Born: July 19, 1932 Entrance: August 4, 1951 Professed: May 3, 1954 Died: October 21, 2025
Christ, whom she trusted in her life, took our dear Sister M. Eufredis, née Helga Magdalena Scharnet, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, to Himself.
Christ, my Christ!
(Prayer by Sr. M. Eufredis)
Sister M. Eufredis was born in Marienburg in West Prussia, where she spent the first years of her childhood. Her father was transferred to Briesen as a police officer, where Helga was able to attend secondary school. As the Eastern Front drew closer, the family had to leave their home in 1944 and, after many detours, ended up in the Protestant city of Bremerhaven. At that time, it was common for Catholic families to be deliberately sent to Protestant areas. This difficult time had a profound effect on her. She talked about it repeatedly. To graduate from school, the girl attended elementary school and then business school.
At St. Joseph’s Hospital, she got to know the Franciscan sisters as an apprentice cook and was able to join them in Münster in 1951.
After passing her nursing exam, she worked in several hospitals in nursing and in the laboratory. Many of us know Sister M. Eufredis as the friendly sister with sparkling eyes at the gate in Kroge. She was then allowed to spend a few more years in Brake, overlooking Bremerhaven, her second home. In 2006, Sister M. Eufredis came to St. Heriburg House and took over the visiting service for her sisters for a long time. Since 2015, she had been a senior there and, for the past year, a resident of the St. Klara residential group, where she lovingly cared for until she passed away at 7:00 a.m.. Sister M. Eufredis was deeply affected by her experiences as a refugee, which never left her. Her anchor was always Christ, to whom she prayed: “Christ, my Christ!”
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Eufredis. In prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist, we remember her and remain united with her in sisterhood.
New Provincial Leadership of the German Province Elected
Shortly after the conclusion of the Provincial Chapter of the German Province, the Provincial Chapter of the JapUnder the motto “Pilgrims of Hope,” we were able to experience days of prayer, exchange, counsel, and decision-making.
Spiritual Opening
Father Michael Plattig opened the chapter with a Eucharistic celebration in which he invited us to trust in the Spirit of God—and at the same time to celebrate the chapter as a feast. A special sign was the lighting of the chapter candle by Sr. Leemary, a symbol of the light of the Holy Spirit that accompanied us.
Work and Spiritual Impulses
Sr. M. Margarete, in her reflection on the theme “Pilgrims of Hope,” provided a valuable foundation for exchange and shared reflection. Our days were marked by discussion groups, times of prayer, a daily bibliolog, and the sharing of personal stories of hope. In this way, a deep sense of connection and orientation toward the future grew.
Gratitude and Remembrance
During Vespers, we commemorated with reverence the 104 sisters who passed away over the past four years. Their witness remains alive in our community.
Election of the New Provincial Leadership
On September 13, the electoral chapter began under the chairmanship of our Superior General, Sr. M. Margarete, and moderator Sr. Ruth Pucher. We joyfully announce the newly elected provincial leadership:
Sr. M. DiethildeBövingloh
Sr. MarianneKamlage
Sr. LeemarySebastian
Sr. M. VeraLütkebohmert
We thank them for their willingness to take on this service and wish them God’s abundant blessing.
A festive evening, a shared pilgrimage to Telgte—our place of foundation—and the solemn signing of the closing document rounded off these days.
With great gratitude, we look back on the 2025 Provincial Chapter. Strengthened by shared prayer and carried by God’s encouragement, we continue our journey—as Pilgrims of Hope.
Sister Leemary, Sister M. Diethilde, Sister Marianne, Sister M. Vera
Gratitude for the Former Provincial Council
We express our heartfelt thanks to Sister M. Cäcilia for her dedicated service as Provincial Councilor during the past term.
Born: May 20,1942 Entrance: October 01, 1971 Professed: May 01, 1974 Died: October 02, 2025
The good and merciful God called our sister to him after a long period of illness, our dear Sister M. Lea, née Hilde Leusmann, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.
Now, Lord, you let your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation.
(From the evening prayer of the Church)
Sister M. Lea was born the third child to the farming family of Leusmann in Greven. From an early age, she wanted to become a religious sister, but her parents had other plans for her. After finishing school, she was expected to stay at home and look after her grandparents, and later her parents. It was not until the age of 29 that Hilde was finally able to join our congregation.
After completing her nursing exam at St. Franziskus Hospital in Münster, she later attended a ward manager course in Freiburg. Following this training, she worked at St. Josef’s Home in Bremen from 1983 to 1988, after which she moved to St. Rochus Hospital in Telgte. There, she cared for mentally ill women in the St. Michael protected ward. She then took over foot care of her fellow sisters and reception duties at the Maria Hilf House in Telgte.
In 2018, Sister M. Lea moved into the St. Franziskus House in Nordwalde as a resident, as her strength was steadily declining. For a long time, she was unable to leave her room. When people visited her, she was always open and friendly. She prayed a lot, read, and did needlework with Sister M. Marialdis. Now the Lord has allowed his servant Sister M. Lea to depart in peace, on the day after her 54th anniversary of joining the religious community.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Lea. We remain united to her in our prayers and in the celebration of the Eucharist.
Born: December 30, 1936 Entrance: February 11, 1956 Professed: September 17, 1958 Died: October 3, 2025
On Friday, October 3rd, 2025, at 6:08 AM, our sister Sr. M. Johanna Hisako Kataoka, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, having completed her earthly mission, was called home to the Lord while being cared for by Sr. M. Vianney, leaving behind a peaceful, peaceful expression.
Lord, you are the light of my path, my all
(Ps. 119)
Sr. M. Johanna was born in Nagasaki and experienced the atomic bombing at age 9. Blessed with good health, she always seemed full of energy as she carried out her ministry. About a year and a half ago, during a routine checkup, her primary physician found an abnormal value in one test result. Further examination led to a diagnosis of “intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.” Sr. M. Johanna received detailed explanations from several specialist physicians regarding the options for medical or surgical treatment and the prognosis. After prayerful consideration, she chose “not to undergo active treatments such as surgery or chemotherapy, but to leave things to God’s will and follow nature’s course.” She expressed her wish to spend her final days in the palliative care unit (hospice). On September 3rd, the anniversary of the establishment of the Japanese Province, she was admitted to the palliative care ward, marking exactly one month of her battle with illness. Serving in her second term as Superior of the Himeji Convent, she poured her whole heart and soul into demonstrating her love for the sisters entrusted to her care, as well as for the international sisters, including the General Superior, faithfully fulfilling her sacred duties.
Sr. M. Johanna wrote a letter titled “Gratitude and Thanks” to us sisters this past July. In it, she reflected on her life and expressed her thoughts on the many graces she had received through the sisters in this congregation.
Born: June 15, 1943 Entrance: August 15, 1962 Professed: May 3,1965 Died: September 30, 2025
In this confidence, our dear Sister M. Aloysi, née Barbara Stroinski, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, gave her life back into the hands of God.
Into your hands I place with confidence my spirit
(Psalm 31:6)
Sister M. Aloysi was the last Provincial Superior of the former Rheinisch Province in Kamp-Lintfort, from 1993 until its dissolution in 1998. Before that, she was Provincial Vicaress there. She led the province with prudence and foresight and led it into the chapter in which the merger of the two German provinces was decided. We would like to thank Sister M. Aloysi most sincerely for her ministry.
Sister M. Aloysi was born in Cottbus in the former DDR. She later came to West Germany with her parents and got to know our community as a student at the nursing school in Datteln. It was there that the principal, Sister M. Ludowika, made a particular impression on the young woman.
After joining the religious community, she completed the school for social pedagogy and trained as a home manager. She then managed the student hostel in Datteln. She later became convent superior at the seminary in Bochum-Querenburg. After her time as provincial superior, she lived in a small convent in Krefeld and was involved in pastoral work there. She also did this in Billerbeck and Hamminkeln-Dingden.
In 2017, Sister M. Aloysi came to St. Heriburg House as a resident and took part in the convent and prayer life for as long as she was able. In recent times, she was completely dependent on the help of the staff and sisters, who were very happy to have her, as she accepted her numerous ailments, trusting that God always carried her and supported her even in the most difficult moments. This is what she told us in her personal will.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Aloysi. We remember her in our prayers and in the celebration of the Eucharist and remain connected to her as sisters.
Born: December 22, 1926 Entrance: January 30, 1953 Professed: October 28, 1955 Died: September 26, 2025
In the early hours of the morning, Jesus Christ, to whom she had entrusted her life, called to himself our dear Sister M. Innozentia née Paula Vaske, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.
Jesus be Jesus to me!
(Nils Stensen)
Sister M. Innozentia was born the eighth child of the Vaske family in Diekhaus, near Emstek. She grew up in a sheltered environment on her parents’ farm. She spoke fondly of her happy childhood, which was shaped by the Catholic faith and a down-to-earth attitude. Two of her older sisters, Sister M. Bercharia and Sister M. Melita, joined our congregation. They were her great role models. At the age of 27, Paula followed them and also became a fellow sister in our congregation, taking the name Sister M. Innozentia.
Sister M. Innozentia served as superior and convent leader in Epe, Ibbenbüren-Püsselbüren and Epe again, for a total of 24 years. She then managed housekeeping at the seminary in Bochum and at the Bernsmeyer House in Telgte. In 2011, she returned to the mother house, moving to St. Heriburg House as a resident in 2021. In recent times, her strength had declined significantly, leaving her increasingly dependent on assistance. Sister M. Maris accompanied her on her journey for many years, supporting her and standing by her side until the final phase of her life. She gave her life back to God after 98 years, and prayed trustingly to him until the end, saying: ‘Jesus, be Jesus to me!’
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Innozentia. We remain united with her in our prayers and in the celebration of the Eucharist. We offer our sympathy to her faithful companion, Sister M. Maris.
Born: May 04, 1940 Entrance: August 15, 1963 Professed: May 03, 1966 Died: September 25, 2025
The good and faithful God whom she worshipped in the Eucharist called our sister, Sister M. Ingeburg, née Annemarie Heidermann, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis to Himself.
Praise and glory be given without end to
Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament!
(Eucharistic Adoration)
Sister M. Ingeburg was born in Erle, near Dorsten. Her parents owned a hairdressing salon. Their daughter trained as a hairdresser and worked in the salon for several years. However, this was not her life’s goal. In 1962, aged 23, she joined the domestic service at Dorsten Hospital and subsequently entered our congregation. After passing her nursing exams, she worked at St Rochus Hospital in Telgte for twenty years. She then had the opportunity to attend a one-year spiritual seminar in Munich, preparing her for her pastoral ministry at St Josef’s Foundation in Bremen and Löningen. From 2014 onwards, Sister M. Ingeburg welcomed guests to St. Franziskus House in Nordwalde. A few months ago, she fell seriously ill. As she had wished, she died in the presence of a fellow sister.
Sister M. Ingeburg drew strength from the Eucharist and from the words of Holy Scripture.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Ingeburg. We remain united with her in our prayers and in the celebration of the Eucharist.
Born: September 20, 1936 Entrance: October 08, 1960 Professed: May 03, 1946 Died: September 12, 2025
On the evening of her 89th birthday, the good and merciful GOD took the cross from her shoulders and called our sister, née Agnes Tappehorn, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis to Himself.
In the cross is salvation, in the cross is life, in the cross is hope.
(Edith Stein)
Sister M. Kunhildis was born in Friesoythe in September 1936. In November 1936, Hitler ordered that crosses be removed from schools in the Oldenburg region. This obviously had a profound effect on Agnes Tappehorn. She wanted the key cross from the church in Friesoythe for her death notice. She also always had a good relationship with Our Lady of Bethen. Thus, she lived until the end from the strength of her Catholic faith, which she had come to know and appreciate through her family and her Oldenburg homeland.
At the age of 24, she joined our congregation. Sister M. Kunhildis became a nurse and completed further training as a massage therapist and medical bath attendant. From 1966 to 1989, she worked in physical therapy in Kamp-Lintfort and Meerbusch-Lank in the Rhineland. She was later able to express her creative side when she worked as a night nurse for her elderly sisters in Kamp-Lintfort and at the Maria Hilf retirement home in Telgte. Sister M. Kunhildis lived in Kroge from 2008 onwards. For many years, she lovingly cared for the guests of the convent and took care of the laundry. In recent months, her health had deteriorated, and she wished to devote herself to God, to whom she had made a promise when she took her vows. Sister M. Kunhildis had always had a good relationship with her family. That is why she was very happy to be able to spend the last phase of her life in Kroge. She always enjoyed visits from her relatives. They were with her on the day she died, actually for a birthday visit, which was to be their last. We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Kunhildis. We remember her in our prayers and in the celebration of the Eucharist and remain united with her in sisterly love.
The series “Pilgrims of Hope” is a monthly spiritual contribution to the Holy Year – a collaboration between the international Generalate of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis and the Muenster-based German church publication “Kirche und Leben” (“Church+Life”). Our topic in September: Hope for Support
A year ago, in mid-September 2024, large parts of Eastern Europe were hit by heavy rain and flooding. Many people lost their lives. In Poland, the region where the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis have been active since 1848 was particularly affected: when a dam broke, a flood wave poured into the Lower Silesian town of Ołdrzychowice Kłodzkie, home to the Motherhouse of our Polish Province. Roads, walls, cars, fences, and trees were simply swept away, and houses were flooded. When the water finally receded, the full extent of the devastation became apparent.
View from the Motherhouse of the Polish Province after the flood
At that time, the Provincial Superior of the Polish Province, Sister M. Maksymiliana Pilarska, was in Münster with a delegation of fellow Sisters to attend the General Chapter of the international Congregation. “Half of our group traveled back to our Motherhouse as quickly as possible,” she recalls today. What the Sisters found exceeded their worst fears. “The buildings were filled with water meters high. There was no electricity, no heating, no fresh water, no telephone, no internet.” Even a year later, the renovation work is still not complete.
Sister M. Stella Kowalska helped provide warmth and food
But looking back, it is not only horror that stands out, but also gratitude. “The support we received in this emergency situation was incredible – both locally and internationally.” This support came from neighbors, people from the region, the Polish government, the Sisters’ families, and the international Congregation. “The Generalate, our International Leadership in Münster, procured generators, drying equipment, and materials that were immediately sold out in our region,” reports Sister Maksymiliana. “They also provided medicine, water, food, and much more.” The German Province of the Congregation, the St. Franziskus Foundation, and the St. Antonius Parish in Münster also participated in the emergency aid, as did the shipping company Fiege Healthcare Logistics, which provided transportation. Urgently needed financial aid also came from Münster and from many people in Poland and around the world. By November 2024, the Sisters had received 369 monetary donations, both small and large. The Sisters shared their materials and funds with other affected people in the area. “We would like to once again express our heartfelt thanks to all our supporters,” emphasizes Sister Maksymiliana.
