Sister M. Friedgund

Born: September 8, 1935
Entrance: October 2, 1958
Professed: May 3, 1961
Died: August 26, 2026

With firm trust that she will rise again through Christ, our sister entrusted her life to God: Sister M. Friedgund, née Maria Dopp, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.

Resurrection is our faith, reunion is our hope. Remembrance is our love.

(St. Augustine)

On the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Maria Dopp was born in Ottmarsbocholt. She grew up there with her two brothers and two sisters. She said of her childhood there that she had a happy youth. After leaving primary school, the young Maria learnt housekeeping on a farm. She later joined our Congregation at the hospital in Ottmarsbocholt, which was then a convent. These experiences led her to decide to become a Franciscan sister herself. She completed her nursing training in Münster and then worked from 1966 to 1986 in the hospitals in Freckenhorst and Billerbeck.

The defining period of her social service was from 1986 to 2024 at St. Joseph’s-House in Ennigerloh. There, she not only cared for the residents of the home but also looked after the chapel and, beyond that, advocated for people in need within the community. For this, the city honored her and Sister M. Veronis in 2016 with the Ennigerloh Volunteer Award. She often said that Ennigerloh had become her second home. As the convent in Ennigerloh had grown smaller and smaller, she remained there in recent years with Sister M. Veronis. The two sisters were often seen together. In 2024, the convent in Ennigerloh was dissolved, after which they both moved to the retirement home in Nordwalde together.

At their request, they both moved once more three months ago to the St. Heriburg-House in Münster.  After several admissions to St. Francis Hospital, Sister M. Friedgund, accompanied faithfully by Sister M. Veronis, peacefully surrendered her life into the hands of God.

We bid Sister M. Friedgund a grateful farewell. We remember her in our prayers and in the celebration of the Eucharist, and remain united with her in sisterly love. On Monday, August 31, 2026, we will bid farewell to Sister M. Friedgund during the Resurrection Mass at 2:00 p.m. in the Motherhouse Church and accompany her to her final resting place in the Sisters’ Cemetery.