Sister Maria Fidelia 

Sister Maria Fidelia               ND 4248                  Fidelia+E 

Gertrud Heyen

Maria Regina Province, Coesfeld, Germany

Date and place of birth:            December 17, 1928                                                Niederweis / Kr. Bitburg
Date and place of profession:  August 12, 1953                                                      Mülhausen
Date and place of death:           December 04, 2024                                               Mülhausen, Haus Salus
Date and place of burial:          December 11, 2024                                                Mülhausen, Convent Cemetery

‘God’s salvation is granted to all people (…)
and to the banquet of blessedness go those redeemed by the Lord.’  (cf. Is 35, 1ff.)

In the early evening of 4 December, Advent – the coming of the Lord – was fulfilled for Sister Maria Fidelia. Sister M. Fidelia was the eldest daughter born to Nikolaus and Anna Heyen. She had two sisters and three brothers. Thekla, Sister M. Mathildis, followed her into our community; she passed away in 2007.

Gertrud attended the one-class primary school in her hometown of Niederweis and then the rural vocational school in Alsdorf. From 1948 to 1949, she attended the rural women’s school in Geldern. Until her entry in Mülhausen in 1950, she helped with housework and farming on her parents’ farm.

After her novitiate and in the course of her religious life, Sister Maria Fidelia completed various training programmes in housekeeping and horticulture. She always completed these with very good results. She put her acquired skills to use with enthusiasm and joy, for example in the garden centre at Mülhausen convent, in canteen kitchens in Ratingen, Düsseldorf, Rheinbach or in the boarding house kitchen in Mülhausen.

Sister Maria Fidelia was always generous and willing to help when people came to her with requests. During her many years of service, she always endeavoured to create a good working atmosphere and took an interest in the personal concerns of her staff, whom she included in her prayers, which she maintained until the end. She maintained particularly close contact with her family and shared in their joys and sorrows.

In addition to her professional duties, she had a wide range of interests. She followed developments in our congregation, the church and the world with an open mind and accompanied them with her prayers. It was always a pleasure to talk to her.

On the day of her death, the daily reading spoke of God’s invitation to all nations to a sumptuous banquet on Mount Zion, and in the Gospel, we heard the marvellous multiplication of the loaves. In faith, we know that Sister M. Fidelia, who fed so many people in her life, has now been invited to the eternal banquet.