Provincial Superior Sister M. Maksymiliana Pilarska after chopping wood for the stoves
“The fact that we can help each other in times of need is one of the great gifts of our internationality,” says the Superior General of the Mauritzer Franciscan Sisters, Sister M. Margarete Ulager. However, the Franciscan Sisters’ worldwide aid is not limited to acute situations or to their own community. The sisters in the USA, who have been active in health care since 1875 and have founded many hospitals in the Midwest, have launched “Mission Outreach”: Based in Springfield, Illinois, the organization addresses the urgent medical needs of people in resource-poor areas around the world by collecting medical supplies and equipment from US hospitals, sorting them, repairing them if necessary, and then distributing them to hospitals and medical aid organizations worldwide. Mission Outreach’s biomedical engineering department tests and manages 700 medical devices and their associated consumables each year. The organization can count on the support of more than 300 volunteers to pack, inventory, and ship the relief supplies.
“Mission Outreach” is supported by more than 300 volunteers
Since its founding in 2002, it has saved more than $85 million worth of medical supplies and equipment that would otherwise have ended up in landfills. It has already supported 530 medical aid organizations worldwide; and in August 2024, the Mission Outreach team was delighted to reach its 100th country with a delivery to Burundi.
“What can I personally do to alleviate suffering – here and now, with my resources and capabilities?” This question already moved our namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, 800 years ago. He gave away all his worldly possessions and dedicated his life to serving God, and the sick and marginalized. Inspired by his example, we Hospital Sisters have been searching for new answers to this question ever since our Congregation was founded in 1844. And we have gratefully accepted the support we have been given. For example, from Leoś, a 10-year-old Polish boy: with the money he received as a gift for his First Communion, he bought a dehumidifier for the Sisters in Ołdrzychowice Kłodzkie.
By Sister M. Beata Kapica and Claudia Berghorn
This article was published in German, online and in print, in the Diocese of Muenster’s magazine, “Kirche+Leben”(Church+Life), in September 2025.
I was born on December 25, 1945, in Madison, Wisconsin, and I grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where I enjoyed swimming in Lake Michigan, ice skating, and sports. My goal was to be a nurse, and while the idea of religious life crossed my mind, I knew that most Sisters were teachers, nurses, or social workers.
I entered the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis on September 8, 1964, and professed First Vows on August 22, 1967. I earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Marillac College, St. Louis, Missouri, and received certification as a Neonatal Nurse Clinician from Georgetown University (Washington, DC). I also completed studies from the Institute for Religious Formation (Catholic Theological Union) and the Institute for Spiritual Leadership (Chicago, Illinois). Throughout my religious life, I have served as a nurse at some of our hospitals in Illinois and Wisconsin, along with another Franciscan hospital in Illinois and a health center in Missouri. In addition, I served as the Pre-Novitiate Minister.
For the past 18 years, my ministry has been in Chicago serving at a homeless shelter, was a spiritual director, and taught the 12-Step Program (an international program supporting recovery from substance addictions, behavioral addictions, and compulsions). I gave retreats to university students and homeless women where I used my knowledge of nursing, religious formation, the 12 Steps, and community outreach. It was a rewarding experience to live and work with others from various cultures.
Throughout my life, I have learned the importance of not cutting off communication with God during tough times, always doing what you love, and finding ways to nurture your spirituality.
I, Sister Maria Fidelis was born on October 18, 1951, the feast of St. Luke, in a clinic room on the second floor of my grandfather’s house, who had a clinic in Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture. At the time of my birth, I had two elder brothers and a sister three years older than me. When I was born, my sister was playing in the yard with a helper when she heard the baby’s birth and went around to everyone she met saying, “The baby was born from the roof.” I was often teased, “You were born from the roof.” I was blessed with the opportunity to play in the waiting area and medicine room of this clinic and meet the neighbors who came as patients, especially the poor-feeling people who were taught that as Christians they had met persecution and lost everything to defend their faith. I grew up and lived here until I graduated from high school.
When I was 23 days old, I was baptized without my family being present. It is true that I was baptized, as my name is listed as Maria in the baptismal register of the church. My father was baptized as a Protestant from Buddhism as an adult and later converted to Catholicism, where he found the truth after a serious search. My mother, when she married and had her first son, thought it would not be good for our family to be divided, so my eldest brother and my mom were baptized together. None of her relatives were Catholics. In the church at that time, it was said that if the child born was not baptized early, the child would be taken by the devil, and the lady sent to my mother from the church disappeared with me for about an hour. My father was on a business trip and my mother was on leave after childbirth, so she was grounded. It was a long time for her, and she felt uncomfortable and on edge. I once heard my parents being verbally abused and persecuted by their relatives because they had joined the Catholic faith. I was saddened at the time, but I can only thank my parents for planting the seeds of faith in me.
My hometown, Hirado City, located at the westernmost tip of the mainland Japanese archipelago, is a port city with a long tradition of prosperity as a stage for trade with overseas countries, mainly in East Asia, since the time of the Sui Dynasty envoys, and as an international city with ties to Western countries such as Portugal and the Netherlands during the Age of Exploration in the 16th century. It also had ties with the Asian missionary Francis Xavier and was one of the places where the seeds of the Catholic faith were planted. Later, when the persecution of Christianity began, the area became a refuge for those who met persecution as Christians and lost everything to defend their faith, and many of them were poor. Perhaps because of this, or perhaps because of the strong image that joining the Christian faith equals poverty, the opposition of the people around them to my parents was extraordinary.
From the time I was in elementary school, I had decided to become a doctor like my grandfather, and I followed that path until my sophomore year of high school. However, during my sophomore year of high school, for some reason, “Through Mary to Christ” became etched in my mind. I thought it must have been one of the many books I enjoyed reading, but I could not find the passage anywhere. When I think of my religious vocation, I don’t even know when I first realized that the path of a sister was available to me.
People around me including my family could not believe that I would so easily change my mind about becoming a medical doctor, which had been my goal since I was a small child, and in line with my parents’ wishes, it was decided that my career decision would be withheld until I turned 20, and I was encouraged to study to become a homemaker and move to Tokyo to earn time at a college run by the Salesian Sisters. The study itself was interesting and I was blessed with friends. During that time, I experienced being a surrogate mother for the baptism and confirmation of several of my classmates and juniors. It was around this time that my father introduced me to a Franciscan priest he knew, and I began attending Seta on a regular basis. I had no contact with the Congregation or the sisters, so I had only a vague idea that I wanted to become a Sister, but my desire to become a Sister became stronger and stronger.
I was not sure which congregation I wanted to join, so I said, “I want to be involved with the sick.” There seemed to be many sisters in that field, and he gave me one name after another. I decided on the spot to join the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis Hospital, which was the first one the priest mentioned. During school vacations, instead of going home, I visited convents in Tokyo, Himeji, and Nagasaki.
After graduation, I took a job in the office of St. Francis Hospital in Nagasaki, where I received my first salary in my life and worked there until I was admitted to membership the following year. At that time, I met Sister M. Vianney, who was already working as a nurse, and we attended Mass every morning, even while sleeping, and shared a full meal together in the cafeteria. I became a member of our Congregation on February 11 at the age of 22 and have gone through each step of the process until today.
When I made my First Vows, I was sent to the office work of St. Mary’s Hospital in Himeji, and toward the end of my temporary vows, I was sent to the office wok at Easter Village in Ashikaga. After making my Final Vows, it was suggested that I obtain a pharmacist’s license, and I was able to enroll in a university within walking distance from our Tokyo Convent. As a result, I passed the national exam and was able to serve as a pharmacist at St. Mary’s Hospital for several years. At St. Francis Hospital, I was appreciated that I managed to be of service even when there was a shortage of Pharmacists. I have been sent to administrative positions for quite some time in the formation and administration of the Sisters in the province, as well as in the apostolate.
Next year will the 50th anniversary of my First Vows. Recently, I have been looking forward to the next successor.
On this occasion of this opportunity to share my story, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the Congregation and the love of God who has accepted me, nurtured me, and given me the opportunity to serve you.
February 20th, 2025 at Himeji Convent Sr. Maria Fidelis Furukawa Masako
Born: September 21, 1938 Entrance: February 4, 1961 Professed: October 28, 1963 Died: August 26, 2025
Our Sister completed her earthly life by the hand of the Mother of God and under her protection, Sister M. Kunibalda, née Katharina Heuer, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.
Virgin, Mother of God, let me be wholly yours! Yours for time and eternity!
(Prayer to Mary)
Sister M. Kunibalda was born into a mining family in Bottrop. She spent her childhood with her thirteen siblings, first in the Ruhr area and then in Legden near Ahaus from 1950 onwards. The family was characterized by a deep Christian faith and active involvement in the Catholic Church.
After finishing school, she helped her mother with the housework and earned money working on a farm before joining as the staff at Ahaus Hospital. She then joined our congregation in Muenster and was named Sister M. Kunibalda.
Following her nursing exams, she worked on a men’s internal medicine ward in Waltrop, in an intensive care unit in Gladbeck, and on another men’s ward in Wadersloh. In Kamp-Lintfort, she gained proficiency in ECG examinations. She then spent 38 years at Elisabeth Hospital in Meerbusch-Lank: 20 years in the ECG department, followed by a period in charge of the Sisters department. When the convent was dissolved in 2020, she moved to Nordwalde, where she spent her final days lovingly cared for by her fellow Sisters, the staff and her niece, who visited her on the day she died.
Sister M. Kunibalda was a great devotee of the Virgin Mary. She often entrusted herself to the Mother of God and loved praying to her. The months of May and October, traditionally associated with the rosary, were particularly precious to her.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Kunibalda. We remain united with her through sisterly love and the celebration of the Eucharist.
Born: May 15, 1941 Entrance: April 24, 1965 Professed: October 28, 1967 Died: August 26, 2025
After a long illness, the good and merciful God called to Himself our dear Sister M. Ulrike, née Hedwig Wienand, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.
I am certain to see God’s goodness in the land of the living.
(From Psalm 25)
Sister M. Ulrike was born in Stadtlohn, where she was raised alongside her four brothers and one sister. Her father died in a bombing raid when she was just three years old. During the war, their family home was destroyed in a fire, leaving her mother to raise six young children alone. This event had a profound effect on her and on family life. The young woman tried to support her family with the money she earned herself. At the age of 24, she met our Sisters at the hospital in Stadtlohn and joined our congregation. Following her religious profession, Sister M. Ulrike completed her secondary education in Münster and passed her nursing exam. From 1971 to 1986, she was Head Nurse on the women’s surgical ward at St. Bernhard Hospital in Kamp-Lintfort. She then attended the annual seminar for senior nurses in Göttingen.
During this time, she had a serious bicycle accident that changed her life. Unfortunately, she was never able to return to her previous level of activity. She worked as a sacristan at Haus Maria Trost and at the newly opened convent in Bardowick. She then worked at the reception desk in Bremen, Südlohn, and Telgte. In 2021, her strength declined so much that Sister M. Ulrike came to St. Heriburg House as a senior sister. Since 2022, she had been a resident of the Sylvia ward in Kroge, where she now gave her life back into God’s hands. Sister M. Simone lovingly accompanied her through her final years and remained by her side until her death.
Sister M. Ulrike was a deeply devout woman who lived by the teachings of the Gospel. She took a keen interest in all new theological topics. It was always a joy to discuss things with her.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Ulrike. We remember her in our prayers and in the celebration of the Eucharist and remain united with her in sisterly love.
Born: August 20, 1930 Entrance: August 13, 1954 Professed: May 3, 1957 Died: August 25, 2025
GOD, the good shepherd to whom she entrusted her life, led our Sister home to complete her 95-year journey through life, Sister M. Liobalda, née Johanna Muhle, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.
“The Lord is my sheperd; I have everything I need.”
(Psalm 23,1)
Sister M. Liobalda was born in Olfen in the district of Lüdinghausen and grew up with her uncle. Her parents died when she was three years old. Two of her four siblings also became nuns. She learned cooking from the Franciscan Sisters at the Seppenraden hospital. At the age of 24, she joined the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis, became a nurse, and a dietitian.
IIn Emstek and Ankum, Sister M. Liobalda managed the hospital kitchen and then, from 1984 to 1998, served as the Superior and housekeeper at the priests’ seminary in Muenster. This was the time when Pope John Paul II visited Muenster. He stayed at the seminary at that time. For the next ten years, Sister M. Liobalda was the convent superior at the Ahaus hospital. After that, she worked in the library of the Lüdinghausen hospital. Then she moved to the motherhouse and took care of the chapel of Maria-Trost home in Muenster.
In 2016, Sister M. Liobalda moved into St. Heriburg House as a resident. She was increasingly limited by her illnesses. However, this did not prevent her from regularly attending church services in her wheelchair for as long as she could. It was her wish that the psalm verse “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” should appear on her death notice. In this way, she wanted to tell us that she always knew she was in the hands of the Good Shepherd and was thus able to master her long life, even after the early loss of her parents and with her serious illnesses.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Liobalda. In prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist, we remember her and remain united with her in sisterly love.
The series “Pilgrims of Hope” is a monthly spiritual contribution to the Holy Year – a collaboration between the international Generalate of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis and the Muenster-based German church publication “Kirche und Leben” (“Church+Life”). Our topic in August: Hope for Arrival.
Pilgrimages have been very popular for some time now. One example is the Way of St. James or “Camino”, which was designated a European Cultural Route by the Council of Europe in 1987 and is highly recommended. The official website of the German Way of St. James headquarters states that in the “record year” of 2024, almost half a million people traveled the “Camino” for the first time. They came from almost 200 countries, with pilgrims from Germany statistically ranking fourth – after Spain, America, and Italy.
The media also plays a major role in the growing awareness and popularity of pilgrimage routes. After German comedian and author Hape Kerkeling published his travelogue “Ich bin dann mal weg” (I’m off then) in 2006, the number of Germans on the Camino rose so sharply that statisticians even speak of a “Kerkeling effect.” The thousands of photos of the beautiful landscape posted on social media are also fueling this trend.
View from Subiaco Monastery
Even if modern pilgrimages are not always religiously motivated, there is often a spiritual longing behind them: the search for the essential, for one’s own path, and ultimately for the meaning of life. Many associate the pilgrimage experience with the hope of finding themselves. This begins long before the actual journey, when pilgrims plan their hiking stages, leave everyday life behind and consider what is absolutely essential in a backpack that, in the best case, weighs only six kilos.
It’s easier to travel with light luggage: pilgrimage has always been a metaphor for the journey of life. Its first boom can be traced back to the Middle Ages. Even then, Santiago de Compostela was one of the three most important Christian pilgrimage destinations, alongside Jerusalem and Rome. Our namesake, Francis of Assisi, made a pilgrimage there at the beginning of the 13th century – and as the son of a wealthy merchant family, he was one of the few who could afford to do so. In this Jubilee Year 2025, more than 40 million pilgrims are expected in the Eternal City, responding to Pope Francis’ call and invitation to be “pilgrims of hope.”
Among them will be several Sisters of various nationalities from our international Congregation, including German, Indian, and Japanese. Other Sisters from our German province, for example, have made a pilgrimage to Gerleve on the Ludgerusweg, and Sisters from the Japanese province have followed in the footsteps of St. Francis and St. Philip to Assisi and Florence.
All pilgrimages have one thing in common: they are spiritual journeys that take place in our earthly world – in the here and now. That has always been challenging. In the Middle Ages, pilgrims were warned about highwaymen; today, they are warned about pickpockets. The queues of people waiting in front of the Holy Doors in Rome are long. The security guards at St. Peter’s Basilica ensure that no one dawdles when entering through the “Porta Santa,” while their colleagues at Santa Maria Maggiore try to prevent visitors from taking selfies at the tomb of Pope Francis.
