Honoring the Memory of Medical Mission Sister M. Benedict, M.D.

WHEREAS, Florence Young graduated from Hallahan High School and the University of Pennsylvania before entering the Medical Mission Sisters in 1939; and

WHEREAS, Sister M. Benedict received her medical degree from Women’s Medical College in 1946, then completed and internship and preceptorship in general surgery at Misericordia Hospital in Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, Sister was sent to Mymensingh, East Pakistan to start St. Michael’s Hospital. Facing insurmountable odds, Sister took a small, ill equipped facility with no electricity or water and turned it into a hospital which helped over 90 percent of its’ patients; and

WHEREAS, Fresh off of her tremendous success in rebuilding St. Michael’s, Sister was dispatched to Dacca, East Pakistan to build a 200 bed modern hospital. Having no land and no money, Sister Benedict somehow found a way to get it done, and work began on the new facility; and

WHEREAS, Sister Benedict was inducted as a Fellow in the International College of Surgeons in 1955, the first nun, and one of very few women so honored; and

WHEREAS, In 1957 she served as Provincial Superior of the Sisters’ American Pro-Province, headquartered in Fox Chase, with missions extending to 4 continents; and

WHEREAS, Sister then studied psychiatry at Cornell University, then practiced psychiatry for over 20 years throughout the United States; and

WHEREAS, In her 62 years of religious life, Sister also served as medical director, administrator and local superior in MMS Holy Family Hospitals in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and South Vietnam; and

WHEREAS, During this time, Sister was also called upon to oversee construction of many of these facilities, to visit MMS hospitals and health centers around the world, and to act as a consultant to the U.S. government in facilitating cross-cultural communication in diplomatic affairs; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby honor the memory of Medical Mission Sister M. Benedict.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to her brother, Wendell W. Young, Jr., further evidencing the sincere respect and admiration of this legislative body.

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