The death has occurred of Sister Mary Eugene (Eileen Hagan), Daughters of the Cross of Liege, Beech Park Convent, Beechwood Court, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin and formerly of Co. Tyrone, on 24th September 2023 – peacefully, in the attentive care of the staff of St. Lucy’s Ward, St.Vincent’s University Hospital, in her 98th year. Sadly missed by her sisters Ena, Isabel, nieces and nephews, her community in Beech Park and friends.

Reposing in the Convent chapel Thursday, 28th September, 6.00pm – 9.00pm. Funeral Mass at 11.00am on Friday, 29th September, followed by burial in Shanganagh Cemetery.

Eileen Hagan was born on Jan. 1, 1925. She was one of nine daughters and a son in a devout Catholic family. Her father, a carpenter by trade, also had a small farm, where the family lived.After attending elementary school in her home village, she went to a secondary school in Donaghmore, two miles away. The school was staffed by teachers from the Daughters of the Cross, primarily a teaching and nursing order founded in Liege, Belgium, with schools and hospitals throughout Europe.

It was during those years in high school that she decided she wanted to join the Daughters of the Cross.

“I knew I wanted to enter the order when I was 12 years old, but I waited until I was 17 to make my wishes known,” she said.

When she was 18, Sister Mary Eugene was among nine graduates of the school in Donaghmore who headed for the Daughters of the Cross novitiate south of London.