CONVENT STATION Four years after Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich was beatified, Bishop Serratelli dedicated and blessed the History Wall and Legacy Room of the Sister of Charity of St. Elizabeth in Holy Family Chapel here Oct. 7.
A vesper service for the feast of the Most Holy Rosary was held during the dedication and blessing, which featured hymns, psalm readings, a reading from Greater Perfection by Blessed Miriam Teresa, the Magnificat and the Litany of Blessed Miriam Teresa.
Sister of Charity Rosemary Moynihan, general superior, welcomed the congregation and described Sister Miriam Teresa’s message, which is the universal call to holiness. Sister Rosemary said, “Sister Miriam Teresa’s profound spirituality has reached down to every single one of us in her message. The understanding of how the Holy Spirit is revealed in our lives particularly in times of great conflict, polarization and confusion. She told us, ‘The Holy Spirit only speaks to us in peace. Not in agitation or confusion: only in caring for others and the common good.’ She assures us that the spirit always recognizes strength and hope. So today, we celebrate this great and wonderful guidance.”
The History Wall of Blessed Miriam Teresa is the latest project of the Blessed Miriam Teresa League of Prayer. The wall depicts in pictures and print the life and path to sainthood of Blessed Miriam Teresa. Many significant photos that captured her life are imprinted on the wall in the vestibule of the Holy Family Chapel near her shrine. The space also contains mementos and books as well as her gravestone. The design of this space, which held her remains from 1979 to 2016, will enable visitors to understand more of the mission of this holy woman.
During the blessing, Bishop Serratelli said, “When the Church blesses a shrine and presents it for public veneration by the faithful, it does so for the following reasons — that when we look at the representation of those who have followed Christ faithfully, we will be motivated to seek the city that is to come; that we will learn the way that will enable us most surely to attain complete union with Christ; that as we struggle with our earthly cares, we will be mindful of the saints, those friends and coheirs of Christ, who are also our own brothers and sisters and our special benefactors; that we will remember how they love us, are near us, intercede ceaselessly for us and are joined to us in marvelous communion.”
Reflecting on Blessed Miriam Teresa’s life and thanking those who contributed to the wall, Sister of Charity Mary Canavan, vice postulator, said, “Saints are important. They tell us that we too can live lives significant to others. They teach us that we too can aspire to live a life closer to God. Saints make connections with us all.”
To the sisters in the congregation, Sister Mary said, “Blessed Miriam Teresa believed she was brought to the Sisters of Charity for her sanctification and that of all of us, her sisters. As we follow in her footsteps on these holy grounds, may her words inspire us as we strive to continue her mission.”
Blessed Miriam Teresa’s beatification took place on Oct. 4, 2014 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. She was born in Bayonne on March 26, 1901. She studied at the College of St. Elizabeth from 1919 to 1923. She later entered the Sisters of Charity in 1925. After profession of vows as a Sister of Charity, Sister Miriam Teresa died in St. Elizabeth Hospital, Elizabeth, in 1927. She was 26 years old.
Her beatification was the first time one had been held in the United States. The miracle that took place and opened the way for her beatification was the healing of Michael Mencer, who had gone legally blind due to macular degeneration in 1964 as a child and had his sight restored.
In 2016, Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich’s shrine was dedicated in her honor for public veneration.
The mission of the Blessed Miriam Teresa League of Prayer is to promote the cause of canonization of Blessed Miriam Teresa. Its purpose is to honor the Blessed Trinity through the Immaculate Heart of Mary by spreading the knowledge of Blessed Miriam Teresa’s life and mission and by working for her cause.
The vesper service also gave those who attended to honor Blessed Miriam Teresa the opportunity to contribute to the Miriam Teresa Immigration Legal Fee Fund led by the Sisters of Charity’s Office of Peace, Justice and Ecological Integrity. The fund helps immigrants connected to the Sisters of Charity or their ministries with such expenses as application costs for naturalization, registration for permanent residence, childhood arrivals and temporary work visas.
At the close of the dedication, the Bishop said, “I would like to say congratulations for the Sisters of Charity for making a beautiful shrine to Blessed Miriam Teresa, even made more beautiful today with this dedication of the legacy room and wall. We continue to build shrines to remind us and to help us remember God’s intervention. At every shrine there’s a place of the intercession of the saint. As we leave this place, we leave in the presence of God grateful for his gifts and his own dwelling in our lives.”