Sister Etienne (Mary) Flaherty, OSB
St. Joseph
August 18, 1922 – August 28, 2008

The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on Saturday, August 30, 2008, at the Sacred Heart Chapel, Saint Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, for Sister Etienne Flaherty, who died on Thursday, August 28, 2008, at St. Cloud Hospital. Burial will be in the monastery cemetery. Friends may call at Saint Scholastica Convent, St. Cloud, on Friday, August 29, from 1-6 p.m. or for a Vigil Prayer Service at 7 p.m. at Saint Benedict’s Monastery. Visitation continues at 9 a.m. until the time of the funeral on Saturday, August 30, at 11 a.m.

S. Etienne (Mary) Flaherty was born to Charles and Mary (Dunn) Flaherty on August 18, 1922, in St. Paul, Minn. She entered Saint Benedict’s Monastery in 1945 and made her first monastic profession on July 11, 1947. She attended Central High School in St. Paul, received a B.A. degree in French from the College of Saint Benedict, was awarded an M.A. degree from University of Notre Dame, and a Ph.D. degree in foreign language education from The Ohio State University. She received a Fulbright Scholarship for the University of Dijon, Dijon, France, and Université de Paris.

S. Etienne’s ministry was education. She taught at St. Mary’s, Melrose; Eden Valley High School; and Cathedral High School, St. Cloud. After working in the Business Office at St. Benedict’s Hospital in Ogden, Utah, she taught French and foreign language methodology at the College of Saint Benedict for 34 years with intervals of further education. At St. Anselm’s College in Manchester, New Hampshire, she taught French  until her health necessitated returning to Saint Benedict’s Monastery in Minnesota. Here she worked in the archives, mainly conducting oral histories. In 2007 she moved to Saint Scholastica Convent to continue her ministry of prayer and community living.  
S. Etienne is survived by her Benedictine community and her sister, Patricia Ann (William) Grandel of St. Paul. Her brother Daniel preceded her in death.