Sister M. Luperia Reicks

Born: March 22, 1933
Entrance: August 9, 1957
Professed: May 3, 1960
Died: August 24, 2024

The faithful God completed the life of our dear Sister M. Luperia Reicks, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.

Death is the gateway to life.

attributed to St. Francis

Sister M. Luperia was born in Billerbeck. Her parents gave her the name Maria, and she remained a devotee of Mary throughout her life. Maria received the Sacrament of Confirmation on July 9, 1943 in the church in Schapdetten.  She went to school in Schapdetten until 1947.  As a 21-year-old young woman, she finished her time as a trainee cook at Senden Hospital.

A longing grew in her to become a Franciscan Sister. At the age of 24, she took the step into religious life. After her training as a nurse and various assignments, two years after her perpetual professions, she took on her first leading role as a ward Sister in the surgical women’s ward at St. Franziskus-Hospital in Muenster. Eight years later, she completed her training as a nursing facility manager and from 1977 to 2010 was superior of the convents in Greven, Leer, Lohne and Lingen and Nursing Director, or sacristan in the latter hospital.

After a year at the Motherhouse, she moved to Nordwalde in 2011 due to increasing health problems. For three years, she welcomed people at the entrance until she increasingly needed support herself.  Her great wish to see the new Motherhouse chapel once again was fulfilled in June of this year, despite her very limited state of health. Her joy was expressed in her beaming smile as she set off on her journey home. Five weeks ago, she was able to spend some time with her biological sister and her niece in Nordwalde. 

Sister M. Luperia showed us that she was a cheerful, responsible woman who was very close to St. Francis, even when living through her infirmities in old age.  On Saturday at 10.15 p.m., in the presence of the night watch, God took her home through the gate of death at the age of 92. 

We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Luperia. We remember her in prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist and remain connected to her as sisters.

On Thursday, August 29, 2024, we will celebrate the Resurrection Mass for Sister M. Luperia at 10.00 a.m. in St. Franziskus-Haus in Nordwalde. In gratitude, we bid farewell to her at the parish cemetery, where she will find her final resting place. Afterwards, we can share our memories over coffee in St. Franziskus-Haus.