There is little silence and contemplation, but all the more distraction. And pilgrims are also people who get hungry and thirsty, who get sunburned and suffer from sore feet. Therefore, a successful pilgrimage requires not only good preparation, but also a lot of patience with oneself and with others, as well as a great deal of determination.
Pilgrimage is and remains a life experience that can be very enriching, both spiritually and personally. Given all the possibilities available today, and the many people who are on the move, it is more worthwhile than ever to think carefully in advance about where you actually want to arrive: in Santiago, Assisi, or Rome. On Instagram, in your center, or a little closer to God.
By Sister M. Hiltrud Vacker and Claudia Berghorn Photos: Kestin
This article was published in German, online and in print, in the Diocese of Muenster’s magazine, “Kirche+Leben” (Church+Life), in August 2025.
Born: May 7, 1938 Entrance: February 7, 1958 Professed: October 28, 1960 Died: August 19, 2025
The good and benevolent God called to Himself our dear fellow sister, born by the name Elisabeth Grevenstette, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.
Mary said:
“Do whatever he tells you.”
(Wedding at Cana, John 2:5)
Sister M. Siegharda was born on a farm in Gramdorf-Langwege in the district of Vechta. After finishing school, she began working in the kitchen of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Cloppenburg. Here she got to know and appreciate the sisters and her future profession. In the convent, she became a nurse and also trained as a dietitian. To be able to support the practical training of dietetic students at St Franziskus Hospital, Sister M. Siegharda attended the annual seminar at Werner School in Göttingen. For almost 30 years, she has helped many students to apply their theoretical knowledge in practice. Consequently, the hospital’s patients always received appropriate and varied diets. As well as caring for the sick, Sister M. Siegharda always had something to spare for those in need who came to her in the kitchen. Her open and positive attitude made it easy for her to connect with people.
As a devotee of Mary, the words of the Mother of God were important to her. ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Deeply rooted in her faith, after the Vatican II, she examined the innovations that were emerging within religious orders. In her limited free time, she attended theological seminars, further training courses, and discussions.
Following her time as diet kitchen manager at St. Franziskus Hospital, Sister M. Siegharda first served in the kitchen of Priests seminary in Münster, thereafter served in the Franciscan’s kitchen in Werl, and, as she grew older, became involved in Billerbeck and Vreden. In 2018, she moved to St. Anna-Stift as a senior citizen. Even here, she continued to devote herself wholeheartedly. For instance, she picked apples and cooked them in the kitchen. She also made sure to regularly clean the garden benches so that the sisters could use them. In the presence of her niece and fellow sisters, she now entrusted her rich life back into God’s hands.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Siegharda. We remember her in our prayers and in the celebration of the Eucharist and remain united with her in sisterly love.
Born: August 13, 1936 Entrance: January 31, 1959 Professed: October 28, 1961 Died: August 14, 2025
He who gives us flowers and herbs called his “flower friend” and fellow sister, born by the name Antonia Fastermann, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, to him.
“Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth, who feeds us and rules us, and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.”
(Canticle of the Sun)
Sister M. Bernreda was a true Franciscan who made the Canticle of the Sun her life’s song. We knew her as a true flower lover. In all the convents, you could tell that Sister M. Bernreda was there by the floral decorations in the chapel and in the house. We especially remember her 26 years in Seppenrade. The flowers in the convent garden and on the Sisters’ graves bloomed much larger than elsewhere. When asked about this, she said that you had to talk to them and give good fertilizer to the roots. In winter, she grew the flowers in the greenhouse and then planted them in the spring. People came from near and far to admire her garden.
In addition to being a nurse, Sister M. Bernreda was also a dietitian and head of the kitchen in Dorsten for 18 years. She then completed the annual seminar for senior sisters in Göttingen and became the assistant to the superior in Gladbeck and Oberhausen-Osterfeld and herself superior in Liesborn.
In Seppenrade, she was finally able to turn her hobby of gardening into her main profession. She was put in charge of the garden. She also took over the driving service for the Sisters and contributed her beautiful singing voice to the convent’s prayers.
When the convent in Seppenrade was dissolved in 2021, she moved to St. Franziskus House in Nordwalde as a senior citizen. By then, she had exhausted her strength, so she lovingly allowed herself to be cared for by the staff of the nursing station until she gave her life back into God’s hands on the afternoon after her 89th birthday.
How the Anjali family helps saving lives in Pithora
On February 2, 2025, the Sisters of the Indian Province had their newly built Anjali Hospital in Pithora, Raipur, blessed and dedicated. As a gesture of goodwill, Mr. Anil, the contractor responsible for constructing the hospital building, presented the Sisters with an ambulance to serve the hospital’s needs.
When Mr. Anil handed over the key to Sister M. Johncy, the Provincial Superior of the Indian Province, he was very moved. In his address, he shared both his painful memories and his joy:
“I present this ambulance for the use of the hospital, for its patients, in memory of my beloved parents. When I was a young man, my family was involved in a tragic car accident. I vividly remember the incident which occurred just four days before my wedding. My parents were severely injured. Although we made every effort to get an ambulance to take my parents to the hospital on time, we failed. We stood helplessly around my father as he died. A short time later, my mother was taken to the nearest hospital, which was 80 kilometers away from the accident site. However, she also died a few months later.
Through this haunting experience, I realized how vulnerable our human life is. I also witnessed several other critical cases in the hospital, how people suffer when timely care is not available in critical situations. The pain of that loss remained, a pain I carry with me to this day. I would not have lost my father if an ambulance had been available on time…
Mr Anil and his family, who donated the ambulance
Now, standing here, offering you the very thing that might have saved my father, my heart is full of painful memory and yet full of joy. When I began working on this hospital project, my family and I made a heartfelt decision—to gift an ambulance to your hospital, with the hope of saving as many lives as possible. What happened to my father, and the pain endured by my mother, should never happen to another victim of an accident. We are happy to be able to do this. To purchase this vehicle, the money is raised as a joint effort of my family. My children even spared every bit of their pocket money to raise this amount.”
Mr Anlil handing over the ambulance key to Sister M. Johncy, Provincial Superior of the Indian Province
The Sisters of our Indian Province and of our International Congregation are deeply grateful to Mr. Anil and his family for this wonderful and life-saving donation.
With the establishment of this hospital in Pithora, a lifelong dream of the pioneer missionaries, Sister M. Vulmara Hannöver and Sister M. Gerburg Aufderheide, the Sisters of the Indian Province and all our Sisters of the Congregation who have been involved in the planning and care of the Indian Mission has come true. It was 52 years ago that Sister M. Vulmara left for India and the following year, 1974, when Sister M. Gerburg arrived in Pithora, they had to start from scratch.
Life was very hard for both of them. The people in the village were very poor. If someone in the village was sick, they would ask the Sisters to give them some tablets against fever, malaria, typhoid, scabies… In those days, childbirth was often done at home. If it was a complicated case, they would help the baby to be born… This experience must have led them to set up a small dispensary, in a very humble way…
Sr. Gerburg caring for children in Pithora in the 70s
Inaugurating the newly built structure, Anjali Hospital, in her address to the Sisters, Sister M. Margarete Ulager, our General Superior stated: “Recalling all that has happened here during these fifty-two years of the life of the Indian Province, dear Sisters, I feel humbled to stand before you. You all have accomplished so much, and you have always tried to find God’s will within the reality of your daily life. What came into being out of the humble beginnings of Sister M. Gerburg, more than 50 years ago, is incredible. Sister M. Gerburg, you made India your home, and at the same time, you became Amma, a Mother for so many people: their nurse, their midwife, their teacher, provider, their comfort, life-saver and their consolation.”
The Indian province has nearly a hundred members serving in 17 different locations across India. Guided by the vision of Father Christopher Bernsmeyer, our founder in 1844, the Sisters carry forward his mission of rebuilding lives. They continue to serve as health professionals, teachers, and social activists – in striving to being and becoming Christ’s Healing Presence.
The series “Pilgrims of Hope” is a monthly spiritual contribution to the Holy Year – a collaboration between the international Generalate of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis and the Muenster-based German church publication “Kirche und Leben” (“Church+Life”). Our topic in July: Hope for Brothers and Sisters.
25.07.25. In 2018, a headline from the UK attracted a lot of attention: the world’s first “Ministry for Loneliness” was established in the United Kingdom. Two years later, Japan followed suit. In October 2023, an international study covering 140 countries found that almost one in four people worldwide suffers from loneliness. At almost the same time, the German government developed a “strategy against loneliness” and recently presented its latest “loneliness barometer,” which analyzes the experience of loneliness among the German population every year and states a rising trend.
Everyone agrees that loneliness is a major problem of our time, as loneliness not only weighs on the soul, but also on the body. Its toxic effect is said to be equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes every day. Some studies even point to a threat to democracy, as lonely people show significantly less trust in political institutions and a stronger tendency toward extremism.
People who experience exclusion and discrimination have always been particularly affected by loneliness. During the lifetime of St. Francis of Assisi, it was lepers who were banished from the city gates and left to their fate. The Franciscan chronicles report that a personal encounter with a leper changed Francis’ life: The rich, spoiled young man dismounted from his horse and embraced the sick man, in whom he recognized his brother, in whom he recognized Jesus. Later, Francis and his companions dedicated their lives to these very sick and marginalized people, and included all of creation in their brotherly care. This is also evidenced by the “Canticle of the Sun,” which Francis wrote 800 years ago. In it, he refers to all fellow creatures, as well as the sun, moon, and the elements, as his brothers and sisters.
Since the founding of our Congregation in 1844, inspired by the example of St. Francis, we Hospital Sisters have always tried to live this kind of “brotherhood” or “sisterhood” in our service to God and humanity. In the early 1990s, this attitude led Sister M. Juvenalis Lammers and me to Berlin. It was a time when HIV, then a new virus, was spreading fear and terror, and infection was tantamount to a death sentence. Within Germany, a particularly large number of infected people lived and died in the capital, lonely and marginalized like “new lepers,” rejected by society, by the Church, and some even by their own families.
Sister M. Hannelore Huesmann, Sister M. Juvenalis Lammers and Sister M. Margret Steggemann in front of the “memorial curtain” in memory of the people who were accompanied by the Tauwerk hospice service
In November 1992, with the approval of our Congregation’s leadership in Münster, we moved to Berlin-Pankow, a district in the former East Germany. As trained nurses, we worked for four years in clinics and outpatient care to gain experience in treating AIDS patients. It quickly became clear to us that there was a gap in the care for these patients, especially in accompanying tose dying with AIDS. To fill this gap, we founded the outpatient hospice service “Hospizdienst Tauwerk e.V.” in 1997 together with like-minded people.
Sister M. Juvenalis and Sister M. Margret in the midst of Tauwerk volunteers
Since then, with the help specially trained volunteers and Sister M. Margret Steggemann, who joined us in Berlin in 2009, we have accompanied more than 500 AIDS patients till their death, offering them acceptance, interest, dialogue, and solidarity instead of loneliness and exclusion. We are delighted to be able to continue this commitment to people with AIDS under the umbrella of the Caritas Association for the Archdiocese of Berlin, starting this year.
Sister M. Juvenalis supporting an AIDS patient
St. Francis did not need international studies to know that the best medicine for loneliness is social contact and good relationships. In accompanying the dying, we too have repeatedly felt how much comfort there is in simply having someone there—when, instead of exclusion, a healing bond becomes palpable because we encounter each other as human beings, as brothers and sisters. Not only in sickness and in death, but also in the midst of our life; not only in Assisi and Berlin, but everywhere. And if, statistically speaking, one in four people is lonely, then, in very practical terms, there is lots to do for each and every one of us, wherever we are.
By Sister M. Hannelore Huesmann and Claudia Berghorn Photos: private
This article was published in German, online and in print, in the Diocese of Muenster’s magazine, “Kirche+Leben” (Church+Life), in July 2025.
Further information on the Hospice Service in Berlin can be found in the following video, which was created in 2022 in co-operation with St. Francis Foundation and the German Province of our Congregation.
Born: January 3, 1932 Entrance: February 2, 1952 Professed: October 28, 1954 Died: July 16, 2025
On Wednesday, July 16, 2025, at 2:45 p.m., our beloved God called to himself our dear Sister M. Viventia, born by the name of Genowefa Herman, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.
The joy of the Lord is our strength.
Neh.8:10
Sister M. Viventia was born in Katowice/Chebzie.
During her postulancy, Sister M. Viventia worked as a nursing assistant in the surgical ward of St. Adalbert Hospital in Opole. She studied at a nursing school in Krakow and obtained her nursing diploma in 1964. She then worked as a highly competent nurse at the Children’s Clinic for Infectious Diseases in Wroclaw until September 1989. During this time, she was provincial councillor for six years and Superior of the local convent for twelve years. For another seven years, she worked in housekeeping and as matron at the bishop’s residence in Opole. From 1996, she lived in the provincial house, where she took on various household tasks and helped in the infirmary. In 2017, she was transferred to the nursing home in Opole-Stephanshöh because she needed treatment and rehabilitation.
Sister M. Viventia distinguished herself in her service as a nurse and by her superior kindness, goodwill, hospitality, gentleness toward all, and a great sense of humour. She had a generous and kind heart for the poor and needy who knocked on the doors of our convents. She showed great openness toward those who visited our provincial house, offering them a kind word, time, and friendliness. Many who came unexpectedly felt welcome and cared for by Sister M. Viventia, who received them at the gate. She was very conscientious in her duties.
From an early age, she had a special love for St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus. She claimed to be as stubborn as little Teresa herself. Sister M. Viventia was as persistent on the path to holiness as Saint Teresa and, like her, had a gentle and boundless love for Jesus.
She cultivated relationships with her family, showed them love and kindness, and surrounded them with prayer and gratitude.
In her last years, her physical strength declined more and more, which she accepted with resignation to God’s will, and on July 16, in the 71st year of her religious life, she slept peacefully under the protection of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and entered the Kingdom of Heaven.
She is grateful to her fellow sisters for all the kindness and service they have shown her, especially to the sisters in Opole Szczepanowice. We continue to commend herself to our prayers and trust that she will support us from heaven.
Born: February 2, 1931 Entrance: August 8, 1952 Professed: May 3, 1955 Died: July 19, 2025
In the hope that Christ, her strength and light, would guide her on her way, our fellow sister, born by the name Gertrud Schölpen, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, gave her life back into the hands of the good and merciful God.
My hope and my joy, my strength, my light,
Christ my confidence. I trust in you and am not afraid.
(Gotteslob No. 365)
Sister M. Alfriedis was born in Homberg on the Lower Rhine shortly before the beginning of the Third Reich. Her childhood and school years fell during the time of National Socialism.
Her school certificate bears a stamp with the swastika. Her Catholic family did not have an easy time, but their strong faith carried them through these difficult times and had a lasting impact on their lives.
At the age of 21, Gertrud Schölpen joined our religious order and became Sister M. Alfriedis.
