Sister M. Ancilla

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.