Fr. Peter Penton
Hi Fr. Peter, wow, coincidence, the next day was my birthday, and my mother passed at the age of 98, on ST. John The Baptist, June 24. I well remember Sister Aquin, in our Parish School Saint Bernard. As my mother did, Sister Aquin, just entered trough the gates of Eternal Life.
Thank you, Sr. Aquin for all you’ve done. You were my first grade teacher. I have many wonderful and vivid memories of all that you taught and shared with me. I have thought of you plenty throughout the years and now pray for your safe return home.
Sister Aquin, I was in your junior year history class at Bishop McDonnell in 1962. You were so bright and cheerful, kind and smart, and you brought out the best in us. I’ve never forgotten you.
Thank you Sr. Mary for all your prayers, kind words, and your heart of gold. I’ll always remember the good times we shared riding to and from school and Montauk. God bless you always! Rest In Peace.
May you rest in eternal peace. Thank you for your life of service and devotion. You taught my brother in first grade at Ascension School.
R.I.P. SWEET SISTER
Everyday you showed what Christian love is really about through you smiles and laughter, your compassion and concern,your warmth and kindness. You were a gift from God to all who knew and loved you. God has blessed me with knowing you my dear friend!
Sister Mary was a blessing to know. Her friendship was valuable to me. I appreciated her prayers greatly. I am glad she loved the shawl and slippers I had given her. May she rest in eternal peace.
I had Sr. Aquin as my first grade teacher in Ascension School in the school year 1946-7. She was a wonderful teacher that I have never forgotten. She was able to control a class of about 60 kids and still teach us basics while preparing us to make our first Penance and receive our First Holy Communion.
I remember her lining us up in the Ascension School basement to head over to Church for our First Holy Communion when one of my classmates headed to the water fountain for a sip of water. Sr. Aquin moved so fast to stop him in his tracks that she could possibly have been called the original flying nun (remember that the rules then were much stricter and we weren’t even allowed to have a drop of water after midnight).