Caring for the sick and elderly was always a deep concern of hers. After qualifying, she worked for 33 years as a nurse and ward sister in Hückeswagen and Waldniel. She then completed a geriatric care seminar while working, in Holthausen, and moved from the Rhineland into elder care at Körbecke on Lake Möhne, with intermediate stops in Dortmund and Sevelen. In 2012, she was finally able to rest from her long service and moved as a senior to the Maria Hilf convent in Telgte. In 2015, she transferred to the St. Heriburg House, where she spent her final months in the new ward St. Klara, enjoying the special atmosphere of this residential group.
According to reports, her namesake, Saint Alfried, died “rich in days”—and so did Sister M. Alfriedis, who lived to be 94 years old.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Alfriedis. We remain united to her in our prayers and in the celebration of the Eucharist.
The series “Pilgrims of Hope” is a monthly spiritual contribution to the Holy Year – a collaboration between the international Generalate of the Hospital Sisters of St Francis and the Muenster-based German church publication “Kirche und Leben” (“Church+Life”). Our topic in June: Hope for Understanding.
We recently celebrated the birth of the Church at Pentecost. Every year, the text of the Gospel fascinates us anew: The Disciples had gathered together in fear and had hid themselves. Then the Holy Spirit descended upon them as tongues of fire, encouraging and inspiring them. The Disciples began to preach, and the miracle happened: “Everyone heard them speaking in their own language.”
This reference makes it clear that language has always been of great importance for proclaiming the Good News, first in the multi-ethnic state of Israel, which at that time belonged to the Roman Empire.
Francis of Assisi, our patron saint, and the Brothers of his community would probably have wished for such a Pentecost miracle at times. They were filled with the desire to spread the message of Jesus throughout the world, and to bear witness to it through their simple life according to the Gospel, in the service of God and the people. Even during the saint’s lifetime, they set out from Assisi to the whole world, mostly in pairs or small groups. But their faith and courage were clearly greater than their knowledge of the world, so that some of their missionary journeys failed.
This was the case in 1219, for example, when about 60 brothers crossed the Alps into what is now Germany without speaking the language. They were asked if they needed shelter and food. They tried answering “Ja!” (“yes”) and were welcomed kindly. The Brothers decided to answer every question with “Ja!” from then on. Were they heretics? “Ja!” they replied, and were astonished to be chased away with insults and shame. A failed but instructive encounter. When the Brothers crossed the Alps again two years later, their mission was successful thanks to careful preparation and better language skills: with their settlement in Augsburg in 1221, the history of the Franciscans in Germany began.
Statue of St. Francis in Assisi (Photo: Kestin)
Language has always been very important to us Hospital Sisters of St. Francis. This was already the case in 1875, when 20 of our young Sisters went to the USA – trained nurses without any knowledge of English, who initially mainly cared for German immigrants. After a short time, they found the language barrier so hindering to their work that they studied English alongside primary school children. Their new language skills helped them to establish the American Province, to found hospitals, and to set up the first Catholic nursing school in the USA. Of course, it also helped them to proclaim their faith. During further missions in Europe, East Asia, Africa, and India, our Sisters were repeatedly confronted with the task of communication.
Today, 500 Hospital Sisters of St. Francis live in our international Congregation worldwide. The diversity of nations, languages, and cultures is both a great treasure and a great challenge. We have chosen English as the common language that unites us—although it is a foreign language for most of our Sisters! This is also true for our Polish Sister, Sr. M. Teresa Wawrovicz. “At school, I was more interested in maths,” says the 36-year-old. She studied financial management and accounting and worked as Provincial Treasurer in the Polish province since 2019 before being elected General Councilor at the General Chapter in Münster in September 2024. She immediately realized that she would need to improve her language skills for her new responsibilities in the international leadership of the Congregation. She has been living in Dublin since the beginning of the year to learn English for six months. As soon as she returns to Münster, she will start learning German.
Our Polish Sisters studying language and culture in Ireland, from the left: Sister M. Katarzyna, General Councilor Sister M. Teresa and Sister M. DominikaLeaving for Dublin, Jan. 2025Studying English togetherFrom learning to understanding
For us, studying languages is not just about understanding the content, but also about intercultural understanding. This is an important skill for the future that we have incorporated into the training program for the young Sisters in our community. Sr. M. Katarzyna and Sr. M. Dominka, two more Sisters from the Polish Province, are now also learning English in Ireland; as Europeans, they do not need a visa there.
In the case of three of our young Vietnamese Sisters from our Japan Province, it was difficult to obtain one-year visas for Germany. Sr. M. Hilary Nguyen, Sr. M. Josepha Bui, and Sr. M Angela Hoang are currently living with us in the German Motherhouse. They will spend six months learning German in Muenster, after which they will go to Malta to learn English. They were accompanied on their long journey to Germany by Sister Maria Fidelis Furukawa, Provincial Superior of our Japan Province, and Japanese Provincial Councilor Sister M. Vianney Kawaguchi. Incidentally, their first foreign language when they entered our religious community was Japanese.
From the left: Japanese Provincial Superior Sister Maria Fidelis Furukawa and Provincial Councilor Sister M. Vianney Kawaguchi with the Vietnamese Sisters Sr. M. Angela Hoang, Sr. M. Hilary Nguyen, Sr. M. Josepha Bui (Photo: Kestin)Enjoying the garden at the Motherhouse in MuensterOur common language – an investment into our future!
The language that unites our community is important not only for our personal contact, but also for our spiritual life. “First I learned the prayers and the liturgy in English,” reports Sister Teresa. Because religious life is about relationships – relationships with God, with our fellow sisters, and with all the people we meet. Intercultural competence promotes our tolerance and understanding, wherever we are and whatever we do.
By Sister M. Rita Edakkoottathil and Claudia Berghorn Photos: Michael Kestin
This article was published in German, online and in print, in the Diocese of Muenster’s magazine, “Kirche+Leben” (Church+Life), in June 2025.
Born: December 27, 1922 Entrance: September 8, 1949 Professed: June 13, 1952 Died: June 21, 2025
Jesus Christ called our Sister to join him in his heavenly home, Sister Mary Evelyn Lamb, OSF, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.
But the Lord has been my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.
Psalm 94:22
When you are the oldest of 12 children, your parents will need your assistance with cooking, household chores, and the care of your younger siblings. By doing so, you will learn many things, including the value of strength, and such is the character of Sister Mary Evelyn, OSF. The strength she leamed as a child, and which carried her through her 102 years of life, was what gently guided her feet as she stepped into heaven on Saturday, June 21, 2025, at 11 :15 a.m. with Sisters Jamesine and Marilyn, along with Associate Pat Goldsmith, at her side.
Mary Evelyn Lamb was born in Aud, MO, on December 27, 1922, the daughter of James Earl end Hada (Mantle) Lamb. She enjoyed school and was the valedictorian of her graduating class. While she taught first through eighth grades in a one-room school, and worked in a pants factory and the superintendent of schools’ office, she felt a calling to religious life to be a missionary nurse.
In 1945, she was in a boat on a man-made lake on the family’s property with her 18-year-old sister Eartine and a friend. As the boat capsized, her friend swam to safety, while Sister Mary Evelyn, who could not swim, climbed onto the boat. As she watched Earline drown in the lake, Sister Mary Evelyn asked God to save her life, and in doing so, she could follow her calling to religious life. Four years later, an advertisement for the Hospital Sisters in a vocation magazine caught her eye, and following her visit to the Motherhouse, she entered on September 8, 1949. She professed her first vows on June 13, 1952, and two of her sisters joined her in this community: Jane Marie (1954) and Jamesine (1955).
Sister Mary Evelyn was a 1958 graduate of St. John’s Hospital School of Nursing. She also earned a Bachelor of Education degree from Quincy University in 1956 and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Sangamon State University in 1975.
Sister Mary Evelyn served in nursing at HSHS lllinois and Wisconsin hospitals and St. Francis Convent. In addition, she served at Springfleld & Sangamon County Community Action, Alverna Horne Nursing Center, Chicago, IL (she enjoyed drivlng in the city), and at lnterfaith Caregivers, Eau Claire, WI, where she was the assistant director.
Sister Mary Evelyn returned to St. Francis Convent in 1995 and, in the years that followed, she remained active by painting in various styles, including icons, healing touch, regular exercise, playing Rummikub, and showcasing her sense of humor, which was one of her trademarks. She was dedicated to the life she chose and lived it fully.
She was preceded in death by her parents and brothers: Melvin Mark, James Earl 11, Paul David, Dale George, Walter William, and Robert Owen: and sisters: Earline Lucy Lamb and Sister Jane Marie Lamb, OSF (2005). She is survived by a brother, Charles Joseph (Kansas City, MO), and sisters: Sister Jamesine Lamb, OSF, and Esther Ann Brandt (Kansas City, MO}, many nieces and nephews, and great-nieces and nephews.
Services and burial will be at St. Francis Convent. The Visitation wlll be held on Thursday, June 26, 2025, from 4-7 p.m. with a Wake Service at 6:00 p.m. The Eucharistie Celebration and Rite of Christian Burial will be celebrated by Father Gregory Dick, O.Praem., on Friday, June 27, 2025 at 10 a.m. in the St. Clare of Assisi Adoration Chapel, and burial will be in Crucifixion Hill Cemetery. Butler Funeral Horne is in charge of arrangements.
As her family greeted her in heaven, her parents and siblings joined in God’s proclamation of “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” May she rest in peace.
Born: October 25, 1935 Entrance: August 10, 1956 Professed: May 3, 1959 Died: June 30, 2025
Jesus Christ called our Sister to join him in his heavenly home, Sister M. Ancilla, née Theresia Schomaker, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.
“For us, our citizenship is in heaven, from where we await the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord.”
Phil 3, 20
Sister M. Ancilla grew up with her twelve siblings on the Schomaker family farm in Westendorf near Glandorf. Like her four sisters, Gottharda, Alderika, Emilianis and Rosalia, she became a member of our congregation.
Until 1983, Sister M. Ancilla worked as a nurse in Legden and Issum-Sevelen. Then she attended a geriatric nursing seminar in Munich and cared for the elderly and for her fellow sisters in Issum-Sevelen, Alpen and in the St. Heriburg House. From 2007, she lived in Lingen-Biene, where she took care of the household and the parish church in the small convent with Sister M. Emilianis. She particularly enjoyed this service, as it allowed her to make good use of her creative skills and the sisters there had a lot of contact with the people in the parish. When the convent was dissolved, she returned to the motherhouse together with Sister M. Emilianis. There, too, she continued to work in the sewing room, despite her dwindling strength.
Together, the two siblings moved to St. Heriburg House as seniors in April of this year, where Sister M. Ancilla gave her life back to God in the early hours of the morning of June 30. Her sisters Gottharda, Alderika, and Rosalia are waiting for her in heaven.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Ancilla. We remember her in our prayers and in the celebration of the Eucharist, and we remain united with her in sisterly love. Our sympathy goes out to Sister M. Emilianis, who accompanied her until her dying hour.
Born: June 29, 1927 Entrance: January 25, 1952 Professed: October 28, 1954 Died: June 16, 2025
Under the protection and guidance of the Blessed Mother, our sister, born Elisabeth Brinker-Ohmscheiper, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, gave her life back to God at the age of 98.
Mary said:“Do whatever he tells you.”
Wedding at Cana, Joh. 2,5
‘Active charity has defined her life since her youth,’ wrote the local newspaper WAZ in Lünen in 1987 about Sister M. Reginata. In 1990, she was honored with an honorary certificate as ‘the most popular helper in white’. Friendliness, helpfulness and tireless dedication were cited as her outstanding qualities. This is how we have known and appreciated her for 73 years.
Sister M. Reginata was born in Wettringen 98 years ago and joined our congregation at the age of 25. Following her training as a nurse and ward sister, she became a hospital chaplain, working in Ahaus for the first three years and then at the Marienhospital in Lünen for six years. She then worked as a pastoral care worker at the Maria Frieden rehabilitation clinic in Telgte for another 25 years, where she managed the library as well as providing pastoral care and enjoying interacting with people.
Sister M. Reginata was a pastoral care worker through and through, and she was affectionately known as the ‘Bishop’. She introduced several Nigerian priests to both the German language and the way of life. Had it been possible, she would have been well suited to leading a parish. Sister M. Reginata had a wealth of prayers which accompanied her into old age. She had a special devotion to the Blessed Mother and enjoyed making pilgrimages to the Chapel of Grace in Telgte to feel close to her.
Ten years ago, Sister M. Reginata came to St. Heriburg House, where she lived in the new St. Klara residential area for the last few months due to her dementia. She resided here for the rest of her life, where she received devoted care from her fellow sisters and staff.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Reginata. We remain united to her in prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist.
I was born in 1968 in the village of Purapuzha in the Idukki district of Kerala. My parents are Mrs. Mariyam and the late Mr. Devassy. I am the third child among six siblings (two boys and four girls). My father was a farmer, and my mother is a homemaker.
Initially, I lived with my grandparents in Ramapuram. Seeing their deep prayer life, the seed of faith began to grow in me. They encouraged me to learn all the prayers and took me along with them to church.
Later, my parents moved from Purapuzha to Upuzha in the Thrissur district, and since then, I stayed with them and my siblings. I gratefully remember and cherish the wonderful time we shared as a family. I always thank God for my parents, who were role models in both physical and spiritual growth.
I studied at St. Anne’s Girls High School and stayed in the hostel run by the Sisters of the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel (CMC Sisters). There, I had the opportunity to take part in the Holy Eucharist every day, which helped me realize the importance of being close to God. The Sisters organized various spiritual and cultural programmes to guide and inspire us to choose the right path in life. Looking back, I had no intention of becoming a religious sister during my early school years, even though the CMC Sisters often spoke about vocations to religious life.
Sometimes, God speaks to us through friends, family members, people of faith, and even through life’s circumstances. These moments of insight can awaken thoughts we never had before. When I was in 9th standard, a priest who worked in North India visited our school and shared his missionary experiences. I was deeply inspired by his service and felt that Jesus was calling me too.
I am especially grateful to Sr. Baylon of the CMC sisters, who encouraged me to attend vocation camps. These helped me discern my calling to religious life. When I expressed my desire to her, she invited me to join their congregation. However, I felt a strong desire to be a missionary in North India.
I shared this with my elder sister, who was in Indore at that time. She connected me with the Medical Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi in Pithora. Later, Sister M. Gerburg contacted me through Father Thomas Vadakekary, the then parish priest of Pithora, who was on home holidays. Everything that followed felt like a miracle in my life.
Two other girls from Kerala joined me to travel with Father Thomas. We reached Pithora on December 7, 1985.
During my candidacy, I was sent to Tatibandh for my Higher Secondary studies at an English medium school run by the Sisters of the Congregation of Jesus Mary Joseph (JMJ). After completing this two years’ curriculum, I went through the various stages of formation that helped me discern and commit myself to Jesus Christ.
I made my First Profession on January 25,1992 and my Final Vows on December 9, 1997. I celebrated my Silver Jubilee in 2017.
“What shall I render to the Lord for all His goodness to me?” (Psalm 116:12)
Over the years, I have lived in different communities. At present, I am serving as a Lab Technician in the hospital at Anjali Niketan, Pithora. I am happy and content in my religious life and ever grateful to God for His countless blessings. I thank God for His mighty hand upon me throughout these years.
