Feast Day: May 8
Beatified: October 4, 2014

Miriam Teresa Demjanovich was born March 26, 1901, in Bayonne, New Jersey, the youngest of seven children. She was baptized and grew up in the Byzantine Ruthian Rite of her immigrant parents. As a young woman, Miriam felt a calling to religious life, but went to college at the urging of her parents and graduated with a literature degree with highest honors. She accepted a teaching position at the Academy of Saint Aloysius in Jersey City, where her frequent prayer and devotion to the Rosary were seen by many. 
 

She continued to feel called to a religious vocation and explored joining the Discalced Carmelite nuns, who advised to her wait and focus on improving her health, then suggested she use her education within a teaching order. In December 1924, Miriam decided to join the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth. Her entry to the convent was delayed by the death of her father, but when she did arrive she was accompanied by her brother, who was a priest, and two sisters. She was admitted to the novitiate and received the religious habit on May 17, 1925.

Miriam taught at the Academy of Saint Elizabeth in Convent Station, New Jersey, from 1925 to 1926. During this time she was asked by her spiritual director to write information, or conferences, for novices which were published in a book called Greater Perfection after her death.

In 1926, Miriam's heath worsened, and she underwent a tonsillectomy. As she was still weak and ill afterwards, her brother and her sister who was a nurse were called. They took her to a hospital where she was diagnosed with "physical and nervous exhaustion, with myocarditis and acute appendicitis." On May 6, 1927, she underwent an operation for the appendicitis, but she passed away two days later. 

The Sisters of Charity petitioned to open a cause for Miriam's beatification. The work for the cause included the founding of the Sister Miriam Teresa League of Prayer in 1946 to spread the knowledge of her life and mission. Years later, Miriam was beatified by Pope Francis on October 4, 2014.
 

Connecting to Blest Are We^® Parish and School, second edition
Grade Four, Chapter 16