Sister Maria Lorenza ND 5131 PDF Download
Maria Elisabeth BÜNING
Maria Regina Province, Coesfeld / Germany
Date and Place of Birth: 30 October 1937 Bocholt
Date and Place of Profession: 15 August 1958 Coesfeld
Date and Place of Death: 05 October 2026 Coesfeld, Kloster Annenthal
Date and Place of Funeral: 13 October 2026 Coesfeld, Convent Cemetery
The Lord says, “I am the bread of life“ (John 6:48)
Maria Elisabeth was the daughter of Johann Büning and his wife Elisabeth, née Schülinglanver. She grew up in a loving and protective home with her four siblings. Her father died when Maria was 12 years old. As she often said, his death was her first bitter loss. Maria attended the Catholic elementary primary and secondary school in Bocholt, from which she graduated in 1951.
In 1955, Maria entered our congregation in Coesfeld and received the religious name Sister Maria Lorenza at her investment. After making her temporary vows in Coesfeld in 1958, she first served in Vreden; subsequently, she was assigned to the Oldenburg section of our province. In 1964, she made her perpetual vows at our Generalate in Rome. At that time, she was already a member of the Holy Spirit Province in Vechta. From 1964 to 1967, she worked at the kindergarten in Damme; she then attended the vocational school for childcare workers in Coesfeld from 1967 to 1969. Working with preschool-aged children and later at the boarding school in Cloppenburg was to become her calling. She enjoyed being in Coesfeld, the place where she had spent her youth in the congregaton, as she often said. She laughed a lot and was always ready to joke around.
Until 1974, she worked at a wide variety of kindergartens in the Coesfeld province, with her career interrupted only by her attendance of the Technical College for Social Pedagogy in Vechta. In 1974, she was transferred to the Vincenzhaus in Cloppenburg, a school with an attached boarding school for boys and girls with learning disabilities. She worked there until 1991.
Sister Maria Lorenza suffered from severe visual impairment. Two corneal transplants and several eye surgeries brought only temporary relief. A severe brain hemorrhage left her almost completely blind. She could protect her eyes from daylight only by wearing large, darkened glasses.
She then spent several years working at the reception desk in Damme until she retired in 2008. She moved to Vechta-Marienhain. She regularly received visits from former students and also kept in touch with them by phone.
When the Coesfeld and Vechta provinces were merged again, Sister Maria Lorenza was one of the first to volunteer for Coesfeld. Her wish was to be close to her hometown of Bocholt and her family. So, she came to the Annenthal convent in 2017 and quickly settled in. She enjoyed participating in the religious and communal activities at the convent. Otherwise, she organized her time according to her own needs. Over the years, she became increasingly withdrawn and needed help and support from our nursing and care staff more and more often. She never complained, was content with everything, and eventually became bedridden, requiring professional assistance with everything.
Just as quietly as she had lived in her final days, she surrendered her life into God’s hands.
