Murphy Sisters, Daughers of Thomas & Johanna Fitzsimmons Murphy
The three youngest daughters, Agnes, Kathleen and Mollie devoted their lives to the Catholic Church.
They all joined the Order of the Sisters of Providence and Resided in Washington State.
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When Thomas Murphy of Freeland, Prince Edward Island, and Johanna Fitzsimmons, the teacher of School Lot Eleven, were married in St. Bridget Parish Church, they could not know that three of their eleven children would become Sisters of Providence and serve in the rapidly developing but far away West.
The three girls were Agnes, later Sister Benedict Joseph ; Kathleen, Sister Mary Berchmans ; and Mollie, our recently deceased Sister Mary Pius. The two older girls were intrigued by the home visit of two of their neighbors, Sister Angela and Sister Agatha. These two young women of Prince Edward Island had accepted the invitation of Father Nalley, later Bishop, and later still, Archbishop of Halifax, to come West and join the apestolate of the Sisters of Providence, with and for whom he was laboring at the time.
Agnes was the first to declare her intention to follow their friends' example. Then Mollie confided her aspiration of going West to Kathleen. " Indeed, " said Kathleen, " you are not going West with Agnes. You are going back to school because I am the one who is going West with her. "
Four years later, Mollie was finally able to follow her two older sisters. During the interval, she led a happy, normal life, never wavering, however, in her determination to become a Sister of Providence and serve in the West. Mollie had earned the pet name of " the smiling baby " in the Murphy family. Members of the family declare that she started to smile when she was only a week old and that she never stopped. She undoubtedly had an exceptionally happy and engaging personality.
Molly was the only one who smiled that July day in 1913 when she set out alone for Montreal after the Dominion Day races in her home town. It had been arranged by Mother Tarcisius of the Blessed Sacrament, Mistress of Novices in Vancouver, Washington, that Mollie should enter at the Mother House and, when the opportunity presented itself, transfer to Vancouver. An unexpected difficulty occurred when Mollie presented herself at the Mother House. She could not speak French and the portress could not speak English. After a period of trial and error in pantomime, an English speaking sister in the Generalate was summoned and the new postulant was admitted and welcomed. All this happened on the Fourth of July, the day on which the United States, whither she was bound, celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
From “At Peace” January 1971 Necrologies of Sisters of Providence
Standing: Sister Mary Berchmans, Sister Benedict Joseph & Sister Mary Pius Seated: I assumed this was Johanna Fitzsimmons Murphy (Their Mother) But I have her death prior to to this, need to verify.
Nineteen hundred and fifty-six was a year of special rejoicing for the Murphys. It was the Golden Jubilee of Agnes and Kathleen. Mollie was still smiling and proved to be a gracious hostess to the thirty members of the Murphy clan who came from Canada for the event.
From “At Peace” January 1971 Necrologies of Sisters of Providence
Children watch Sr. Benedict Joseph with her sewing at St. Vincent de Paul Academy, Walla Walla, Washington, ca. 1920
 Sister Mary Pius, Holy Rosary School, Moxee, Washington, ca. 1916
Sr. Mary Berchmans, SP, November 1970
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Sister Mary Berchmans
Sister Mary Pius with her niece Teresa Murphy
Sr. Benedict Joseph, ca. 1960
Sister Mary Pius made profession on the Feast of Saint Vincent de Paul, 1915, and pronounced her final vows on February 28, 1916, in Vancouver, Washington. Her first mission was the new Holy Rosary School in Moxee City, of which she was a foundress.
Sisters Benedict Joseph (left) and Mary Pius, SP, 1930s
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Sisters of Providence celebrating jubilee, Mount St. Vincent, Seattle, Washington, 1965
Sister Mary Pius is the second from the left in the wheel chair, still smiling after all those years! |
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