In 1926, we sent our first missionary sisters to Hunan, China. In 1933, Sister Mary Mark Mullen joined that mission and later wrote a memoir of her experiences there.
Gathered Fragments, the professional journal of The Catholic Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, published the first installment of Beacon in the Dark in 2017. This fascinating and comprehensive memoir of Sister Mary Mark Mullen chronicles her time as a missionary in Hunan, China. Read part one.
The 2018 issue of Gathered Fragments features the final installment of Sister Mary Mark Mullen’s 1946 memoir of her missionary work in China. This portion of the memoir focuses on the Sisters’ experiences as missionaries in China during World War II. Read part two.
For each installment of Sister Mary Mark’s memoir, Archivist Kathleen Washy researched the historical background and wrote companion pieces. She selected complementary photographs to accompany both the memoir and her articles, adding a visual dimension to the history.