Sister Mary Aquinas Freehill, V.H.M.
Pictured (left to right): Sr. M. Loretto, Sr. M. Aquinas, and Mother M. Pauline. By Father Scott Archer May 12, 2022 Eulalia Rose Freehill was born in Strawn, Illinois on March 7, 1906, the daughter of James Francis Freehill and Mary Ryan. She was Baptized by Father James Francis at the rectory of St. John the Baptist Parish in Fairbury, Illinois on March 10, 1906. Her sponsors were Austin and Mary McGreal. She received her first Communion at St. Rose in Strawn, 1913, and was Confirmed at St. Rose on September 23, 1917, by Bishop Edmund Dunne, Bishop of Peoria. Eulalia spent her youth on the family farm in Strawn with her parents, brothers, and sisters. She brought many happy memories with her when she journeyed off to attend the boarding school run by the Visitation nuns in Rock Island, Illinois. While still a high school junior at the monastery school, she entered the postulancy of the Congregation of the Visitation of Holy Mary at the Villa de Chantal in Rock Island on June 8, 1...