She was honored by Pope Paul VI for her work as a missionary at the Vatican where she led educational tours of St. Peter's Basilica.
Sister Assumption seemed always to be creating new institutions. She built a school for young students in Cuba and established a Handmaid community in the Philippines. She worked among the poor and created opportunites for students and their families that didn't exist before her arrival.
By the time she left the Philippines, a Handmaid novitiate had been instituted.
The school in Wyncote was recognized four times by the U.S. Department of Education. It was named a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, most recently in 2010.
Sister Assumption spent 19 years in parish ministry in Miami, where she worked in the Hispanic community before she returned to Wyncote to retire in 1993.
She was born into a life of privilege in Bilbao, Spain, as one of the six children of Manuela and Pepe Escauriaza. She entered the Handmaid novitiate in Salamanca, Spain, in 1935.
She later studied at the University of London where she received a certificate of proficiency in English and a teaching certificate from the Royal Drawing Society of England.
She took her final vows as a Handmaid of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1942 in Loyola, Spain. In 1946, she came to the U.S.
"A spirited and energetic woman, Sister Assumption engaged with others so well," said Sister Dorothy Beck, provinical superior of the Handmaids.
A funeral liturgy was held Saturday at St. Joseph Manor Chapel in Meadowbrook. Burial was in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Cheltenham.
A Sister Assumption Escauriaza Memorial Fund has been established to honor her life's work. Contributions may be made to the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus USA Province, 616 Coopertown Road, Haverford, PA 19041.
Contact John F. Morrison at morrisj@phillynews.com or 215-854-5573.
