Christina Gannon

Deceased Sisters

Christina Gannon - United States
06/05/1924 - 12/12/2021

Sister Christina was born in Toomore, Co Roscommon to John Gannon and Mary Catherine Hanglow on May 6, 1924. She is the last surviving member of ten children - six boys and four girls. She remembered her parents as hardworking and spiritual with a deep faith, qualities which were imbibed by their children. Her oldest brother, John Joe, became an Oblate priest and two of her sisters, Mary and Veronica, became Marist Sisters. Christina had a great love and admiration for every member of her family and kept in touch with them.

Christina’s early education was at a National School about two miles from her home. From age four she walked there every day with her siblings and neighbors. Her high intelligence was evident at an early age when she was the recipient of a competitive county scholarship that enabled her to complete her Secondary education at Mercy Convent, Roscommon.

Prior to her completion of secondary school she felt God’s call to religious life. She had no hesitation in deciding on the Marists. She felt she may have been influenced by the fact that her sister Veronica was a novice in Carrick-on-Shannon and her other sister, Mary, (Joachim) was in Peckham. With hindsight, she knew that she made the right decision in choosing the Marist Congregation as her personality was more suitable to being Marist.

She entered Carrick Novitiate in 1941 and was professed in August 1943. She was then assigned to teach first grade in Tubbercurry. She recalled those years as a time of joy with God’s little ones. Then came the response to her desire to go Fiji; she was asked to go to St Prix by way of preparation. As well as taking French classes there, she prepared for perpetual vows which she professed in St Prix chapel in 1947. Shortly afterwards, she was asked by Mother Marie Joseph if she would consider going to Canada instead of Fiji. Christina was delighted with the choice. In the company of Mother General and Sister Bridie Woods, she left Southampton in August of 1947 en route to Halifax by ship. Following the sea voyage, she travelled over 400 miles to Parent by train and car. It was an exhausting trip of almost three weeks.

Sisters Christina and Bridie arrived in Parent just six months after the arrival of three American Marists who had arrived from France. This was the first foundation of Marist Sisters in Canada. Father Mazerolle, a saintly, ascetic pastor, invited them to stay at the Rectory with him. They were in very tight quarters that were not ideal, but it was the best that could be offered until more suitable accommodation was constructed. These were challenging years; the climate was cold, the food was different, and French was the spoken language of the people. But with household duties, study towards teacher certification and teaching, there was little time to think of the inconveniences.

After three years, another mission was opened in Green River, and Christina moved there with the same enthusiasm to be of service. Her next ministry which lasted for nine years was at the newly founded Mount St Mary's Orphanage Edmundston and confided to the Marist Sisters by Monsignor Conway. Then it was back to St Anne’s and from there to Thetford Mines, Quebec. In Thetford she taught at Andrew Johnson Protestant High School. This was a new and different experience that again offered its own challenges. Christina was remembered there as an excellent teacher who left a very positive mark on students and staff.

At this time, there was a surplus of teachers in Quebec and Christina had the foresight to see the necessity for trained teachers for children with special needs. She completed a Master’s in Education at McGill University in Montreal, and was hired to teach special needs children in the Montreal Schools for the next ten years. Most of the children in her class were culturally and educationally deprived and some of them came from homes where neither French nor English was spoken.

Christina had a special place in her heart for those deprived students. She was not a teacher who stood in front of her class at a distance; she was a compassionate friend who did all she could to understand her students’ difficulties, and challenged them, often with tough love, to go beyond what they thought they could do. She did not tell them she loved them because her love and care for every single student emanated from her, and her students knew it. She did not tell them she wanted them to succeed because her preparation for class, her individual attention, and her efforts to communicate with their parents spoke it all.

In 1985, Christina retired from teaching. She loved Canada and was filled with gratitude for her years there, so upon retirement, it was with mixed feelings and an open mind that she opted to transfer to the US Province. Another very positive experience came her way in her ministry at a bilingual parish in Detroit, Maria, Madre de la Iglesa. Here the population was mainly Mexican and Christina’s knowledge of Spanish and educational skills in dealing with children with language problems served her in good stead. She participated in parish activities, helped in a literacy program for adults, attended the Mexican devotions and developed a great devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Whenever she spoke of the parish, its pastor or its people, her admiration and esteem of them was tangible. And the parish and people responded similarly.

One could not give a full account of Christina’s life without mentioning her many years as local bursar. Her accounts were copperplate. At one stage she was living in an area where house robberies were common. Christina, to ensure the safety of her accounts, put her account books and check books in the trunk of her car in case someone should break into the house. She felt reassured. But after two nights the car was stolen and neither check books, nor account books, nor car were ever seen again.

Christina was a very private person, discreet about her personal and spiritual life and not easy to read. But by their fruits you shall know them. Those of us who lived with her witnessed a woman whose choice of religious congregation was not an accident, for living the Marist Spirit and being ‘hidden and unknown’ seemed to come naturally to her. She never overtly displayed her piety or devotions, and purposely avoided even a glimmer of the limelight. She was a woman of full commitment and dedication to her duty which was performed in a quiet and unassuming way. She was a woman of compassion, gentleness and kindness and voiced her regret when she thought she might have hurt another. She had an ability to accept things and people as they were. Her presence at the Eucharist, at the daily Office and community devotions, her recourse to Our Blessed Mother whenever she made a decision, as well as her love of being in the chapel in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament show what nourished her spiritual life. In spite of her shyness, or maybe because of it, Christina had a great sense of humor. And she was a great story teller. Hearing her accounts, especially from her early years in Canada, could keep her audience spellbound.

Christina was independent until a few weeks before her death; in those days especially she constantly expressed the wish “to go home”. It was only a week before her death that she no longer had the energy to get up and dress. She surrendered serenely to her situation and joined in the prayer that was recited at her bedside. And at the age of 97, on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in her typical style, Christina quietly and unobtrusively slipped into the arms of our loving God

Her funeral liturgy was celebrated at Holy Innocents-St Barnabas parish with the pastor, Father John Wynnycky, as celebrant. In his homily he spoke of Christina’s courage as a young woman leaving home and country to embark on a journey into the unknown. It must have been daunting but her deep faith and love of her Marist vocation sustained her. Christina, who stated many times that no one would attend her funeral because of her age, would have been surprised to see such a large crowd attend her Mass.

We laid her to rest at Holy Sepulchre in the company of the Marists from the U.S.

Deceased Sisters

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