Sister Pacis Bao, OSF (age 104), died today at 6:25 a.m. at HSHS St. John’s Hospital, Springfield, IL.

Sister Pacis, the former Catherine (Bao Yuan Ying), was born in Fei cheng Bao-kia-tang-tze, Shan-Tung, China, on April 8, 1921, the daughter of Bao Tsing Ben and Bao Chang Shih. She entered the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis on September 8, 1944, and professed her religious vows on September 24, 1947, at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Jinan, China. On May 12, 1948, she and several of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis serving there fled China and sailed on the SS General Meigs to San Francisco, CA. They arrived at St. Francis Convent, Springfield, on June 5, 1948.

Sister Pacis was a 1963 graduate of St. John’s Hospital School of Nursing. She served as a nurse at St. John’s Hospital, Springfield, and St. Vincent Hospital, Green Bay, WI. On August 8, 1968, she and four other Chinese Sisters began caring for the sick in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, at the Star of the Sea Clinic. Sister Pacis served there until August 2002, at which time she returned to Springfield.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by two sisters and four brothers. She is survived by her great-nephews and their families, as well as her Franciscan Sisters, with whom she shared her life for more than 80 years.

The Visitation will be held at St. Francis Convent from 4-7 p.m. on Thursday, January 22, 2026, with a Wake Service at 6 p.m. The Eucharistic Celebration and Rite of Christian Burial will be celebrated by Father Joseph Jiang on Friday, January 23, 2026, at 11 a.m. in the St. Clare of Assisi Adoration Chapel with burial in Crucifixion Hill Cemetery at St. Francis Convent.

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Staab Funeral Home will oversee arrangements.