Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 06
D.O.B. 26.06.1908
First Profession: 06.01.1945
Died: 24.02.1998 Aged: 89 years

Honora Murphy, from Co. Cork, entered at Greenbank on 28 November 1936, before MMM was even founded. She was to be the sixth member of the congregation. It seems strange now to note that her first profession took place a whole nine years later! Such were the unusual times of the foundation period in MMM.

Like Sr. St. John, Sr. M. Oliver went to Anua, Nigeria, immediately after finishing her midwifery training in 1938. She stayed there during World War II, returning to Ireland in 1945.

She became novice mistress in Drogheda in 1948 and did not return to her beloved Nigeria until 1960. She returned to work in Urua Akpan and Nkalagu, and later in Ondo and Ibadan.

She was remembered by her novices as an earnest and devoted Sister who had little preparation for, or confidence enough, to undertake the onerous task of formation. However, she put her heart into this ministry, relying on direction from Mother Mary and inspiration from the Holy Spirit and is remembered with gratitude by many.

She contracted poliomyelitis and never fully regained the power in some of her limbs. During the Biafra War years she was in Ireland but returned again to Nigeria in 1971, where eventually she worked with PLAN (Pro-Family Life Association of Nigeria). She finally returned to Ireland in 1987.

As a mark of her ‘meritorious service to the Church in Ondo Diocese’ and of the diocese’s appreciation of MMM’s contribution to the diocese, she was posthumously invested with the Bene Merenti medal in January 1999.

Sr. Oliver died and is buried in Drogheda.