In a homily in the Sacred Heart Church, Ballinagare, Co Roscommon, Bishop Christopher Jones recalled the life and work of Sr. Jacinta Cullinane, saying those present were celebrating not only her answer to the call of the Lord but also, and in a special way, the response to that call by a young girl who grew up in the forties and fifties.

"It was the Faith and the prayer life of her parents and family that fostered in her young heart an abiding love for God and a ready willingness to respond when she heard the call," Bishop Jones told the congregation.

In 1961 Sister Jacinta qualified as a primary teacher in Carysfort College in Dublin, returning to Sligo for her final profession in 1963.

"It was at this time that I first came to know Sister Jacinta personally," said Bishop Jones, adding that she was always so welcoming to meet, always full of energy and warmth.

Her first appointment was as primary teacher in the Convent of Mercy School, Pearse Road, Sligo.

During her years teaching there she worked at night at St Anne's Youth Centre, which is owned and funded by the Mercy Community.

Bishop Jones said that Sister Jacinta was still remembered in Sligo for her magnificent ministry among the poorest of the poor each night in that youth club.

"Young boys and girls very often deprived of love and care in their own homes experienced a sense of being wanted, being valued, being loved, a sense of their own self esteem and self-worth because of the care of Sr. Jacinta and her staff. She was a first class primary teacher but I would say her greatest work was in that Youth Centre," Bishop Jones said.

Illustrating what he meant, he told the story of how one day, downtown in Sligo, he met Jacinta who was walking.

The bishop continued: "Beside her was this big gangly fellow who could find himself in any company or on any road of life. He wanted to play a guitar and Jacinta was bringing him down town to buy one. I never heard how the music went after that but I was at the going away party for Sr. Jacinta on the night before she left Sligo. I remember being deeply moved when in the midst of the singsong, the big tall guy for whom she bought the guitar stood up, and with a deep and beautiful voice, sang for Jacinta 'Swing low, sweet chariot' to the music of his own guitar."

Jacinta Cullinane, born in 1935, was the fourth child of the late Michael and Catherine Cullinane.

Her oldest brother died at birth and her brother Mike died at the age of twelve. Her sister Gretta died four years ago. Jacinta has two brothers and two sisters living: Frank who is married with five children outside of Castlerea, Bartley married with five children living in Ballinagare, Teresa married with four children in Castleplunket, and Carmel married with five children whose loving husband died only a few weeks ago.

Bishop Jones recalled that back in the 1950s and 1960s, young people usually entered religious life at seventeen or eighteen years of age after leaving secondary school. However, Jacinta suffered much illness as a young girl.

Bishop Jones said she told him that it was while a patient in Cappagh Hospital that she began to hear in her heart the call of the Lord to religious life; the witness of the Sisters and staff in the hospital had a profound influence on her.

She studied as a boarder at Saint Peter's Secondary School, Athlone. After her Leaving Certificate in 1953, though still contemplating religious life, she was offered a job as receptionist in Carrickon-Shannon.

"I believe she is still remembered in the areas around Carrick-on-Shannon where she danced at maypoles, carnivals and in dance halls to the music of Mick Delahunty and the Clipper Carlton," said Bishop Jones, who added that from Carrick-on-Shannon, she went to work for a short time in Limerick.

"But at this stage, the call to religious life became very strong and loud and so, on the 8 December 1957, at the age of twenty two, Jacinta Cullinane became a postulant in the Mercy Community. And, as we say, the rest is history," said Bishop Jones.

After her time in Sligo, she went to teach in the primary school in Elphin. Subsequently, she was appointed to work with children with special needs.

Bishop Jones said he believed Sister Jacinta enjoyed every ministry that she exercised in the diocese as a Sister of Mercy but he was absolutely certain that she experienced her greatest joy of all in Saint Michael's in Castlerea when she ministered with the young people with special needs.

In this her fiftieth year as a Sister of Mercy in the diocese of Elphin, Bishop Jones concluded by wishing her many more years of health, happiness, joy and peace.

- HARRY KEANEY