Hospital Sisters of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis

Sr. M. Raymunda


Sister Raymunda was born on 15th November, 1935, in Wąsice and was named Elizabeth Sonka. She has one sister. The parents brought up their daughters in humble faith. They taught them trust in God and appreciation for God’s gifts. Little Elizabeth watched her father with admiration and learnt from him great love for land and animals. She saw him look after the animals on the farm with care and work in the fields, so she also started living this way. She especially liked horses and was keen on farm work. So later in the convent when the superiors entrusted her with care of the farm she took it on with joy and worked on the farm by the Provincial House in Ołdrzychowice for long years. She was here, there, and everywhere. She liked to play different jokes and tricks.

Being asked about her vocation she answered: “I just followed my heart. I followed Jesus when I was 21, although I was to inherit a farm from my father, but my love for Jesus was stronger. And so I have been following Jesus in my religious life for 53 years. And why did I choose our congregation? In 1953 I started a job in Gierałcice where our Sisters run a house for sick boys. I liked working with the Sisters. One day Sister Datula, who also worked there, told me: ‘Elisabeth, you will enter a convent’. It was said with some presentiment, even certainty. Those words were haunting me. The thought of entering the congregation matured in my heart and on 17th August, 1956 I became a Postulant in Ołdrzychowice Kłodzkie.” This year she celebrates her golden jubilee in religious life.

Sister Raymunda has taken jobs in different posts of Polish Province. At present, she shows her joy, warmth and interest to everyone she meets in Dobrzeń Wielki. She continues her love for Sister Mother Earth; she has responsibility for the garden and park which covers almost two acres and she instructs her co-workers on what needs attention on a daily basis. She often sits in the convent chapel and gazes for a long time at the One she loves, for whom she left her beloved farm and to whom she entrusts you and me.