CHICAGO (WLS) — A Chicago-area nun known as an advocate for immigrants has died.

Sister Patricia Murphy passed away this week, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas confirmed.

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For nearly two decades, Sister Pat and another nun organized Friday morning prayer vigils outside the immigration processing center in Broadview.

In 2022, she helped start an organization that assists refugee families in finding shelter.

Sister Pat was 96.

“Throughout all the violence Pat saw inflicted on the many people she accompanied, she lobbied for, or for whom she protested, I admired both Pat-and her dear friend and accomplice Sister JoAnn Persch-because they resisted evil by taking the Gospel message very, very seriously. ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ And do good to others even if they wish you ill,” Sister Susan Sanders, President of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, said in a statement. “This, I believe, was at the heart of their spiritual resilience, and spiritual resistance. Prayer. Courage. Nonviolence. Persistence. And love.”

“Sister Pat Murphy dedicated her life to making the world a better, more caring place,” Illinois Senator Dick Durbin said in a statement. “She was a voice for the voiceless,and the work she did for immigrants and refugees truly embodies the best of humanity. Today I mourn the loss of my friend who wasa relentless leader in our fight for immigration reform, and I will honor Sister Pat’s legacy by continuing her efforts. She often returned to what Pope Francis once said, ‘an immigrant is your brother. You can’t just walk past him. You have to respond.'”