Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, who died in 1927 at the age of 26, was beatified in a ceremony at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark Saturday. The special mass marked the first time such a ceremony has been held in the United States.
As a girl, Sister Miriam Teresa attended public school in Bayonne and majored in English Literature at the College of Saint Elizabeth in Covet Station. After graduating, she joined the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth and produced religious writings that were shared widely in the Catholic community.
Sister Rosemary Moynihan, General Superior of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, says the process to make Sister Miriam Teresa a saint began in the 1940s.
“But in the process you’re required to have what’s called a cure, some type of miracle,” says Sister Rosemary, “but we didn’t have anything.”
Then, in 1998, one of the sisters discovered an unopened letter from the mother of Michael Mencer of Teaneck, N.J. In it, she claimed that her son’s macular degeneration was cured after his teacher gave him a prayer card and a lock of Sister Miriam Teresa’s hair.
After the information was passed on to the Vatican last year, Pope Francis declared it a miracle, paving the way for Saturday’s beatification.
“Some people might say it’s anachronistic or archaic,” says David Ciampichini of New Providence, N.J., speaking about the process of sainthood. “But for me she’s symbolic, she’s symbolic of an ordinary person who can attain greatness.”
To become a saint, Sister Miriam Teresa must be credited with another miracle.