
Sister M. Faustiniana Baron
Sister M. Faustiniana Baron tells the story of her family, which was blessed by God with rich religious vocations in several generations, and of her own vocation.
“The first of our Baron family to enter the Congregation of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis was my mother’s sister, Maria Kula, who received the name Sister Wilborada on October 28, 1913 in Muenster and served the sick in the hospital in Opole for many years. She died on March 26, 1945 in Proskau near Opole.
My cousin, Sister M. Gismunda Langner, who also joined our congregation, followed in her aunt’s footsteps and served as a Sister and nurse in the Odrau Hospital in the Czech Republic for many years until the communist government expelled our Sisters from this hospital in 1964. Sister M. Gismunda died in Ullersdorf.
My parents: Zuzanna Kula and Teodor Baron had harbored the desire for religious life in their hearts, but God’s will was different. My mother always wanted to go back to Muenster to join the Congregation where her sister, Sister Wilborada, had been living and serving for several years. She wanted to go to Münster with a friend from the parish, who actually joined and was later given the name Sister M. Adalgis. A serious illness prevented my mother from joining too, so she stayed at home. She always harbored the wish in her heart that if she married and had girls, they could perhaps become Sisters if it was God’s will.
The Franciscan spirit also prevailed in my father’s family. His brother Francis became a Friar Minor on August 28, 1919 and took the name Brother Joachim. After his studies, he was ordained a priest on February 3, 1924 in the monastery on St. Annaberg. Due to a serious illness, he died at a very young age on September 10, 1924. My father Teodor wanted to join the Franciscan order on St. Annaberg after the death of his brother, but on one occasion the father guardian was not there, and on the second occasion the guardian had no time for the candidate Theodor.
And so it happened that Zusanna Kula and Theodor Baron met, fell in love and married on July 12, 1925 in St. Joseph’s parish church in Wengern. They lived a very pious and happy life. They had many children. Seven daughters and one son were born to them. My eldest sister died when she was eight months old. My mother fell seriously ill and died at the age of 46. Our father and our aunt Rosalie Kula took care of us children aged 3-15.
Of my siblings, only my eldest sister Gertrude joined the Congregation of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis in Ullersdorf. On August 20, 1949, she received the religious name of her deceased aunt – Sister M. Wilborada. After a serious illness, she died in Ullersdorf on August 18, 1950.
When I went to Ullersdorf for my sister’s funeral, I felt a great longing for religious life. I really wasn’t interested in worldly youthful entertainments. I wanted to serve God and the people with the Franciscan Sisters. In 1954, at the age of 19, I joined the Congregation of the Hospital Sisters in Ullersdorf. and was given the name Sister M. Faustiniana when I was invested. I am not a registered nurse, but I have served God and people through prayer and especially through office work. Now I am retired. I have enough time to spend with God and to serve and help in the refectory of the provincial house.
Within two years of my service, God called my twin sister Matilda to our Congregation in 1956. She was again given the name Sister M. Wilborada. She was a registered nurse and served God and the sick with great love and dedication for many years. She was able to celebrate her golden jubilee before she died in 2008.
The Lord God chose our family in a special way. Our parents’ wish was fulfilled in us, the children. In 1958, their fourth daughter, my sister Anna, entered the Congregation of the Hospital Sisters in Ullersdorf. Her religious name is Sister M. Taurina. She graduated from nursing school and worked as a nurse. She served for the glory of God and the good of the people in various institutions, in different positions, depending on the needs of the Polish Province.
Among the called ones from one family we should add two more women: The first woman is my cousin Teresa Stelmach, who entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of St. Charles Borromeo in Trebnitz in 1959, where she received the name Sister M. Beata. The second woman from our family circle is our niece Rose Baron, who entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame in Opole in 1980 and serves God and people as a catechist and organist as Sister M. Judyta.”
Looking back on the religious vocations in her family and looking back on her own religious journey, Sister M. Faustiniana thanks God for the many gifts and graces of vocations.