Sister M. Jovina
Born: December 18, 1935
Entrance: January 30, 1959
Professed: October 28, 1961
Died: February 12, 2025
On February 12th, our dear Sister, who has given many children a good start in life, has been called by the Divine Friend of Children at the age of 89.
Lord, our Lord, how mighty is your name.
whoever keeps singing of your majesty higher than the heavens,
even through the mouths of children, or of babes in arms.
Psalm 8
Sister Jovina was born as the eighth child of the Weibring family on a farm in Mussum, near Borken. Her mother died in childbirth, so her grandmother took care of her and introduced her to life. She was very grateful. During an internship at the Maria Frieden Nursing Home in Emsdetten, young Elisabeth met our Sisters. Later, at the age of twenty-four, she joined our Franciscan congregation.
In addition to her nursing training, she also completed her pediatric nursing training and enthusiastically cared for the youngest patients. She first worked in the neonatal department in Schermbeck for three years. She then returned to Münster and managed the intensive care unit for premature babies at St. Franziskus Hospital from 1971 to 1992 with great expertise and empathy.
After this enthusiastic service she was allowed to retire to the convent. For the first six years she lived in the novitiate convent and then took over the gate and chapel ministries in Telgte, Datteln and Damme. She returned to the Motherhouse as a senior in 2015 and spent the last five years in St. Heriburg House, where she gave her life back to God after a long, debilitating illness, well accompanied by the staff of the Palliative Care Unit, the staff of the House and her fellow Sisters.
We knew Sister M. Jovina as a quiet, calm Sister with radiant eyes, who loved the community and prayed often and gladly.
We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Jovina. We remember her in prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist and remain united to her as sisters.
We will celebrate the resurrection Mass for Sister M. Jovina on Tuesday, February 18th, 2025 at 02.00p.m. in the Motherhouse Church. We will then accompany her to her final resting place in the Sisters’ Cemetery.
Afterwards, we can share our memories of her over coffee in the motherhouse.
