All kinds of ministries, including in a war zone

Sr Elizabeth Murray

I first saw the light of day on October 11th 1936 in County Tipperary ,the fourth child of a family of twelve, eleven of whom survived to adulthood. I grew up on a farm where we children learned from a very young age to carry out simple but important tasks, surely the foundation of a sense of responsibility and service for the good of all.

I attended the village school before moving to secondary education in a school run by the Sisters of Mercy. It was here that I met a Presentation Sister who visited the school to speak to us of the meaning of Religious Life. Up to this point in my young life I had never given the subject a single thought but, by the time I had cycled home that day, my mind had been made up, much to my mother’s shock and dismay! I was taken by what I had heard from Sister Anthony and I knew what I had to do.

So it was that by March 1951, my arrival in Buxton, Derbyshire saw me begin Novitiate training in preparation for life as a Presentation Sister. The setting was Cressbrook Hall in the beautiful and peaceful valley of the River Wye, where I learned the value of prayer and contemplation, as well as the life and charism of our Foundress. The following years were spent at Teacher Training College followed by many more years in a variety of schools around the country.

My life took on a special meaning when I was posted to Nigeria as a relief worker in Port Harcourt; it was at a crucial period when war was raging and tragedy happened as my group was attacked by air as we delivered supplies to the bush. As death and destruction rained down our driver was killed whilst the nurse and I escaped with shrapnel wounds. But our grief was great when we discovered that sixty-seven year old Sr Cecilia had bled to death. For the English province and especially those of us whom she had trained in Novitiate this was beyond tragic, but we are proud to have a Presentation martyr buried in Africa.

Back in the UK after a period of recuperation, and for my remaining years, there has never been any shortage of ministries to keep a Presentation Sister active and fulfilling her commitment to be like Nano who declared that:

“I would do all in my power to be of service in any part of the world.”