Sweeny Russell.jpg

Left: Sr. Mary James Sweeney was mother general of the Immaculata, Pennsylvania, branch of the Immaculate Heart of Mary sisters, 1913-23, leading them through the period of the flu epidemic. Right: Born in Ireland, Sister of Mercy Mother Mary Baptist Russell traveled to San Francisco in 1854, where she nursed the sick through cholera epidemics and founded the first Catholic hospital on the West Coast. (Provided photos)