Sister M. Hildburg
Born: June 13, 1934
Entrance: April 13, 1957
Professed: October 28, 1959
Died: March 6, 2026
After a long illness, yet unexpectedly, the God of life called to Himself our dear Sister M. Hildburg, née Gertrud Landwehr, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.
“Sing to the Lord, all the peoples of the earth,
(GL Hymn No. 809)
Day after day proclaim His Glory.”
Gertrud Landwehr came from Herzebrock in the Diocese of Paderborn to join our congregation in Münster. Her connection to her home diocese and the episcopal city of Paderborn, with its annual Libori Festival, remained vibrant throughout her life. She regularly read DOM (“Cathedral”), the Paderborn church newspaper.
During her investiture, the young woman received the name Sister M. Hildburg. Like all the Sisters, she completed her nursing training and worked in this profession until 1993 in Neuenkirchen near Rheine, in Löningen, and in Bremen. Sister M. Hildburg also possessed many other skills, which she contributed in Telgte and at the Motherhouse in Münster.
She was a very skilled and meticulous seamstress, sewing for the Sisters with great ingenuity and precision. She made the first face masks for the Motherhouse at the beginning of the Covid pandemic before we received the standardized masks. For many years, Sister M. Hildburg’s beautiful and clear voice led the liturgy in the convents, especially the Liturgy of the Hours, thus “proclaiming God’s glory day after day,” as the hymn says. As a painter of nature scenes, she was a true artist. Her paintings were often framed and displayed. Sister M. Hildburg had learned the old German handwriting script Sütterlin in school. Therefore, she was always in high demand when it came to deciphering old letters and transcribing them into standard German. She also processed many old documents for our archive, making them accessible to us today. In this way, Sister M. Hildburg will continue to live on among us.
She had been a resident of St. Francis House in Nordwalde since 2023, where she was lovingly cared for and returned her long life to God. We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Hildburg. We remain united to her in prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist.
On Tuesday, March 10, 2026, at 10.00 a.m., we will celebrate the Resurrection Mass for Sister M. Hildburg at St. Francis House in Nordwalde and then bid her farewell at the parish cemetery, where she will be laid to rest. Afterwards, we can share our memories over coffee at St. Francis House.
