Slain Mississippi nuns had spent lives helping the poor and sick

The two Catholic nuns found dead in their home in rural Mississippi on Thursday spent their lives serving the sick and the poorest.

Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill, both 68, were found dead Thursday morning when they failed to report to work at Lexington Medical Clinic where they served as nurse practitioners for years. Official reports reveal stab wounds, signs of a break-in, and that the authorities later found the victims' missing car abandoned.

Those who personally knew and worked with the nuns talked about the huge loss of their sudden deaths.

"They were two of the sweetest, most gentle women you can imagine. Their vocation was helping the poor," Rev. Greg Plata, head of the 35-member St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington attended by the sisters, told The Clarion-Ledger.

The small congregation cancelled their weekly Bible studies and meal this Thursday night.

"They would do anything for anybody. Folks in Holmes County don't realize the impact it will have without them being here," CBS News quoted lay leader Sam Sample as saying.

Lisa Dew, the manager at Lexington Medical Clinic, said the nuns were instrumental in acquiring medicines for the patients as well as cultivating care and relationships.

"I think their absence is going to be felt for a long, long time," said Dew. "Holmes County, it's one of the poorest in the state. There's a lot of people here who depended on them for their care and their medicines. It's going to be rough."

The nuns' co-worker Dr. Elias Abboud said that the rural county relied on at least 25 percent medical aid from the clinic.

"I think the community is going to be different after this. You need somebody with that passion to love the people and work in the underserved area," said Abboud.

Held belonged to the School Sisters of St. Francis in Milwaukee for 49 years while Merrill worked with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Kentucky for 30 years.

The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth featured the vocation of the two nuns in a 2010 article for their publication The Journey.

"We simple do what we can wherever God places us," Merrill told the publication.