Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill, both 68 and nurse practitioners, were found dead Thursday morning in their home in Durant Thursday morning after they didn’t show up for work at the Lexington Medical Clinic, where they cared for people who couldn’t afford medical care. A auto apparently taken from the nuns’ home was found Thursday night about 1 mile away from the crime scene, said Warren Strain, spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. He said it wasn’t clear if their deaths were related to their religious work.
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Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill were nuns in the Catholic Church and nurse practitioners at the Lexington Medical Clinic.
“It’s hard to imagine that one who served the poor, untiringly, day and night sometimes, that her life would be taken in this violent way”, said Sister Barbaralie Stiefermann.
Held had been a member of the School Sisters of St. Francis in Milwaukee for 49 years “and lived her ministry caring for and healing the poor”, a statement from the order said.
The Holmes County Crime Stoppers chapter had initially put up $2,500, so the total reward money is now $22,500.
They worked with the Lexington Medical Clinic, according to the Clarion-Ledger.
Maureen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, said there were signs of a break-in at the home in Durant and the nuns’ vehicle was taken. Sister Paula Merrill and Held, two nuns who worked as nurses and helped the poor in rural MS, .
“They were very intelligent ladies. They came here to MS to outreach to the poor using their medical services”, said Father Gregory Plata, who knew the women well and was a friend to the victims. They said the duo focused on helping those in poverty. “It’s so senseless”, Father Greg Plata, OFM, told a reporter on the scene.
Services have been scheduled for two nuns who were killed in Mississippi. “Please pray for all those that have been affected by this horrific crime”. These faithful nuns worked tirelessly at the Lexington Medical Clinic to make the Holmes County community and MS a better place to live.
The sister of a nun who was killed in rural MS says her sister was called to “serve the underserved”.
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We will update this story as soon as we get new information.