Lord, I thank You for choosing me and using me for Your mission. Direct and guide me as I continue this journey with You.
Born: September 16, 1939 Entrance: february 4, 1961 Professed: October 28, 1963 Died: June 7, 2025
The good God, in whose hands her name has been written for 86 years, now took our fellow Sisters by the hand and led her to himself, Sister M. Bernaldis, née Helene Eilermann, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.
God has written us in his hand, and God’s hands are good hands.
Cardinal Höffner
Sister M. Bernaldis was born in Spahnharrenstätte, near Sögel, in the German Emsland. Despite the early death of mother, she and her siblings were able to stay together as a family. Sister M. Bernaldis was very grateful for this. It was through her training with Sister M. Landeline in the Cloppenburg hospital kitchen that she became acquainted with the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis.
Following her nursing exams, Sister M. Bernaldis spent the next ten years working as a surgical nurse at Marienhospital in Luenen. However, she missed having direct contact with patients. She therefore completed her training in outpatient care and geriatric nursing at Arenberg, after which she was employed in social care units in Dingden, Datteln, and Muenster-Roxel. Subsequently, she took over the outpatient hospice service in Recklinghausen, followed by the pastoral care service in Emsdetten and Ahaus.
Many people knew and appreciated Sister M. Bernaldis, who always drove up in her little car with a friendly face, as well as a great deal of expertise and empathy.
Sister M. Bernaldis had lived at St. Franziskus-Haus in Nordwalde as a senior since 2016. She repeatedly supported her fellow Sisters who were sick or dying, spending many hours praying at their bedsides. She was always available to help when needed. She managed to continue doing so until a few weeks ago, when she fell ill with cancer herself. She was very aware of her mortality and approached her death calmly. She received a great deal of support from her family and the nursing staff, particularly Sisters M. Seraphinis and M. Vincentia. Thus, protected and sheltered, she was able to put her life back in God’s hands in the early hours of the Saturday before Pentecost.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Bernaldis. We remain united to her in our prayers and in the celebration of the Eucharist.
Born: April 3, 1938 Entrance: August 12, 1960 Professed: Mai 3, 1963 Died: June 6, 2025
One day after celebrating the 70th anniversary of her religious profession, the Lord God “”At the age of 87, she returned her life to the hands of God, our dear Sister M. Reingardis, née Lucia Wiewel, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.
Into your hand Lord I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, God of truth.
Psalm 31:6
Sister M. Reingardis was born in Neuenkirchen Vörden/Germany, where she grew up with her six siblings. She was particularly good at housework. After leaving school, she worked as a housekeeper on a farm in Lage-Rieste. It was through her aunt, Sister M. Baldimera, who was a kitchen nurse in Damme, that Lucia found her way to the Hospital Sisters at the age of 22.
After her Profession, she completed her nursing training in Muenster, underwent training as a healthcare trainer in Essen, and completed a ward manager course in Freiburg. Well equipped with these qualifications, she worked as a nurse and ward manager in several hospitals until 1980. She then turned her attention to housekeeping, a subject in which she was greatly interested. She worked in Dingden, Gladbeck and Dorsten, and from 1995 to 2015 she worked in the refectory of the Motherhouse in Muenster. She particularly enjoyed helping the guests who came to the Elisabeth Oasis for their daily breakfast.
From 2015 onwards, Sister M. Reingardis lived as a senior citizen, most recently in St. Heriburg House in Muenster, where she returned her life to God in the presence of her fellow sisters.
Her final years were characterized by her deteriorating hearing, which caused her great distress. However, this did not stop her from participating in community life, especially daily prayer and celebrating the Eucharist.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Reingardis. We remain united to her in prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist.
The series “Pilgrims of Hope” is a monthly spiritual contribution to the Holy Year – a collaboration between the international Generalate of the Hospital Sisters of St Francis and the Muenster-based German church publication “Kirche und Leben” (“Church+Life”). Our topic in Mai: Hope for Peace.
On May 8, 2025, the German Bundestag held a memorial service to commemorate the end of World War II and the liberation from National Socialism 80 years ago. Back then, in 1945, peace finally returned to Europe. However, this peace did not last until the memorial service.
On the same day, Robert Francis Prevost was elected the 267th Pontifex of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide. The first words he spoke as Pope Leo XIV were: “Peace be with you all!” In fact, “peace” was a key word in his speech, and since then many have hoped that he, as the “Pope of Peace,” will help end the current wars and overcome the major crises in the world.
War and peace have always been among the most pressing issues in human history. St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of our Congregation, took part in a war against the neighboring city of Perugia in 1202 and spent more than a year as a prisoner of war in a dungeon. He returned to Assisi a sick and broken man and changed his life: he renounced all his worldly possessions and turned to God, and to the poor and marginalized. Peace between people, nations, and religions became an important concern for him: in 1219, Francis traveled to Palestine as a missionary and joined the Crusaders. Hoping to bring peace, he preached in the camp of the Muslim army before Sultan Al-Kamil. Unfortunately, his hope was not fulfilled.
Many of our Sisters can also tell of war experiences that have influenced their lives. This is also true of Sister M. Manuela Musholt, who was born in February 1940 on a small farm in Gescher-Estern as the eleventh of 15 children.
“My two oldest brothers were taken from the farm shortly before the end of the war and sent to the front when they were 17 and 16 years old,” she reports. “They were missing for four years before returning sick and traumatized from captivity in Siberia on Christmas Day 1949.” Sister Manuela remembers the nights toward the end of the war when all the windows were blacked out in the evening and the sound of Allied bombers flying over the house. “We prayed a lot during those nights,” she says, “for our brothers at the front, for our whole family, and for peace for all.” Religious life was always very important in her family. Sister Manuela developed an early desire to serve God, and the people—as a nurse. So, at the age of 19, she joined the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis and began her nursing training in the hospital during her novitiate.
After many years working as a nurse as well as in occupational therapy and later in the Provincial Administration of the German Province, Sister Manuela has been looking after the museum in the Motherhouse of the Hospital Sisters since 2018. Here, visitors can also learn about the many Sisters who served in military hospitals – first in the German-Danish War of 1864, just 20 years after the Congregation was founded. Thirty-four sisters from Münster cared for the war wounded in the Austrian army’s military hospitals in Schleswig-Holstein in the North of Germany. As a token of gratitude, the then Mother Superior received a chasuble from the Austrian imperial couple, which now attracts many visitors to the museum as “Sissi’s chasuble.”
The sisters also served in military hospitals during the wars of 1866 and 1870/71, as well as in both World Wars, both on the front lines and in the hospitals and convents of the Congregation where military hospitals had been set up. They were called upon to do so by the Red Cross, among others. Many Sisters received medals and awards for their work, and quite a few died side by side with the wounded they cared for.
Longuyon, France, 1917Our Sisters in the operating theatre during WWISt. Quentin, France
The old photos in the museum clearly show the suffering and inhumanity of war. “Both as nurses and as Franciscan Sisters, we will always be advocates of peace,” says Sister Manuela. This is entirely in keeping with the spirit of St. Francis, whose greeting unites us: “Pace e bene,” peace and all good.
By Sister M. Margarete Ulager and Claudia Berghorn
This article was published in German, online and in print, in the Diocese of Muenster’s magazine, “Kirche+Leben” (Church+Life), in Mai 2025.
My name is Sister M. Zita Hisako Sugita. I was born in 1938 in Yashiro, Asago-cho, Asago City, in the Hyogo prefecture. My family’s religion is Buddhism (Zen). I have two brothers. My mother died when I was three years old, and my father’s cousin (my adoptive father) took me in. My adoptive father lived alone and raised me up.
When I was at Junior Highschool, a man from the Ikuno Catholic Church came to the school and distributed devotional pictures. It was through these pictures that I first encountered Catholicism. After that, a relative in Kyoto introduced me to a dentist’s family, and I went to work there as a housekeeper. Everyone in the house was Catholic. Next door to the dentist was the Saiin Church. I attended that church with the members of this family and received the grace of baptism. My baptismal name is Gracia.
Then I returned to my birthplace. I belonged to the Ikuno Church. My adoptive father heard me praying before my meal and became interested. I began to teach him the Catholic catechism. When my adoptive father became ill, he was entered to St. Mary’s Hospital. He was baptized by Fr. Daniel, the chief priest of Ikuno Catholic Church.
I worked at Himeji St. Mary’s Hospital for about three years through the introduction of Fr. Daniel. I met sisters here and learned about religious life. Then four young women I met at Ikuno Catholic Church entered the Congregation. This led me to consider religious life, and at the age of 23, I decided to entered our congregation. However, my adoptive father was against it and strongly recommended me to get married. I spent my time taking care of my adoptive father, keeping my mind set. After seven years, my adoptive father passed away. Before he died, he told me to live the happiest life, and knocked on the doors of our congregation.
I joined our congregation on February 11, 1973, made my first vows on April 18, 1976, and pronounced my final vows in 1979. I worked in the laundry of our convent after my first vows, and after a while I also worked as a housekeeper at St. Mary’s Hospital.
After pronouncing my final vows, I worked in the kitchen of Francis Villa in Tokyo for 4 years, in the kitchen of St. Mary’s Hospital for 3 years, and then in the laundry for 8 years. I worked for 2 years as an assistant in the rehabilitation department of Nagasaki St. Francis Hospital. At that time, the Korean mission had started already. It was asked to go on a mission to Korea, so I volunteered. There, I spent a year at a formation house in Seoul, sharing the Bible once a month in Japanese, and helping out at a nursing home（belong OFM）inJang Seong prefecture. When I went shopping, I communicated in broken Korean.
After returning to Japan, I spent 2 years as a volunteer at Nibuno Villa, where a retired priests and sisters lived. And I have spent 11 years as a volunteer with sisters at the chapel of Himeji convent and Maria Villa. I have experienced many places of apostolate and had many encounters.
One of the most memorable moments for me was when I was doing my apostolate at the chapel of Himeji convent. A man of about 65 years came to the chapel every day crying and praying. I asked him what happened. He told me his son had committed suicide, his wife had died trying to help him, and he had buried both of them. I listened to what he said and replied, “If you cry every day, your son in heaven must be incredibly sad. Your son would be so relieved and pleased to know that you are living a positive, happy, and healthy life.” About a week later, he came to the chapel and changed completely, became cheerful and energetic, and thanked me. I was so happy and thanked God.
Currently, I am a flower attendant at the Ritiro chapel of the Retreat House in Himeji, and my apostolate is prayer. I grow flowers and vegetables in a small space in a field. The flowers are displayed in the chapel. I also spend time with my hobbies, calligraphy and Japanese paintings.
I give everything to God through what I can do. I thank God for the religious life and apostolate God has given me since my first vows.
Born: April 1, 1928 Entrance: August 9, 1952 Professed: Mai 3, 1955 Died: May 7, 2025
One day after celebrating the 70th anniversary of her religious profession, the Lord God completed the earthly life of our dear Sister M. Benediktis Brügge, Anna Feldhacke, Hosptial Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.
When God calls us home, it is the greatest holiday for our soul, because we come to the one who loves us most.
(St. Francis de Sales)
Sister M. Benediktis was born in Recke 97 years ago and grew up with her five siblings on her parents’ farm. After primary school she attended a commercial college in Osnabrück. There she received an “emergency diploma”, as the school had to be closed in 1944 due to the many bomb raids on the city. In the same year, her father died and her brothers were at war, so Anna had to help with the farm work at home. She met our Sisters in the hospital at Recke in 1952 and joined our congregation at the age of 24.
From 1961 to 1979, Sister M. Benediktis was in charge of the laboratory in Lingen and Cloppenburg. It was then that she had the opportunity for training in pastoral care. This was her heart’s desire. From 1980 to 2006 she worked as a pastoral counselor in Lünen and Gronau. There she was able to share her deep faith with many people. Because of her age, she then moved to St. Franziskus-Haus in Nordwalde. There she loved to spend time in the library until her strength no longer allowed it.
Sister M. Benediktis was given the great grace of celebrating her Jubilee of Grace the day before her death in the company of her sisters and relatives. She was especially grateful to her brothers and sisters, as well as to her nieces and nephews, who, together with her fellow Sisters, were always there for her.
Her wish was that Jesus Christ would meet her at the hour of death and that she would then be able to see all those who were dear to her again. We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Benediktis. We remain united to her in prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist.
The series “Pilgrims of Hope” is a monthly spiritual contribution to the Holy Year – a collaboration between the international Generalate of the Hospital Sisters of St Francis and the Muenster-based German church publication “Kirche und Leben” (“Church+Life”). Our topic in March: Hope for Renewal.
In the cycle of nature, April is a month of renewal: finally, the days are getting longer again, and every year, we can enjoy the bright yellow of the daffodils and the delicate green of the first leaves.
Our church year also follows a cycle of growth and decay, which culminates in the Holy Week. Here, death and renewal are particularly close together. The good news is that Jesus’ death on the cross is not the end, but the prerequisite for a new beginning, for Resurrection. Every year, this Easter message strengthens our faith, and our hope that a new beginning, that renewal is possible.
Our patron, St. Francis of Assisi, who had a particularly close relationship with nature, was also convinced of this. In 1225, when he was already terminally ill, Francis wrote his hymn of praise to God’s creation, the “Canticle of the Creatures,” known to many as “Laudato Si.” This year, 2025, the Franciscan family celebrates the 800th anniversary of this important work.
At a time when the word “sustainability” was still a long way from being invented, Francis lived in true harmony with nature. In his “Canticle of the Creatures,” he thanked God for his creation. Full of respect and at the same time very intimately, he speaks of the sun, the moon and the elements as his “brothers and sisters”, and he is not afraid of “Brother Death,” who is, after all, a natural part of the cycle called life. In 1979, Pope John Paul II named St. Francis the patron saint of environmental protection and ecology.
St. Francis’ way of life would also be described as “sustainable” today: He renounced personal possessions and consumption, and only had the bare necessities for life – a conscious restriction that set him free to serve God and humanity.
As Franciscan Sisters, we have based our lives on these principles of St. Francis since the founding of our religious community in 1844. When we entered the Congregation, we vowed to live in “poverty, celibacy, and obedience.” In the past, this also meant that the Congregation lived as self-sufficiently as possible, and in harmony with nature: Until well after World War II, our Motherhouse in Muenster also comprised a farm; we Sisters ran a nursery and a bakery, our own wash house and a large kitchen, which we used to feed not only ourselves but also the patients at St. Francis Hospital and many people in need.
Aerial view around 1930Motherhouse kitchen, 1979Motherhouse nursery
This has changed step by step, but we remain self-sufficient in one area: In our German Motherhouse, we run a tailor’s workshop where the clothes and veils for all the Sisters of the German Province and the General Administration are made to measure.
