![](https://thetablet.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Obit_SrFCostello-CSJ-122x183.jpg)
Sister Frances E. Costello, C.S.J., a Sister of St. Joseph, Brentwood, L.I., for 74 years, died at Sacred Heart Convent in Hempstead, L.I., on Feb. 7.
She entered the congregation in 1943 from Our Lady of Sorrows parish, Corona. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Italian from Manhattan College and studied special education at Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.
Formerly known as Sister Francis Borgia, she taught at St. Teresa of Avila, Prospect Heights, 1944; St. Angela Hall Academy, Clinton Hill, 1945; St. Martin of Tours, Bushwick, 1945-52; and St. Agnes Seminary, Brooklyn, 1952-56.
For 11 years, she taught on Long Island at St. Frances de Chantal, Wantagh, 1956-61, and St. Vincent de Paul, Elmont, 1961-67.
In 1967, she began 23 years of ministry at St. Francis School for the Deaf, Crown Heights, where she served until 1990.
She received a National Award for Teacher of the Deaf in 1979, and volunteered much of her time as an extraordinary minister to the deaf, and teacher of sign language to parents and adults.
In 2011, she retired to Sacred Heart Convent, Hempstead.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at Sacred Heart Chapel, Brentwood. Burial followed at Calvary Cemetery, Brentwood.