Sister Miriam Scully (formerly Sister Patricia Miriam) died in Camilla Hall on December 10, 2025 not long after her 93rd birthday. Sister was in the 75th year of her religious life. Miriam D. Scully was born on November 21, 1932 to her parents, John Anthony and Mary T. (Powers) Scully. Miriam and her sister, who would become Sister Rita Michael, SSJ, were raised in St. Gregory Parish in Philadelphia.
Miriam attended St. Gregory Elementary School (1938-1946), then West Catholic High School, graduating in 1950. Miriam entered the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on September 8, 1950, receiving her habit and her religious name, Sister Patricia Miriam, on March 26, 1951. She pronounced her First Vows on April 5, 1953.
After her first profession, Sister Patricia Miriam was sent to St. Dorothy Parish in Drexel Hill where she taught sequentially first, third and sixth grades, and then to Sacred Heart, Havertown for eighth grade. After three years in St. Charles Bensalem, teaching eighth graders, Sister Patricia traveled to South America in January, 1962 to teach high school English, first to the girls in Villa Maria, Miraflores for three years and then for two more in Villa Maria, La Planicie. Returning to the States in 1967, Sister Patricia Miriam continued her high school English teaching at Holy Name High School in Reading until 1970. Remaining in Reading, she transitioned to the role of principal and teacher of grades seven and eight while serving as convent superior for six years. In 1974, Sister completed her Master of Arts in the Teaching of English from Villanova University. Moving then to teach high school English, Sister Patricia Miriam relocated to Immaculate Heart Convent in Norristown while she taught English at Bishop Kenrick High School. Her career as an English teacher continued for four more years in Lancaster Catholic High School, residing at Sacred Heart, and then for another year at Cardinal O’Hara High School in Springfield.
From 1984 through the school year ended in 1989, Sister Patricia Miriam served as local superior and high school English teacher at Immaculate Heart High School in Somerville, NJ. Then for the following five years, she was the superior at Gillet Convent on the campus of Immaculata University. When Sister Miriam was assigned to St. William School in 1994, she again served as superior of the convent and as vice-principal of the school. Her work in high school resumed in 1996 at Little Flower High School.
In 2001, Sister’s focus shifted to that of a development-advancement assistant in IHM Mission Advancement while living at Immaculate Heart Convent in Springfield, a residence in which she remained until 2014. In those years, she also worked as a part-time counselor for both Archbishop Prendergast (2005-2006) and Monsignor Bonner/Archbishop Prendergast High Schools (2006-2014).
In August of 2014, Sister Miriam Scully transitioned to Camilla Hall where she served the Sisters faithfully in prayer and action until failing health limited her ability. Sister Miriam died on December 10, 2025.
Sister is predeceased by both her parents and her cousin, Sister Marie Mount, IHM. Her sister, Sister Rita Michael Scully continues to serve as a Sister of St. Joseph in Chestnut Hill.
Reverend John Burger, S.S.C. celebrated Sister Miriam Scully’s Funeral Mass on Tuesday, December 16, 2025.
In Sister Miriam Scully’s memory, a memorial donation may be sent to:
Camilla Hall Nursing Home
IHM Mission Advancement Office
230 IHM Drive
Malvern, PA 19355