Sister Maria Ehrenfried

Sister  Maria  Ehrenfried              ND  4754                   PDF Download
Paula Albers

Maria Regina Province, Coesfeld, Germany

Date and Place of Birth:                March 29, 1920             Voltlage, County Bersenbrück
Date and Place of Profession:     March 25, 1954             Coesfeld
Date and Place of Death:              October 21, 2016          Coesfeld, Kloster Annenthal
Date and Place of Funeral:           October 27, 2016          Coesfeld, Convent Cemetery

“Lord, I belong to you, you are my life”. GL 435

Sister Maria Ehrenfried, Paula Albers, was born in Voltlage, County Bersenbrück. She was the sixth child among the nine children who grew up on their parental farm.

Her childhood and youth were influenced and marked by the consequences of the First and the Second World War.

After completing basic primary and secondary school (1926 – 1934), Paula assisted in her parental home for three years and then she worked as a domestic servant in a family for a year. Then she completed a training for housekeeping with our sisters in Münster.

Since two of her brothers were killed in the war, she returned to her parental home to work there for another ten years.

This is why she could only answer her call to religious life in 1951 when she asked for admission to the congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame in Ahlen/Westphalia. Her two natural sisters – our deceased Sisters Maria Clothilde and Maria Erlinda – had been able to enter earlier.

After her religious formation Sr. M. Ehrenfried served mainly in the kitchen in different houses of our congregation for over forty years. With loving commitment she took care of the sisters and all the other inhabitants of the houses. Sister had an attentive and loving heart for the needs of those entrusted to her. People appreciated it and thanked her for it.

A stroke and several surgeries ended her active ministry. A new phase of life started which had its own special value: the Apostolate of Being – as we like to call it -: to accept the disease and the dependence in all aspects of life.

Sister M. Ehrenfried was modest, content and grateful. She had a subtle sense of humor which pleased others. She also loved singing.

Her co-sisters and the nurses in the hospital took care of Sr. M. Ehrenfried with great commitment and appreciation for her personality. They often felt enriched by her and strengthened for their work.

In her death Sr. M. Ehrenfried completed the dedication of her life to God. May she now find her eternal home in Him!