Oral History: Sister Miriam Leah Hickey
Dublin Core
Title
Oral History: Sister Miriam Leah Hickey
Subject
Sister Miriam Leah Hickey
Description
An oral history of Sister Miriam Leah Hickey, a Sister of Charity of Seton Hill from 1925 until 1985. The interview was conducted by Sister Marie Corona Miller on October 23, 1984.
Sister Miriam Leah Hickey - born Mildred Hickey on August 20, 1906 - entered the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill in June of 1925. She received a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Duquesne University in 1943. She taught in a number of Pittsburgh area schools and served as principal at Holy Cross School from 1953-1959 and at St. John the Baptist from 1962-1963. Sister Miriam Leah died on June 2, 1985.
Creator
Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill
Publisher
Archives of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill
Date
1984/10/23
Rights
All rights belong to the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
Format
Audio cassette tape
Type
Oral history
Identifier
Oh-38
Oral History Item Type Metadata
Interviewer
Sister Marie Corona Miller
Interviewee
Sister Miriam Leah Hickey
Location
Assumption Hall
Greensburg (Pa.)
Transcription
OH-24 Sr. Mir. Hickey
This interview is being conducted as part of the oral history program of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill. The interviewee is Sister Miriam Leah Hickey. The interviewer is Sister Marie Corona Miller. This is being done at Assumption Hall. The date is: October twenty-third, nineteen hundred eighty-four.
SMCM: Good morning, Sister Miriam Leah. I'm happy to be with you today to hear some things about your life. Sister, when and where were you born?
SMLH: I was born on August 20th in 1906 in Scottdale, Pa. I was baptized at St. John's ...also in Scottdale. My mother was Mary Catherine Murphy Hickey and my father was Michael Hickey. I also attended St. John the Baptist's School up until the second year in high school. At that time, it was a two year high school program. Sister Alice Marie Barron taught me in high school, and Sister Carita Duffy taught me in the eighth grade.
SMCM: Sister, did you have siblings?
SMLH: Yes, I had two sisters.Marguerite and Brigid. I also had two brothers...James and Regis. Regis was ordained a priest in 19 for the Greensburg diocese.
SMCM: How did you come to be a Sister of Charity?
SMLH: When Sister Mary Rose from the Mercy Community heard that I was going to enter the Sisters of Charity, she said to my mother: "Mary, why aren't you sending her to the Mercy Order?" My mother's reply was: "I'm not sending her anywhere. This is all her own idea." However, the Charities are the ones she knows. I petitioned on February 14, 1925 without my mother knowing it. When I wasn't home in time for dinner, my mother said to my brother: "James, I wonder where she is today." His reply was: "She's giving her heart to the right guy . today." I entered on June 19, 1925. Sister Marie Elizabeth Leonard entered the same day.
SMCM: Who was your Mistress of Novices, Sister Miriam Leah?
SMLH: Mother Mary Francis McCullough was. She was a wonderful mistress. The book written by Pope John Paul II contained everything we had in our novitiate.
SMCM: Who are some of the sisters who entered with you?
SMLH: Sister Marie Elizabeth Leonard entered with me on June 19, 1925. Then there was what we called the "twenty crowd", which came in September.
SMCM: Do you remember any particular thing that happened while you were a novice?
SMLH: I recall one day that I was humming "Oh Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place my trust in Thee" in the novitiate room, not knowing Mother Mary Francis was there until she said: "Who is that doing that humming?" I proudly answered that it was me. She said: "This isn't the place or time·of the day to be doing it." I had very happy days in the novitiate.
SMCM: Do you remember where you were fir t missioned?
SMLH: My first mission was to St. Jame's in Wilkinsburg. Sister Agnes Marie Reuber was the principal. I believe that I started out in either the fourth or fifth grade. As time went on most of
my teaching was at the seventh and eighth grade level. I preferred having the fourth grade because they are young enough to be sociable and can do things for themselves. Eighth graders become too sophisticated. They're a little rambunctious, although I did enjoy them.
SMCM: Was St. James a large school, and how long did you stay on that mission?
SMLH: There were eight grades with about eighty-five students in each grade. I was missioned to St. James three different times, and loved it every time. I was in charge of the altar boys at most places I was stationed.
SMCM: Sister Miriam Leah, how long did you teach school?
SMLH: I taught up until 1968 when I came to Assumption Hall. Some of the places where I taught were : St. James, Wilkinsburg, St. John the Evangelist, South Side, St. Stephen, Hazelwood. I think I tried out all the different schools we had.
SMCM: Were you always stationed in the Pittsburgh Diocese?
SMLH: No, I was at St.Bruno's, Cathedral in Greensburg, Holy Cross School in Youngwood. I was the principal at Holy Cross for six years. I was a teaching principal.
SMCM: Are there any experiences in your teaching days that you would like to share with us? SMLH: I would say that my experiences were the same happy ones had by other teachers who enjoyed teaching.
SMCM: What did you do during the summers?
