ROME--The funeral Mass for Sarah Fahy, member of an early Catholic family, was celebrated March 3 in St. Mary's Church. She would have been 103 in April.

Mass was celebrated by her nephew, Father Joseph A. Fahy, CP, who works with the Hispanic Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. Concelebrants were Father James Miceli, pastor of St. Mary's, and Father Anthony Curran, pastor of St. Lawrence Church, Lawrenceville. Msgr. Michael Regan, pastor emeritus of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Carrollton, was also on the altar. Fathers Fahy and Father Curran spoke of her life and work.

Burial was in the family plot at Myrtle Hill Cemetery. Family and friends returned to the church for a reception given by parishioners.

Miss Fahy lived for many years in Atlanta where, according to a family memoir, she was a pioneer in developing an apostolate in the black community in the 1930s and ?40s. With the support of Bishop Gerald O'Hara of Savannah, she started a catechetical center and clinic in a building on Forrest Avenue in northeast Atlanta. The clinic was later operated by Medical Mission Sisters and eventually grew into Holy Family Hospital.

Miss Fahy is survived by her sister, Hannah Elizabeth, known in religious life as Sister Peter Claver, MSBT, and by numerous nieces and nephews.

Sister Claver came from her motherhouse in Philadelphia to be with her sister several days before her peaceful death Feb. 27 at Potomac Manor in Maryland.

Sarah Fahy was one of 14 children of Sarah Jonas and Thomas William Fahy. Her mother was raised in the Jewish faith and converted to Catholicism as a young woman. Her father came to Georgia from Ireland soon after the Civil War. The family operated Fahy's department story in Rome for many years.

She attended public schools in Rome and St. Cecilia's Academy in Nashville, Tenn., where she specialized in music.