Martha Elizabeth Cecil was born on October 10, 1932, to Anthony Dominic Cecil Sr., and Lucy Hayden Cecil. She was fifth of nine children – Anthony Dominic Jr., William Randall, John Tyler, Joan, James Paschal, Mary Lucy, Michael David, and Judy Margaret.
Martha Elizabeth was baptized on October 17, 1932, at St. Stephen Cathedral. In the early 1930s, they moved from Utica, Ky., to Knottsville, Ky. She was confirmed on May 14, 1940, at St. William Church in Knottsville by Bishop Francis Cotton. Their home was across from St. William Church and School. It was there that she first met the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint. Joseph. They became her teachers all through her school years.
She started to school at St. William School when she was five years old. When she was ready for the seventh grade, the family moved to Owensboro where she still had Ursuline Sisters at St. Joseph School.
When she came to Mount Saint Joseph Academy in 1949 as a junior, she knew that she wanted to live here for the rest of her life. She entered as a postulant on February 13, 1950, with 24 other young women.
She began her novitiate years on August 14, 1950. It was on this date that she became Sister Mary Jude. She chose “Mary Jude” because of her mother’s great devotion to Saint Jude. She made temporary profession on August 15, 1952, and made perpetual profession on August 15, 1955.
She was a teacher at Mount Saint Joseph Academy from 1967-1969. She taught or was principal in Paducah for 36 years, and ministered in New Haven, Ky., Tennessee and Nebraska. After retiring to the Motherhouse, she tutored the Sisters of the Lamb of God in French and volunteered at Centro Latino in Owensboro.
Sister Mary Jude Cecil, 87, died on December 16, 2019, at Mount Saint Joseph, in her 69th year of religious life. The funeral Mass was on Monday, December 23, 2019, at 10:30 a.m. in the Motherhouse Chapel, with burial in the convent cemetery.