Sister M. Pankratia Stuewe has been working here since 1976. She turned 86 in February and celebrated her 60th anniversary last year. “We currently dress about 250 Sisters,” Sister Pankratia says. Like all the Sisters in the past, she originally trained as a nurse and worked in nursing for several years. But when help was needed in the tailor’s workshop, Sister Pankratia changed her place of work and learned the tailoring trade from scratch from her fellow Sisters. Today, she works with two bespoke tailors and specializes in sewing and adjusting the Sisters’ habits and veils. In her almost 50 years of service, she has only seen the Sisters’ clothing change twice – most recently in 1989. “The dress is much more practical than the former habit,” she explains. All the fabrics are robust and durable. For the veil, we Sisters can choose between a festive black and a white model, and the dress is available in four colors: anthracite or light gray for everyday wear, black for festive occasions and Church Holidays, and white for work. This means that we are always dressed appropriately. What more could a woman want?
Sister Pankratia with a veilFitting Sr. Teresa’s veilTaking measure
Sustainable clothing, sustainably produced: We have been using renewable energy since 2022, when 690 solar modules installed on 1316 square meters of roof space. This photovoltaic system covers more than half of the energy requirements of our mother house and saves 122 tons of CO2 annually. St. Francis would certainly approve of that. And of the view of the roof of our Motherhouse Church in the dark: the solar panels form a cross shape that is illuminated by LEDs at night. And this shining cross reminds us again and again of God, the source of our faith, and of our hope for renewal.
By Sister M. Diethilde Boevingloh and Claudia Berghorn
This article was published in German, online and in print, in the Diocese of Muenster’s magazine, “Kirche+Leben” (Church+Life), in April 2025.
Born: April 28, 1928 Entrance: January 27, 1956 Profession: October 28, 1958 Died: April 27, 2025
On the morning of Divine Mercy Sunday, our sister, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis and born by the name of Maria Willen gave her life back into God’s hands.
Virgin, Mother of God, let me be wholly yours!
(Prayer to Mary)
Sister M. Maristella was born in Lewinghausen near Löningen on the Willen family farm, where she grew up with her three sisters and four brothers. Before joining the congregation, she completed her nursing training at the Augusta Hospital in Düsseldorf. She came to our congregation through the Franciscans sisters in Glandorf near Osnabrück. She initially worked as a ward nurse in several hospitals and, from 1979, as a community nurse in her old home town of Essen/Oldbg., Lastrup and Löningen. Sister M. Maristella was very popular there and is still fondly remembered by some of the families she cared for. In 2012, she moved to the St. Heriburg-Haus in Münster as a senior citizen. One day before her 98th birthday, God called her home.
Daily Holy Mass had been familiar to her since childhood and gave her strength for her long journey through life.
Born Maria and later Sister Maristella, she felt a special connection to the Mother of God. She was very fond of praying the Rosary. She wanted the image of Our Lady of Telgte on her death card, also as a sign of her connection to the founding place of our congregation. She consciously lived her faith until the end and walked the path hand in hand with the Mother of God. May she now accompany her on her final journey to God.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Maristella. We remember her in our prayers and in the celebration of the Eucharist, and remain united with her in sisterly love
Born: January 21, 1924 Entrance: January 30, 1948 Professed: October 28, 1950 Died: April 15, 2025
Our sister, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, born by the name of Ida Kohls, was able to celebrate her resurrection on Tuesday in the Holy Week.
Resurrection is our faith.
Reunion is our hope.
Remembrance is our love.
(Hl.Augustinus)
Sister M. Hermana was able to look back over a whole century before she died at the age of 101. In three weeks, she would have been able to celebrate her crown jewel anniversary 75 years after her first profession.
Ida Kohls was born in Ellenstedt during the Weimar Republic and grew up with her six siblings on her parents’ farm. She experienced the “Third Reich” as a schoolgirl and helped on her parents’ farm during the Second World War. Her Catholic family actively campaigned against National Socialism in the region “Oldenburger Muensterland” in the North-West of Germany.
When the Federal Republic of Germany was rebuilt after the war, the young woman joined our congregation. In addition to her nursing training, she also trained as a manager for nursing homes. She took on the role of the superior in Everswinkel, Straelen, Körbecke and St Heriburg House. She then looked after the refectory at St. Josefs-Haus in Ennigerloh and returned to St. Heriburg-Haus as a senior in 2018, where she was still able to take part in the community’s convent and prayer life until a few weeks ago. Weak and tired with age, she placed her life back in God’s hands, as calmly and quietly as we had come to know and appreciate her.
Sister M. Hermana did not make a fuss about herself, but was very present with her large, radiant eyes. She loved going on pilgrimage to the Mother of Sorrows in Buddenbaum. She said that she loved praying in the community, but especially enjoyed the quiet times in the chapel.
We bid a grateful farewell to Sister M. Hermana. We remember her in prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist and remain connected to her as sisters.
I was born in a rural area near O’Fallon, Illinois, on January 4, 1939, and the oldest of nine children in a family with Irish, German, French, and Italian heritage. As a child, I would visit the Motherhouse in Springfield, Illinois where Sister Joyce Gerardi, my aunt, lived.
When the time came to choose where I would attend high school, my parents gave me permission to leave home and enroll at St. Francis High School at the Motherhouse. After completing three years of education, I also sensed that my call in life was to be a member of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis. On September 8, 1956, I entered the Community. I completed my education as a postulant while beginning formation. Soon after earning my diploma, I became a novice and focused my attention on learning about religious life.
Following my first profession of vows in 1959, I enrolled at St. John’s Hospital School of Nursing, Springfield, and it was during my surgery rotation that I felt most at home. I have served in surgical nursing at our hospitals in Illinois and Wisconsin, as a faculty member at St. John’s School of Nursing, the supervisor of Loretto Home at St. Francis Convent, and as a clinical nurse specialist for surgery at St. John’s Hospital (Springfield). In addition, I have served in community leadership and on the board of Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS).
In 1971, I earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Marillac College (St. Louis, Missouri). I also earned a master’s degree in nursing education from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign, Illinois) in 1979 and a master’s degree in nursing from Rush University (Chicago, Illinois) in 1988.
My 66 years of religious life have been filled with many blessings. Each day, I have prayerfully journeyed with the Spirit who has led me along a beautiful path. I give thanks to God for this wonderful life.
Im Jahr 1939, am 26. August wurde ich in Gladbeck, geboren. Meine Eltern, die Mutter, Helene geb. Hartmann und mein Vater, Anton Zysk, waren gut katholisch. Mein Vater, der Bergmann warm, wurde einige Tage vor meiner Geburt schon einberufen, so dass er mich nicht mehr kennen lernte. Und so wurde ich mitten im Ruhrgebiet groß. Ich besuchte die Kath Volksschule am Rosenhügel. Nach dem 8. Schuljahr wurde ich entlassen. Wir lebten in ganz normalen Verhältnissen, wie sie nach dem Krieg eben waren. Reich waren wir nicht, aber meine Eltern haben uns eine gute glückliche Kindheit geschenkt. In unserem Drei-Mädel–Haus hatten wir alle von einem bestimmten Alter an unser kleinen Aufgaben mit zu erledigen. Da meine Mutter krank war, und ich die Älteste, fielen mir schon früh viele Aufgaben zu.
Bei uns gingen oft die Schwestern von der Familienpflege durch die Straße. Schon sehr früh, ich kann mich nicht genau erinnern wann, habe ich zu meiner Mutter gesagt, so will ich auch werden. Doch wie das so ist, dieses Hingezogen sein verlor sich später bis hin zu dem Tag, der für mich die Entscheidung brachte.
In der Rückschau auf mein Leben, fallen mir besonders einige Ereignisse ein, die zwar klein sind, aber für mich weg- und lebensweisend sind. In meinem Elternhaus wurde das Tischgebet immer gut gepflegt und uns Kindern wurde das Beten auch gelehrt. Für meine Mutter war die Kriegszeit eine sehr schwierige Zeit, da wir immer mal wieder in eine andere Gegend evakuiert wurden. Aber meine Mutter hielt im Glauben stand und führte auch uns Kinder dorthin.
Dann bekamen wir auf einmal Post aus Amerika und meine Großtante, Schwester M. Camilla, geb. Klara Achtermann meldete sich. Sie war Mauritzer Franziskanerinn und schon als Postulantin nach Amerika gekommen. Dadurch entspann sich nun nach dem Krieg ein reger Briefwechsel. Ich durfte dann immer die Briefe schreiben und aus unserem Alltag berichten.
Nach meiner Schulentlassung fand ich Arbeit im Horster Krankenhaus, zunächst an der Pforte und später im Labor. Ich begann die Schwestern zu beobachten, ihre Art mit den Menschen und auch mit den Mitarbeitern umzugehen. Etwas wurde in mir wach, was ich nicht zu deuten wusste Da ich jung war, ging ich auch oft mit einigen Arbeitskloleginnen zum Tanz, doch manchmal hatte ich das Gefühl, da nicht hin zugehören und die Lust am Tanz verging mir.
An einem Sonntagnachmittag war ich in der Kapelle. Dann kamen die Schwestern und als Ruhe eingekehrt war, gab es ein Klopfzeichen und alle Schwestern erhoben auf einmal die Hände zum Gebet. Das war für mich ein erschütterndes Erlebnis, das mich sehr lange beschäftigte. Einmal sprach ich mit Schwester M. Gilduina darüber und sie erklärte mir das. Ich glaube, dass dieses Erlebnis den Ausschlag gegeben hat meinem inneren Anruf zu folgen. 1959 fand ich Aufnahme bei den Mauritzer Franziskanerinnen. Meine erste Profess legt ich 1962 ab und 1967 die ewige Profess.
Die Ausbildung zur Krankenschwester fand im Franziskus Hospital statt. Nach dem Krankenpflegeexamen fand ich meinen ersten Einsatz in Havixbeck , einem kleinen Krankenhaus auf dem Land. Einige Zeit später in Emsdetten im Labor und Röntgen Nachdem ich dann 9 Jahre in Haselünne meinen Dienst tat, sollte ich eine andere Aufgabe übernehmen. Über die Diözese Münster machte ich ein Bonn beim Borromäusverein eine Ausbildung zur Büchereiassistentin. In dieser Aufgabe war ich viele Jahre tätig und habe vier Büchereien in den Krankenhäusern in Emsdetten, Bremen, Wilhelmshaven und Leer eingerichtet. 2002 begann ich ein Fernstudium zur Leiterin von Wort Gottes Feiern an Sonn-und Feiertagen über das theologische Institut Trier, welches ich dann 2004 mit Erfolg abschloss. Dankbar war ich meiner Oberin, dass sie mir dieses Studium erlaubte.
Viele Wort Gottes-Feiern habe ich für die Gemeinde und im Krankenaus gehalten. Diese Aufgabe habe ich mit viel Herzblut getan. Nun heißt es Abschied nehmen aus Alters- und Gesundheitsgründen. Ich weiß, dass viele Schwestern, auch in den USA, meinen Weg mit ihrem Gebet begleitet haben. Viele davon sind schon lange heimgeholt zu Gott, aber ich denke noch immer an sie. Ein besonderer Dank gilt aber meinen Eltern, die mir Vorbild und Beispiel waren und uns gelehrt haben was wichtig ist im Leben.
We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who have been called according to his decree. (Rom. 8:28)
In 1941, I was born in Tottori, the second of four children. When I was 20 years old, I received the gift of Baptism. In Nursing School, a classmate invited me to go with her to see the church. Both of us had just entered nursing school and were not acquainted with the area. One day, we found a small church. Timidly we opened the door and found a sign: “Little Flower Kindergarten” and “CATHOLIC KURAYOSHI CHURCH”. On the first floor was the kindergarten, and on the second was the chapel. The kindergarten teacher introduced us to the pastor, who was a young Jesuit priest. Then my friend and I started instructions on the Catholic teachings from this priest. I told the priest: “I would like to hear the teachings, but I will not receive the Catholic baptism”. At that time, I was afraid that if become a Catholic, I would be tied up by restrictions, and loose my freedom.
We came regularly to listen to the priest. However, I noticed that my friend who invited me to go with her, had quit coming after a while. I was alone to receive the instructions. Father used romaji script, and was not fluent in Japanese, but with all his heart talked about the Scriptures. This little church community was like a family, and the Christians were very friendly and kind. After the Mass on Sundays we mixed familiarly in the conference room and spent precious times.
During a period of two year experience, I joined the activities of the Legion of Mary, visiting the sick in the apartment next to the Church and in the surrounding area. During that time, I began to realize that I would not become as restricted as I thought.I received the grace of baptism at the age of 20.
Thinking of my past experiences, I had become familiar with the words of Scripture at the age of 16. About the time we graduated from Middle School, as classmates we exchanged messages in a notebook which we passed around. When my notebook was passed back to me, the message that caught my eye was: “Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. But the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is narrow, and there are few people who find it.” (Matthew 7:13). When I looked at who signed the message, it was that of our music directress, and I felt a whole new impulse. However, at that time, I did not search for the Scripture at the church.
In a certain book I read an article: “In that person ‘the Word of God’ may be found fermenting as yeast. It takes time for the yeast to ferment within me, and it may be guiding me…”
When I was thinking of religious life, Father Van de Vijver (CICM) was the pastor. As I went to speak to Father about it, he said, “I only know of communities in Himeji”, and referred me to this Community. I had worked at St. Mary’s Hospital for a while from April, 1965, as a nurse, and knew it was an Order which came from America, and from which Sister Ruth came, and Japanese Sisters belonged.
In September 1965, I entered the Community with two other candidates, and pronounced First Vows in 1968. I studied the Sophia University Religious course two years in Osaka; then I was sent to St. Francis Hospital in Nagasaki, where I worked as a nurse. For me, it was a great grace from God that I could meet with the people of Nagasaki, who had a history of deep faith. In October, 1973, I pronounced my Final Vows.
In 1986 I was appointed as the religious formation director for the junior sisters for four years. After which, I was sent again to St. Francis Hospital in Nagasaki.
From January, 2000, I went to the American Province to study English. From September 2000 to July, 2001, I took the ETU Religious Formation Course in Chicago. This was a very interesting opportunity and afforded me precious experiences in meeting these international students.
In October 2001, as the beginners’ formation directress, I stayed for a short time in the Formation House of our Province in Seoul (of which Sister Laetitia was the responsible person). I lived with the Korean Candidates, and was able to get a feeling for the Korean culture.
In the autumn of 2004, at the invitation of a Conventual Franciscan Father, I participated in a vocation activity in which five Religious Communities of Sisters visited Ho Chi Minh, Phan Thiet, Nha Trang Provinces. This was an incentive for which we have been gifted with new energy and membership.
Dear God, please renew daily my heart, wanting to live always according to your will!
The series “Pilgrims of Hope” is a monthly spiritual contribution to the Holy Year – a collaboration between the international Generalate of the Hospital Sisters of St Francis and the Muenster-based German church publication “Kirche und Leben” (“Church+Life”). Our topic in March: Hope for Healing.
Fasting is trendy. This is the result of a recent survey by the German health insurance company DAK: While in 2013, around 50 percent of Germans were willing to give up alcohol, sweets or cigarettes for a while for the sake of their health, today, the number has gone up to 72 percent.
Conscious abstinence with a healing effect: This positive aspect of our pre-Easter fasting period hardly needs any explanation anymore these days. But what are the religious aspects that can also be beneficial?
Personally, I appreciate the time of Lent as an opportunity for an inner process that begins with a mindful inventory. It is important to me to pause in my tracks and ask my heart: How do I live with God and with the people, here and now? Could there be something that might need healing? – An inventory that can lead to an inner and outer realignment.
