Iconic Sr Philomena: a true Cork hero
LAST summer Lombardstownnun Sr Philomena O’Sullivan was unveiled as the June winner of the Cork Person of the Month in honour of her life-saving humanitarian work over five-decades in Korea.
As awards founder Manus O’Callaghan has said in the past, the awards are often about celebrating the unsung heroes among us – and that description is more than fitting in the case of Sr Philomena.
She joined the Columban Sisters in 1949 and after training as a nurse left Ireland for Korea in 1955 – a country still reeling from the brutality of the Korean War, which had finished just two short years earlier.
Over the following years she played a pivotal role in helping to care for thousands of people displaced by the conflict, helping to set up clinics and hospitals in addition to caring for patients on a leper colony.
Sr Philomena worked until 2009, before returning to Ireland where she celebrated her Diamond Jubilee with her fellow Sisters in Maghermore, Co Wicklow where she continues to live in retirement.
The organiser of the Cork Person of the year awards, Mallow man Manus O’Callaghan, said that while the work of sisters like Sr Philomena is not well known in Ireland, they are “recognised as heroines” in the countries where they work.
“To this day, Sr Philomena is considered an iconic figure in South Korea and I’m delighted that we have this opportunity to acknowledge her lifelong dedication to missionary work,” said Mr O’Callaghan.
Speaking to The Corkman at last Friday’s Person of the Year gala lunch, Sr Philomena said she was “surprised and overwhelmed” to have won the monthly award.
She said she looks back on her time in Korea with a huge amount of satisfaction for having helped bring joy and hope into the lives of so many people.
“People were dying and we were able to give them new life,” she said simply.
Sr Philomena admitted that given the opportunity she would still be working out in Korea.
“It was my home from home, Really, my life was in Korea and I loved every minute of my time there,” she said.