Pilgrims of Hope (12): Dignity

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 December: Hope for Dignity

Human dignity is inviolable: how wonderful it would be if this sentence were not only enshrined in our German constitution, but were also a matter of course throughout the world. Yet even today, many people still have to fight for their dignity and suffer from exclusion, injustice, and hardship. Sometimes entire groups are affected because of their religion or because of wars and natural disasters; sometimes it is personal misfortunes or illnesses that push people to the margins of society. Especially in December, when we await the arrival of our Lord, I think about this particularly often. For as romantic as the birth in a stable is portrayed today, the Holy Family would certainly have preferred to make themselves comfortable at home.

Also, I think of the patron saint of our Congregation, St. Francis of Assisi, who dedicated his life to the sick and marginalized. One of his most formative and fateful encounters was that with a leper outside the gates of Assisi. At that time, people suffering from leprosy lived outside the city. But even today, leprosy still exists, as does this marginalization – for example in India, in Ramgarh in the state of Jharkhand. Since 1982, the Sisters of our international Congregation have been supporting people in a leprosy settlement there – both medically and by enabling their children to attend school. Health and education: two important aspects for a life of dignity.

The convent in Ramgarh was founded by Sister M. Vulmara Hannöver, who was the first Hospital Sister of St. Francis to go from Münster to India in 1973. From 1989 onwards, one of our Polish Sisters, Sister M. Stefania Gembalczyk, was particularly involved in Ramgarh. For more than 25 years, she cared for leprosy patients as a nurse; they called her “our Mother Theresa.”

In addition to health care, our Indian Sisters in Ramgarh are primarily involved in education. Two years ago, they opened a new English-language school, which now teaches 914 children.

During my visits there, I have seen for myself how important the work of our Sisters in Ramgarh is. Once, it was already dark when we reached the leprosy colony. Open fires lit up the narrow streets and cast a soft light on the people who lived there. They invited us into their poor huts – huts that resembled the depictions of the stable in Bethlehem. Later, we met an old man; he greeted us warmly by leaning forward and raising his hands to his forehead – or so we thought. Then we realized that he no longer had hands, only stumps.

He was very happy about our visit, but sad that we had come so late. And he asked us to come back during daylight hours so that he could see our faces. Although this old man was scantily clad in rags, he radiated great dignity. His invitation touched our hearts deeply. We felt small and ashamed—tears welled up in our eyes in the darkness.

In the light of the Holy Night, this memory has a special impact. God invites us into the poor huts of this world. He invites us into the poor stable in Bethlehem so that we can see Jesus Christ, who became man and already gives us “prestige” through the mystery of his love. He gives us his light and a dignity that can never be taken away from us. For “in him was life, and that life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness.”

Our faith is visible in the way we treat people, regardless of illness or social position. The child in the manger is the guarantee that human beings will never lose their royal dignity. Today more than ever, it is important for us Christians to bear personal witness to the healing presence of God. Let us pray for one another that our faith in the incarnation of God may deepen. Looking at Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was born in a stable, we see all those people who have become homeless, poor, and sick, who are hungry and have to endure suffering; the list is long. Christmas invites us to listen anew to God’s word and to seek His will for us and for our Church at this moment in our history.

By Schwester 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 December 2025.