This process of reorientation, which accompanies me during Lent, also runs through the history of the Hospital Sisters of St Francis, founded in 1844 as a Congregation of nurses. At the time, this was a concrete response to social need and the lack of health care. Since then, additional fields of work have developed alongside nursing because the Sisters have always responded attentively to the signs of the times, and have asked God for guidance, as well as their hearts. So today, our international Congregation also includes high school and kindergarden teachers, social workers, doctors and lawyers.
What unites all these activities is the inner attitude of “bringing Christ’s healing presence to the people” in the footsteps of St. Francis, as outlined in our mission statement. In other words, our goal is to bring God’s love to the people – in any way that people need it right now. This also means that we are always ready to develop further – as a Congregation, but also each of us personally.
This can be a huge challenge. For example for Sister M. Gerburg Aufderheide, who went to India in 1974 and founded the first convent there. Sister Gerburg, born in the German village of Ennigerloh in 1935. As tradition required, she had learned housekeeping as a young girl, then she became a kindergarten teacher and became a nurse after entering the convent.
Sr. Gerburg traveling in GermanySr. Gerburg, Kindergarden teacherBeginnings in IndiaSr. M. Gerburg caring for children in Pithora
In India, she was able to draw on these qualifications when setting up a medical and nursing care center. What she hadn’t reckoned with was that people brought her children – babies and toddlers, found in the garbage or on train tracks, left to die, because no one wanted them. Sister Gerburg took these children in and raised them, later ensuring their education and, in due course, finding suitable marriage partners for them – tasks that would traditionally have fallen to the parents. This way, she saved 27 girls and boys.
Sister M. Gerburg Aufderheide with the children she saved from certain death
At the same time, Sister Gerburg laid the foundations for our first convent in India, starting in 1979 with four Indian candidates. She continued to provide nursing care and also served as the housekeeper, driver and handywoman in the young community. Communicating in English and Hindi was difficult, the climate was strange, and so were the symptoms of the illnesses. “Fortunately, I liked the hot climate from the beginning,” says Sister Gerburg, who will turn 90 in the fall, “but I had to learn from scratch how to treat snakebites.”
Sister Gerburg in Münster in 2023 at the occasion of her 65th Jubilee, in the midst of Sisters from the Indian Province
Today, in our Indian Province, almost 100 Sisters live in 17 convents in seven federal states, and a hospital has just been opened at the very place where Sister Gerburg began her work more than 50 years ago. Sister Gerburg’s example shows me how much each and every one of us can achieve when our hearts are open to being an instrument of God’s love in our contact with people. Even if it might not be the snake bites that we have to heal, but our relationship with God and the people around us.
By Sister M. Hiltrud Vacker and Claudia Berghorn
This article was published online and in print in the Diocese of Muenster’s magazine, “Kirche+Leben” (Church+Life), in March 2025.
Am 8. April 1921 wurde ich in Shan-Tung, China geboren. Mir wurde der Name Yuan Ying (Catherine) gegeben. Ich war das jüngste Kind von vier Mädchen und drei Jungen. Meine Eltern, antichinesische Landbesitzer, waren angesichts der zunehmenden Präsenz der Japaner, die gegen die römisch-katholische Kirche eingestellt waren, sehr um meine Sicherheit besorgt. Deswegen brachten sie mich im Jahr 1925 in ein Waisenhaus mit Schule im nahe gelegenen Ping Yin. 1932 wechselte ich zu einer weiter entfernten Schule in Jinan, China. Dort lernte ich die Krankenschwestern des hl. Franziskus kennen. Schwester Clementia, zusammen mit anderen Schwestern, besuchte uns mehrfach und sprach über das Ordensleben und die Arbeit im St. Joseph’s Hospital in Jinan. Ich war sehr beeindruckt von ihnen und beschloss, mich ihnen nach Abschluss meiner Ausbildung anzuschließen.
Am 8. September 1944 trat ich in die Gemeinschaft ein. Es war die Zeit des Zweiten Weltkrieges und die Schwestern kümmerten sich um die verletzten Soldaten. Am 17. Oktober 1945 wurde ich eingekleidet und erhielt wegen des gerade unterzeichneten Friedensvertrages den Namen Pacis, der „Frieden“ bedeutet.
Am 24. September 1947 legte ich meine erste Profess ab. Aufgrund der zunehmend instabiler werdenden politischen Situation in China mussten die Schwestern gehen, und so segelten einige von uns am 12. Mai 1948 auf dem Passagierschiff „SS General Meigs“ Richtung USA. Nach unserer Ankunft in San Francisco, Kalifornien, fuhren wir mit dem Zug nach Springfield, Illinois, und kamen dort am 5. Juni 1948 an. Der Plan war, drei Jahre zu bleiben und dann nach China zurückzukehren. Da sich die Bedingungen in China jedoch nicht verbesserten, kehrten wir nicht zurück und hatten über 30 Jahre auch nur sehr begrenzten Kontakt mit unseren Familien.Leider waren viele Mitglieder meiner Familie getötet worden.
Ich bin Absolventin der St. John’s Krankenpflegeschule in Springfield, Illinois (1963). Ungefähr fünf Jahre lang war ich als Krankenschwester im St. John’s Hospital in Springfield und im St. Vincent Hospital in Green Bay, Wisconsin, tätig. Im Jahr 1968 verbesserte sich die politische Situation in Taiwan und die Schwestern beschlossen, eine Mission zu eröffnen. Drei chinesische Schwestern und ich meldeten uns freiwillig, um den Armen in Kaohsiung in der „Star of the Sea-Klinik“ zu dienen.
Im Jahr 2000 besuchte ich einen Gebetsgottesdienst über Vergebung in Kaohsiung. Ich wusste, dass ich denen vergeben musste, die meine Familie getötet hatten, dass ich den Hass loslassen musste, den ich seit fast 50 Jahren hatte. Es waren über 5.000 Menschen im Gottesdienst und der Heilige Geist kam zu mir und berührte meine Seele. Ich war endlich in Frieden und vergab ihnen. Nach 34 Jahren in Taiwan kehrte ich 2002 nach Springfield zurück und bin seither aktiv geblieben. Heute, halte ich täglich meine Gebetszeit und ich verehre weiterhin in besonderer Weise die Gottesmutter.
Born: February 12,1942 Entrance: February 11,1964 Profession: October 28,1966 Died: April 5, 2025
In the early morning hours, our Sister,Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, born by the name of Margret Hinxlage, surrendered her life into God’s hands.
My days are in your hand.
(Psalm 31, 16a)
Sister M. Sixta grew up with her twelve siblings on the Hinxlage farm in Kellerhöhe in the Oldenburg region. After finishing school, she attended the agricultural school in Garrel and did her practical training on her parents’ farm. Since she had always wanted to become a nun, she was allowed to go to the hospital in Waltrop for two years to get to know the work of the Franciscan Sisters there, and then she joined the Congregation. She followed her older sisters, Sister M. Johanna and Sister M. Raymira. Sister M. Sixta worked in the convent mainly as a nurse and in housekeeping.
We have fond memories of our large cemetery in Telgte, which she lovingly tended for many years. She was able to contribute her experience from her agricultural training. The flowers always bloomed beautifully in her care. She also devoted her time to the bees and was able to harvest a lot of honey from them.
We also have to thank her for the decorative bouquets that the Sisters received on their jubilees. Until two years ago, she always made them for everyone.
Since 2017, Sister M. Sixta lived together with Sister M. Raymira in St. Anna-Stift in Kroge. After a long illness, she followed her sister M. Johanna and other Sisters on their way to heaven.
With gratitude, we say goodbye to Sister M. Sixta. We remember her in our prayers and in the celebration of the Eucharist and remain united with her as Sisters.”
Ich wurde am 28. April 1958 als Gisela Konert in Holtwick, einem Ortsteil der Gemeinde Rosendahl im Kreis Coesfeld geboren. Aufgewachsen bin ich mit 6 Geschwister auf einem Bauernhof mit allen Tieren und was sonst noch so zu einem Münsterländer Hof dazugehört. Da alle Geschwister zwischen 1958 und 1967 geboren sind, herrschte immer „Leben in der Hütte“. Meine Mutter versorgte den großen Haushalt, neben den 7 Kindern gehörten noch die Eltern und einige Geschwister meines Vaters dazu. Mein Vater war Holzschuhmacher, arbeitete als Landwirt und Schreiner.
Nach meinem Schulbesuch absolvierte ich im St. Anna Stift in Stadtlohn eine 3-jährige Ausbildung als Hauswirtschafterin und später als Wirtschafterin.
Mit der Entscheidung für ein Leben im Kloster haben meine Eltern schon beinahe gerechnet. Eine Großtante und Tante, Schwester meines Vaters, lebten in der Gemeinschaft der Hiltruper Missionsschwestern, so ist diese Lebensform bereits Bestandteil der Familie. Als junge Frau auf der Suche nach dem richtigen Weg, waren Empfindungen und Gefühle wichtige Entscheidungsträger. Die Besinnungswochenenden bei den Mauritzer Franziskanerinnen brachte die Erleuchtung: „Das ist es!“ Ich fühlte mich wohl und aufgenommen in dieser Gemeinschaft. Die Spiritualität des Hl. Franziskus, sein Leben und Wirken ist meine Berufung.
Im Rückblick auf meinen Lebensweg war die Entscheidung gut so. Ich würde mich heute wieder so entscheiden, denn ich betrachte mein Leben als eine Berufung. Nach der Entscheidung für das Ordensleben, trat ich dann am 27. April 1983 in die Gemeinschaft der Mauritzer Franziskanerinnen ein. Die Zeit des Postulates diente als Einführungszeit. Mit der Aufnahme ins Noviziat am 27. November1983 erfolgte die zweijährige Noviziats Ausbildung. Inhalte dieser Zeit waren das persönliche und gemeinschaftliche Gebet und das Leben in der Gemeinschaft, vertieft und geprägt vom Geist des Evangeliums und der franziskanischen Tradition. Nach dieser Zeit legte ich am 27. Oktober 1985 die erste Profess und am 1. Juli 1990 meine ewige Profess ab, in der ich mich für immer an Gott und die Gemeinschaft gebunden habe.
Gemeinschaft ist ein großes Geschenk, das ich nicht alleine auf dem Weg bin, das immer einer da ist, der mich trägt: Psalm 23 Vers 1+3:“DerHerr ist mein Hirte, nichts wird mir fehlen, er stillt mein Verlangen, er leitet mich auf rechten Pfaden, treu seinem Namen!“
Mein Hobby ist das Backen. Ich backe gerne und konnte dieses in verschiedenen Häusern unserer Gemeinschaft ausführen, Konvente im Rheinland und Münsterland, sowie 15 Jahre im Kapuzinerkloster in Münster und 6 Jahre im Konvent in Werne. Seit Ende Mai 2020 lebe ich in der St. Antonius von Padua Gruppe im neuen Haus des Mutterhauses in Münster. Ich lebe hier mit 4 Mitschwestern und sorge für die vielfältigen Aufgaben im Haus. Ich lebe gerne hier und bin meiner Berufung dankbar. Mit Blick auf mein Ordensleben möchte ich schließen mit Franziskus: Das ist es was ich will, das ist es was ich suche, danach verlange ich aus meinem Herzen!
My name is Sister Rosa, Yuriko Tsutsumi. I was raised in a devout catholic family. I was born in Wakayama, which is south of Osaka, and I have seven siblings: three older brothers, two older sisters, and a younger sister.
I was baptized on the third day after I was born. My father had come up with a spiritual name for me, after the Holy Family (Jesus, Mary and Joseph). My baptismal name is Mary. Joseph holds Jesus and a staff with lilies in bloom, so my Japanese name is Yuriko. ‘Yuri’ means lilies in Japanese. My father was a catechist who was mainly an interpreter for French missionaries. He was born in Hirado, Nagasaki, the first place where St. Francis Xavier landed in Japan.
I learned about the Religious life when I entered the mission school “Osaka Shin-Ai Jogakuin High School”.
I came to know about our Congregation through my father’s hospitalization at St. Francis Hospital, Nagasaki. I felt God’s grace as my father recovered from his near-death condition and was able to leave the hospital. When I was 23 years old, I got a job at St. Francis Hospital.
The following year, as I was watching Sister Fridolin and Sister Barbara at work, I began to think, “I want to be a part of this.” That’s what good medical nursing looked like, from serving patients and taking care of their meals to cleaning.
However, I felt I couldn’t follow the Latin prayers coming from the convent’s chapel which is connected to the hospital. After the Vatican Council, Sister Asumputa and I attended a religious study group once a week, and gradually my heart changed. As if carried by a wave, I was led into the Congregation.
Looking back on it now, I feel that I really wanted to become a Sister for a while, because I saw my two brothers going to seminary and trying to become a priest. I prayed for them. One of my two brothers received ordination to the priesthood and I was thinking of becoming a Sister. The other brother started working at an orphanage in the diocese of Osaka. At that time I forgot that I want to become a religious Sister.
At the age of 27, after giving my mother a hard time – she was the one who most desired to see me as a Religious – it gradually became clear to me, that Jesus is the one I want to marry.
The following year, 1967, at the age of 28, I joined the Congregation, and made my first vows on September 3, 1970. I professed my final vows on September 3, 1977, the year we became a Province. I worked as a nurse at St. Francis Hospital in Nagasaki, St. Mary’s Hospital in Himeji and Easter Village in Ashikaga.
In 1990, I went to Korea as a foreign missionary. I worked hard to learn the Korean culture. In Korea, I cared for the elderly and served the poor, and in 2008, after finishing my time in Korea, I returned to Japan. Even today I have a missionary zeal for Korea.
In 2020, I celebrated my 50th anniversary of religious life. I look back in gratitude. Everything happened by God’s grace.
Born: 8. Dezember 1928 Entrance: 27. Januar 1951 Profession: 3. Mai 1954 Died: 17. März 2025
On her name day, our good God called our Sister, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, born in the name of Gertrud Micke, to Himself.
Faithful is God who calls you. He will also complete it.
(1. Thess. 5,24)
Sister M. Servulina was born as one of six siblings in Münster-Amelsbüren, where her father was a forester at Herold Castle. As her mother died early, she grew up with foster parents in Füchtorf, who took very good care of her, as she repeatedly said. It was here that she came in contact with the Franciscan Sisters from St. Mauritz, who worked in outpatient care.
At the age of twenty-three, Gertrud joined our religious Congregation and became a member of our community. Among other things, she worked in the hospitals in Haselünne, Lünen, Liesborn and Ennigerloh as a ward sister. In 1979, Sister M. Servulina came to Seppenrade and remained there until the convent was dissolved in 2021. We know her from that time as a receptionist and even better as an organist who played the organ with lot of love and accompanied the church services. We will always remember her calm and kind manner and her shining eyes.
A few days before her death, Sister M. Servulina was admitted to St. Francis Hospital and was due to be discharged on March 18. However, she insisted that she be discharged on March 17, on her name’s day. In the afternoon, she received the anointing of the sick and the doctor finally allowed her to return to St. Heriburg House that evening. When the nurses said goodbye to her for the night, she had no wishes and just wanted to sleep. So she fell asleep and quietly and unnoticed made her way to God, for whom she longed very much, shortly before midnight.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Servulina. In prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist, we remember her and remain connected to her as Sisters.
