She was baptized in a hurry because the doctor thought she wouldn't live, and had cream from the top of the churn put on her as a cure for her delicate health, yet she managed to reach the ripe old age of 102.
However, these aren't the most interesting tales in the life of Cloughduv native, Sister Paschal (Jennie) O'Sullivan who made the decision five years ago – at 98 years old – to return to Ireland after spending over seven decades of her life teaching in Japan.
Following the hooley for her 100th birthday, her cousin James Creedon, who hails from Bishopstown but is now a TV presenter in Paris for France24, believed that the story of her life needed to be told.
From the time they spent together over the following year prior to her death in December 2013, he made a documentary film on the extraordinary experience of one of Ireland's longest serving missionary daughters.
He said Jennie was a wonderful letter writer and despite the fact that she spent 75 years on the other side of the world, she maintained close family ties with extended family members.
She taught in one of Japan's most prestigious girls' schools, Denenchofu Futaba in Tokyo, and among her past pupils was Japan's Crown Princess Masako.
He said she had taught in high circles in Japan for decades and among her past pupils and private students were members of the Mitsubishi and Suzuki families.
"When she returned back to Ireland at 98 years old, I was somewhat shocked. It was out of curiosity that I went to see her," Creedon revealed.
"I had left for France when I was 23 and she had left for Japan when she was 23. She left without speaking Japanese and I arrived in France in the age of the Internet, speaking good French and knowing I could return at the drop of a hat, and yet, it was still hard being away from Ireland," he said.
He said when Jennie returned home he met her at his uncle’s house, and, in addition to speaking fluent Japanese, she also spoke fluent French. He began to visit her and when he returned to France, they began writing to each other and then he undertook long interviews over the course of a year.
He said Jennie was a very special and unique person and as she was the last Irish nun in Japan, he felt this slice of history should be recorded.
"She was a woman who never sought the limelight and whose contribution would have remained in the shadows," Creedon said.
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