Mother M. Casimir Murray, IHM

Mother M. Casimir Murray, IHM, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary died on Saturday, February 16, 1929, at Marywood College in Scranton, PA.

Born on November 10, 1850, in Reading, PA, and given the name Ellen, she was the daughter of the late James and Margaret Dolon Murray. Baptized on November 14, 1850, by Reverend P.M. Cobbin, her godparents were Raymond McManus and Sarah Hasson. She entered the IHM Congregation on September 29, 1868 in Reading, PA, where she received the religious habit on December 3, 1868. Sister Casimir made profession of her vows on November 22, 1870, at St. Alphonsus Convent in Susquehanna Depot, PA. She was one of twelve sisters who chose to remain with the Scranton foundation of the IHM Congregation when the Diocese of Scranton was formed after its separation from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Mother Casimir served as a teacher at Laurel Hill Academy in Susquehanna, PA.

Mother Casimir  was elected the Superior General of the Congregation in 1919 and re-elected in 1925. During her tenure, she opened 26 schools across North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and Rhode Island; St. Joseph’s Hospital, Carbondale, PA; and St. Agnes Place, Elmhurst, PA (home for aged IHMs). The following missions were also established under her leadership: Sacred Heart Elementary and High Schools, La Plata, MD and St. Joseph Elementary School, New Bern, NC.

Mother Casimir also served as superior of the Sisters of IHM in Scranton, PA.

She was preceded in death by a brother, Peter, and a sister, Mary Murray.

She is survived by two brothers, James and Charles; four sisters, Catherine, Annie and Margaret Murray, and Josephine Obold; nieces and nephews.

The funeral will be Wednesday, February 20, at 10:00 a.m. in the chapel at Marywood College in Scranton. Interment will be at St. Catherine’s Cemetery in Moscow, PA.

“Mother M. Casimir had entered the congregation at Reading. She had been connected with the Scranton foundation from the beginning and was one of the original band of twelve who had elected to remain in the Scranton Diocese when the separation of the Sisterhood from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was decreed in 1871. She had filled the office of bursar during Mother Joseph’s administration. In 1877 she was sent to Saint Joseph’s, Williamsport, where she taught in the high school department until 1884, when she was transferred to Susquehanna and made superior of Laurel Hill Academy. Under her leadership Laurel Hill Academy reached a very high standard among the high schools of the State. Mother M. Casimir knows the congregation and is in full sympathy with its traditions and aims. She has witnessed its wonderful growth and has contributed her share to its development by her personal fidelity to her rules and obligations and her conscientious fulfillment of her duties as teacher and superior. Her election gave general satisfaction and all felt that the government and direction of the community was safe in her hands.”

Excerpted from The Sisters of the I.H.M.: The Story of The Founding of The Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and Their Work In The Scranton Diocese by Sister M. Immaculata Gillespie, IHM, P.J. Kenedy & Sons, NY, 1921, p. 467