SMLH: The first couple of years were spent talcing courses to acquire credits to complete my
B.S. in Education, which was received from Duquesne University. I also taught students from Greensburg who had failed the eighth grade. I also went out on Sundays to teach Religion. Some of the places where I taught Sunday School were: Murraysville, St. Bruno's in Greensburg, and Holy Cross in Youngwood. During the week, I went to Saltzburg to teach summer school.
SMCM: Did you always teach the older children, even in CCD and summer school? SMLH: Yes.
SMCM: Would you like to tell us anything else? When did you come to Assumption Hall? SMLH: I came to Assumption Hall on October 31, 1968. I had been in the hospital from August tenth of 1968 until this time. I was recovering from leg surgery.. I was surprised at being discharged from the hospital as I had not been out of bed the entire time. When the doctor told me I was going home, I said: "You must have me mixed up with someone else, because I haven't been out of bed." His reply was: "You're not going to get out of bed, Sister." I told him that the dried blood in my leg was driving me crazy. He said: "That's not dried blood. The reason you're here so long is that we haven't succeeded in getting the bleeding to stop." It was a Sunday afternoon when I came home. Mother Claudia Glenn had died that summer. She had been in room 302. She died in August . No-one had been put in her room. I was the frrst to be put in her room. In three days, the leg stopped bleeding. I'm sure it was due to Mother Claudia. Her brother, Monsignor Glenn, had also died previous to that summer. Monsignor Glenn had made
a special petition that we would be blessed with fifty vocations from St. John the Baptist in Scottdale in honor of his fifty years as a priest, even though Monsignor didn't live until the fiftieth, but died after forty-eight years as a priest.
SMCM: Sister, do you know how many people in the community have entered from St. John the Baptist in Scottdale?
SMLH: At the time that Monsignor Glenn had a novena requesting that there would be fifty who entered from Scottdale, I don't believe that there were fifty. However, there are more than fifty now due to the good example, faith, and encouragement that we had. The day I entered Marguerite and Brigid, my two sisters went with me. Monsignor Glenn was there and said: "Think of the end, honey, and know it's worth it." He was at that time to be ordained in three years. He was ordained in 1929. I entered in 1925.
SMCM: What about your time here at Assumption, Sister Miriam Leah? ·
SMLH: When I first came to Assumption, my sister had bought me a new sewing machine. From a wheel chair, I was able to cut out and sew on the sewing machine, using my hand to operate the machine, the various parts of clowns. Then other sisters stuffed the clowns. I don't know how many of these I did, but it was a good many. It seemed there were a million of them! SMCM: Was that the first project you worked on?
SMLH: Yes, it was.
SMLH: I was on the fourth floor for a while at Assumption, but then had to be moved to the second floor due to health reasons. I had a number of hospitalizations. I had surgery for breast cancer in 1969 or 1970. Then in 1975, the largest part of my lungs was removed. I've always had what we considered bronchitis all winter long. However, when I was hospitalized, the doctor told me that I had a severe case of emphysema. He said he would love to show me the condition of my lungs, but of course didn't. He asked me if I had ever smoked. I told him that I had a cigarette in my mouth for about five minutes(it wasn't lit) at a party which was for me the night before I entered. At that time, neither my father or my brothers smoked. From that time on it was cancer, cancer, cancer.
SMCM: You keep yourself very busy, sister. How do you manage to do that?
SMLH: Well, I have an S (have listened three times) on my door. A sister whose name I believe was Sister Mary Leon Bettwy asked me one day what the S meant, and I told her "insane"! Here I am making all of these place mats. It was my second project. She wanted to know how many I had made, and I replied "OODLES" because I wouldn't begin to know how many. On another occasion when we were having retreat, the priest stopped to see me and wanted to know what the place mats were. I told him they were for putting your silverware and dishes on at meal time.
Well then, he said: "Do they make the food taste better?" I said:" I don't know about that Father, but they surely do brighten up the room." That's for sure, Sister. It would make the room look a lot different.
SMCM: What goes with the place mats?
SMLH: Sometimes, coasters for under the glasses. People have had some very creative ideas. On occasion, we use a larger place mat and make a center piece in the middle of the tables.
4
SMCM: How do you feel about people coming to visit with you? Your door is always open. SMLH: People say they enjoy coming to see me because I'm always cheerful and welcoming. SMCM: Sister, would you like to say anything about the major changes in the Community over the past few years?
SMLH: My chief complaint is regarding the manner of dress that has taken place. A young woman comes to the Community and wants to be known as "Sister", but the lack of common dress is a deterrent. I believe that's why Korea is doing so much better, as they can be identified by their dress.
SMCM: Is there anything else you would like to say? SMLH: No, I believe that I have said enough.
SMCM: Thank you Sister Miriam Leah. This will be kept in the archives at Caritas Christi.
Sister Marie Arthur Hamilton: I transcribed this oral history on Sister Miriam Leah Hickey from a cassette type. It was completed on April 15, 2011.
Original Format
Audio cassette tape
Duration
31:00
Bit Rate/Frequency
96kHz
Collection
Other Media
Citation
Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, “Oral History: Sister Miriam Leah Hickey,” Collections of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill Archives, accessed April 30, 2024, https://scsharchives.com/items/show/674.
Item Relations
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