Sister M. Eufredis

Born: July 19, 1932
Entrance: August 4, 1951
Professed: May 3, 1954
Died: October 21, 2025

Christ, whom she trusted in her life, took our dear Sister M. Eufredis, née Helga Magdalena Scharnet, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, to Himself.

Christ, my Christ!

(Prayer by Sr. M. Eufredis)

Sister M. Eufredis was born in Marienburg in West Prussia, where she spent the first years of her childhood. Her father was transferred to Briesen as a police officer, where Helga was able to attend secondary school. As the Eastern Front drew closer, the family had to leave their home in 1944 and, after many detours, ended up in the Protestant city of Bremerhaven. At that time, it was common for Catholic families to be deliberately sent to Protestant areas. This difficult time had a profound effect on her. She talked about it repeatedly. To graduate from school, the girl attended elementary school and then business school. 

At St. Joseph’s Hospital, she got to know the Franciscan sisters as an apprentice cook and was able to join them in Münster in 1951. 

After passing her nursing exam, she worked in several hospitals in nursing and in the laboratory. Many of us know Sister M. Eufredis as the friendly sister with sparkling eyes at the gate in Kroge. She was then allowed to spend a few more years in Brake, overlooking Bremerhaven, her second home. In 2006, Sister M. Eufredis came to St. Heriburg House and took over the visiting service for her sisters for a long time. Since 2015, she had been a senior there and, for the past year, a resident of the St. Klara residential group, where she lovingly cared for until she passed away at 7:00 a.m.. Sister M. Eufredis was deeply affected by her experiences as a refugee, which never left her. Her anchor was always Christ, to whom she prayed: “Christ, my Christ!”

We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Eufredis. In prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist, we remember her and remain united with her in sisterhood.