Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich was born in New Jersey to Byzantine Catholic immigrants. She led a virtuous life and wanted to be a Carmelite nun but needed to care for her mother who died shortly after her high school graduation. She attended the College of St. Elizabeth, graduated with high honors and taught English at St. Aloysius High School. After her father died, she entered the Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth and received the habit in May 1925. Her spiritual director asked her to write conferences to share with other novices. They were published after her death called “Greater Perfection.” In May 1927 she became ill and died from myocarditis and acute appendicitis at the age of 26, receiving her final religious vow on her deathbed. A miracle healing of a 9-year-old boy in 1963, from bilateral macular degeneration, happened through her intercession.
