Sister M. Alwine

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.