Ossining, N.Y., Oct. 10, 2025 – Sister Lilla Hull, M.M., a Maryknoll sister known for her work for contemplative communities, died on Sept. 19, 2025, surrounded by her Maryknoll family. She was 105.
Lilla Marie Hull was born on May 11, 1920, in Glencoe, Illinois, the second of five children of Loretta Cassidy and Sanford William Hull. Her oldest sister, Alice, married Bob Lynch, and Lilla’s three younger siblings: Sanford (Sandy) John Hull married Helen Moloney, Betty married Michael Gillespie, and James (Jim) Hull married Evelyn.
On Dec. 7, 1939, Sr. Lilla entered Maryknoll, and when she became a novice in 1940, she received the name Sr. Miriam Angela. On June 30, 1942, Sr. Lilla made her First Profession of Vows and her Final Vows in 1945. On Oct. 15, 1946, she entered the Contemplative Community at Maryknoll. After Vatican II, she reverted to her baptismal name, Lilla Marie Hull.
Around this time, Sr. Lilla, together with leaders in other contemplative communities, helped launch the Association of Contemplative Sisters throughout the United States. Also, in the Archdiocese of New York, Sr. Lilla was influential in the establishment of the Metropolitan Association of Contemplative Communities, of which she was the first president. For the next five decades, Sr. Lilla helped begin the Houses of Prayer on the East Coast; was founder and coordinator of the first cloister outside of Maryknoll, a prayer presence among the Navajo People in New Mexico; was part of Maryknoll’s contemplative community in Guatemala; and was a spiritual directress in New York for sisters and lay people.
In August 2017, Sr. Lilla’s health was declining; however, she continued to keep ties with the Contemplative Community. In 2019, Sr. Lilla celebrated her 80 years in Maryknoll with all the Maryknoll Sisters Jubilarians in Main Chapel. She led the procession at the beginning of the Jubilee Mass, and literally danced up the aisle. For the next six years, she was lovingly cared for by her Maryknoll family, nurses and aides as her health continued to decline.
Sr. Lilla is survived by many loving nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. Her siblings and their spouses all predeceased Sr. Lilla.
A wake for Sr. Lilla Hull was held on Sept. 30 in the Annunciation Chapel on the grounds of Maryknoll Sisters in Ossining, N.Y. A Mass of the Resurrection was held on Oct. 1 also in the Annunciation Chape