Born: February 9,1935 Entrance: January 28,1955 Professed: October 28,1957 Died: March 8, 2025
The good and compassionate God called our Sister, born by the name of Klara Niehues, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, to Himself.
Virgin, Mother of God mine,
let me be all yours!
Yours for time and eternity!
(Prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary)
Sister M. Alwine was born into a family of miners in Altlünen. She was characterized by the straightforwardness and reliability of the people in this region, which also included a firm faith.
The young Klara became familiar with the Franciscans from St. Mauritz at the Marien Hospital in Lünen. At the age of twenty, she joined our religious community in Münster and became a true Franciscan.
Sister M. Alwine’s name is firmly associated with St. Bernhard Hospital in Kamp-Lintfort. From the founding of the hospital in 1967 until the departure of our Sisters here in 2015, she managed the large laundry there. She thus took on the service of Martha, as described in the Bible, as a tireless caregiver for the well-being of the people in the hospital.
In her little free time, she used her bicycle to go on long tours through the Rhine area. She often went to Kevelaer to pray to Our Lady, as she was a great devotee of the Virgin Mary.
In 2015, Sister M. Alwine moved to St. Franziskus-Haus in Nordwalde, where she spent her retirement. There she quietly gave her life back to her Creator.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Alwine. We remain connected to her as sisters in prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist.
Born: December 10, 1940 Entrance: August 15, 1962 Professed: May 3, 1965 Died: February 28, 2025
The good and faithful God, in whom she placed her trust, redeemed our
Sister M. Anna Esseling, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.
Into your hands I commend my spirit;
You have redeemed me, O Lord, you faithful God.
Psalm 31:6
Sister M. Anna Esseling was born in Stadtlohn, Germany, where she grew up on a farm with her seven brothers and sisters. Before entering the congregation, she was trained as a housekeeper and got to know and appreciate Sister M. Helena as a ward assistant in the hospital in Stadtlohn. Through Sister M. Helena she joined our Congregation and made her first profession in the Motherhouse in Münster in 1965. This year she would have celebrated the diamond jubilee of her religious profession.
As a professed member, Sister M. Anna continued her education as a nurse, also as a geriatric nurse. She enjoyed her profession as a health care professional, but her illness did not allow her to work for long periods of time, so she was often transferred. She enjoyed working in the convent Maria-Hilf in Telgte in the refectory and at the entrance. She was very grateful for that time. Until the convent in Seppenrade was closed, she was there for ten years before moving to St. Heriburg House in Münster as a senior resident.
We know Sister M. Anna as a loving and motherly Sister who was always happy to help her fellow Sisters and to offer them a little help. In doing so, she strove to follow her patron saint, St. Mother Anna, whom she greatly admired.
It was Sister M. Anna’s wish not to be alone at the hour of death. This was granted to her. A fellow sister sat at her deathbed and held her hand. Sister M. Anna would like to thank everyone and ask for forgiveness if she ever offended anyone.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Anna. We remember her in prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist and remain connected to her as sisters.”
Born: April 10, 1939 Entrance: October 2, 1958 Professed: May 3, 1962 Died: February 28, 2025
The God of Life, for whom she longed so much, has fulfilled our co-sister’s wish to be with him now in eternity. She was born by the name of Maria Eckhoff, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.
I am that I am – I am here.
– I am where you are!
according to Exodus 3:14
We know Sister M. Roberta as a tireless seamstress in our former “embroidery room” and the “parament room”. This service shaped her life. Later she was sacristan in the motherhouse and in recent years lived in the Maria Hilf convent in Telgte and most recently in St. Franziskus-Haus in Nordwalde. She grew up in Ankum and trained as a ladies’ and men’s tailor before entering the convent.
With love and creativity, she made many chasubles and rochettes for the services in the motherhouse church, which are still in use today. After the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council, the vestments had to be adapted to the new understanding. Sister M. Roberta remembered this with pleasure for a long time.
She not only took care of the church services, but was also a tireless prayer warrior and devotee of the Eucharist. She wanted to say goodbye with the wish of her prayer that she gives us here:
“Almighty God, your servant Sister Maria Roberta lived in faith and trust from the holy mystery of the Eucharist and served the people. Now grant her eternal life with you in the light of your presence.
We bid a grateful farewell to Sister M. Roberta. We remain united with her as Sisters in prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist.
The series “Pilgrims of Hope” is a monthly spiritual contribution to the Holy Year – a collaboration between the international Generalate of the Hospital Sisters of St Francis and the Muenster-based German church publication “Kirche und Leben” (“Church+Life”). Our topic in February: Hope for Democracy.
Democracy is a topic currently much debated, and it is a very complex one. To approach it, it may help to ask: What would I miss without democracy? What would we all miss without our constitution? Imagine, for example, that we did not have Article 4 of our Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of belief and conscience. (The Article states: “The undisturbed practice of religion is guaranteed.”)
The lack of this freedom of belief is at the core of the history of our international Congregation as it affected our founder, Father Christopher Bernsmeyer. When Napoleon’s troops occupied Muenster in 1811, they closed the Franciscan monastery so that Father Christopher lost both his home and his brotherly community. Ultimately, he found a new home in Telgte near Muenster, where he founded our Congregation in 1844.
Throughout our history, we have faced political obstacles. 150 years ago, the Kulturkampf raged in Prussia and the 1875 laws threatened the existence of religious Orders including ours in Muenster. Fortunately, our Superior welcomed the request of Bishop Peter Baltes of Alton, Illinois, to send Sisters to America to care for the sick. In October 1875, 20 of our Sisters journeyed from Münster without knowledge of the English language or the American culture but with hope for democracy and freedom in the service of God. That hope was realized immediately after their arrival when they founded four hospitals and shortly after they founded the first Catholic nursing school in the United States of America. The following years saw the founding of other healthcare ministries throughout the United States and abroad. This year, we are celebrating 150 years of presence in the United States together with nearly 13,000 employees who provide care to nearly two million people annually through 13 hospitals in Illinois and Wisconsin. We thank God for democracy.
German Hospital Sisters of St. Francis on their way to the United States of America.
The Sisters in our Polish Province also suffered political persecution. As early as 1848, some of our Sisters went from Muenster to Silesia to care for the victims of a typhoid epidemic. After the epidemic, they stayed on, building an orphanage and hospitals – the groundstones of a new Province. However, after World War II, the communist authorities confiscated these hospitals and expelled our Sisters. While many members of other congregations serving in the area were sent to labor camps, our Sisters escaped this terrible fate because their Provincial Superior was a Dutch citizen who placed the Provincial Motherhouse under the protection of the Dutch queen. Nevertheless, religious life behind the Iron Curtain was difficult, and the General Superiors from Muenster were unable to travel to the Silesian-Polish Province for 35 years.
Democracy is our responsibility!
Today, in democratic Europe, two Polish Sisters work in the international General Administration in Muenster. Two other Sisters come from India, officially the world’s largest democracy with 1.4 billion people. The Indian constitution guarantees equality before the law, and non-discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, gender and origin. However, according to “Open Doors”, India is in tenth place on the world persecution index, overtaking North Korea. This reveals that the core of a healthy democracy lies not only in its institutional structures, but also in the way people treat each other, and in the ability to appreciate diversity, interculturality, and differences.
This is also what we experience within the democratic structure of our Congregation: Both the Provincial Leadership and the international General Leadership are elected by the members of the Order for a limited term of office. The most recent election was held during the international General Chapter in September 2024 when delegates from all the countries in which our Sisters live and work gathered in Muenster.
Democratic elections during the 21st International General Chapter in Muenster in September 2024.
Democracy is our responsibility. Our freedom depends on our commitment to it, both privately and in Church and society. That is why we as German Hospital Sisters will go and vote in the German General Election on February 23. And this is why we encourage you to use your right to vote as well, wherever you are and whenever you can. Just think about what you might miss – without our democracy.
By Sister M. Margarete Ulager and Claudia Berghorn
This article was published online and in print in the Diocese of Muenster’s magazine, “Kirche+Leben” (Church+Life), in February 2025.
The Hospital Sisters of St. Francis also participated in the Diocese of Muenster’s Campaign for Democracy, “Live Freedom”. On February 7, 2025, General Councilor Sister M. Hiltrud Vacker joined representatives of St. Francis Foundation to spray the campaign logo onto a fence around the building site for the future St. Francis Health Academy and Nursing School.
Being asked about my age, I gladly reply: “I am two months younger than our Pope Francis.” I really appreciate him. His positive attitude towards life, his outgoing personality and his love of freedom repeatedly opens up pathways, according to the scripture: “You set me free in the open.” For this I thank the Lord and the people who walk the way with me.“
Childhood, youth and education
My family home is located directly on the church square in Lüdinghausen, a small town in the Münsterland. So our family, church and community life were a natural unity. I grew up with four siblings and a large number of cousins. Our kindergarten and later the high school were run by Franciscan nuns and one of my aunts was a Franciscan, too. Four cousins felt called to the priesthood, so I was very close to the church and the religious orders. I also felt the call to become a Religious Sister.
After my graduation from the school of nursing it seemed natural, that I felt drawn to the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis, especially since I went on a pilgrimage to Rome / Assisi together with my mother, on which I got to know St. Francis in a very new way.
And the certainty grew, that in a special way, I want to walk in the footsteps of St. Francis according to the gospel. A Franciscan, a Sister, a nurse. Yes, that’s what I wanted to be.
Entrance in Community
In 1962, I joined the Congregation, at that time together with 27 like-minded young women. It was a blessed, a wonderful and a carefree time.
But then everything turned out differently: Shortly after my first profession, I was called to the former General Superior, Mother Odilia. She told me: “In the future, we need a dentist with exam for the community” and she added: “We thought about it and we want you, to go for study.”
Of course I was very scared and also disappointed. It saddened me to stop working as a nurse in the future. And I also expressed my doubts whether at all I can complete such a long course successfully.
After a period of reflection, I said with a heavy heart: “YES, I will try it.” I had just recently professed my first vows, and as it says i n our vows, “I place myself completely at the disposition of this community for the service of the church.”
With God’s help and the invaluable support of my Sisters I passed the state examination and earned a doctorate. I am particularly grateful to my Sisters, who worked for years in the dental practice with great dedication and who supported me with advice, practical help and prayer.
Working as a dentist became my new profession and gave me a lot o joy. The environment grew. In addition to the Sisters’ treatment, I assumed emergency services in the hospital and beyond. Especially the work with children/people with disabilities in ‘Stift Tilbeck’ was challenging. As a Sister, however, I had a special advantage, because our Sisters in Stift Tilbeck were persons of trust to the patients, and that’s where I belonged.
In many other situations, I experienced help and encouragement from people by my side, and especially from my Sisters.
And all in all, I feel that God is on my side. I do not know situations like God-forsakenness or threatening danger. Maybe I have worries, but in everything, again and again, I experienced what Jesus promises to us “I am with you every day”. For me, this promise has become an encouraging word from the Holy Scripture.
Due to my profession, the motherhouse remained my permanent residence for almost 60 years. Sisters were jokingly saying, that I became a so-called ‘motherhouse pillar’.
The terms in office in the General- and Provincial Leadership are very precious to me. In this time my “mother house horizon” grew worldwide, for which I am very grateful. It is important in everyday life, to support and to shape the tasks and the aims of the community.
Now, at my age, my life is getting shorter and the thoughts of the end of life or of eternal life are coming more often. What will happen and how will it be? For me, heaven is a symbol for eternal home with God, a symbol for security, peace and joy and that is what I wish for all who were or are still with me on the way here.
For the many shortcomings or difficulties in everyday life, I always like to take St. Francis as a model. He loved the church despite all weaknesses and shortcomings. Through his life he gave the church a new face and he said:
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1:5
I was born as the elder daughter to my parents on February 04, 1992 in Cherthala, Alappuzha District, Kerala, India.
God thoughtfully selected my parents who have very strong catholic faith. I firmly believe; God had a wonderful plan even from the time of my conception. One of the events that I heard from my parents is: my parents took me to the church for my baptism. Holy Mass was being celebrated on the other side altar of the church and it was the time for offertory. The priest who gave baptism for me told to my parents: “This child is baptised at the time of offertory and she will be for the Lord forever”. And it became true.
As the years passed, I had a desire to become a nun. I was interested in reading books; therefore, the religious sisters in our parish gave me many books of saints. This helped me to create an intense desire to live and die for Jesus. During these years, I happened to read a book about St. Francis. Thus, my desire became strong to be a Franciscan nun. My aunt Sister M. Archana is in our Franciscan congregation. I consulted her for her opinion of my desire to be a Franciscan religious. She asked me to complete my higher secondary education.
As I completed the higher secondary, my father was not willing to send me to a far place to become a religious; as state of Chhattisgarh is 1,300 kilometres away from Kerala. This was very challenging for me. Every day from morning till night, my tears were rolling down my cheeks. Finally, father agreed with my decision. My parents and aunt helped me to prepare myself to respond to God’s call.
Fulfilling God’s plan, on August 01, 2009 I joined our Congregation. After five years of initial formation, I professed on May 07, 2014. At present I am studying for Chartered Accountant in Trivandrum, Kerala.
The main focus of my religious vocation is to possess Jesus completely and to proclaim Him through my life. I say with St. Paul; I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:8.I wish to glorify God in all the little things assigned to me in my religious life.
I was born on February 20, 1934 in Ochtrup, Westmünsterland. My parents – Heinrich and Amalia, the former Amalia Ostendorf – gave me the name Martha. I grew up on my parents’ farm with seven siblings. I experienced the time of the Second World War. Soon, three of my brothers were sent to the front.
A brother, 19 years old, was wounded in Russia and died from the injuries. The other two brothers came back from the war severely ill. As the youngest in the family, I was 14 years old, I had to assist my mother in the household and to help with field work. My sister was not interested in agriculture; she left the house when she was 20 years old. My father died in 1945 from the consequences of a robbery and the following turmoil.
I left the school in 1948 and continued to help with various tasks on the farm. During the war many beggars from the Ruhr area came and knocked at our door. Sometimes they were 20 – 30 women, often mothers, who had saved a few remainings out of the ruins, to exchange it for food. Sometimes, my mother said “no”. Then I saw the sad eyes of the mothers.
I secretly went to the chicken house, took out eggs and ran after the women. It was probably the social conscience, that I inherited from my father. My heart was always devoted to the poor. When I was 16 years old, I came to a decision: I wanted to be there for many people. The desire urged me more and more to become a religious.
At the age of 20, I entered our Congregation against the resistance of my mother, my sister and my brothers. First, I did a six-month internship in the hospital.
After I learned nursing, my path led more and more into the work for the homeless in Münster. Later I worked for a soup kitchen in the former “German Democratic Republic” for 10 years. After the closure of the convent, I lived with two other sisters in a small town. There I visited old and sick people and I was actively rooted in the parish.
Today I live in the Motherhouse and as far as I can I visit old people in our adjacent home for the elderly. I am grateful for my vocation to serve in the healing ministry.
