Gemma Hinricher

Gemma Hinricher OCD, maiden name Ursula Hinricher , religious name Gemma from Obedience of Jesus (born January 4, 1932 in Münster , † August 4, 1990 in Berlin ), was a German Carmelite . As prioress , she was in charge of the Carmel Holy Blood in Dachau, and from 1982 the newly established Carmel Regina Martyrum in Berlin.

Life

After studying theology and philosophy , Ursula Hinricher joined the Karmel Bonn-Pützchen as a postulant in 1959 and was given the religious name Gemma of Obedience of Jesus to dress .

The Prioress of the Bonn Carmel, Sr. Maria-Theresia of the Crucified Love , wanted to create a place of atonement and reconciliation in Dachau. In 1964 a group of sisters from Pützchen, among them Sr. Gemma, went to Dachau on the initiative of the auxiliary bishop in Munich and Freising , Johannes Neuhäusler , and built a Carmel on the edge of the site of the former concentration camp . After the death of the first prioress, Sr. Maria-Theresia of the Crucified Love, Sr. Gemma was elected to this office by the convent in 1970 and held it with interruptions until 1982.

In 1982 a group of the Dachau sisters went to Berlin after an invitation from Alfred Cardinal Bengsch and erected a Carmel on the site of the Memorial Church of German Catholics in honor of the martyrs for freedom of belief and conscience from the years 1933–1945, Maria Regina Martyrum , also was subordinate to the patronage of the Queen of Martyrs. Sr. Gemma wanted to create “a space of silence and prayer into which oppressed, lonely, searching people can enter”. At Whitsun in 1982, Sr. Gemma signed the founding document of the Carmel Regina Martyrum on the altar of the crypt of Maria Regina Martyrum, the later sister choir, in the presence of the then Bishop of Berlin, Joachim Meisner .

Sr. Gemma's wish to found a Carmel in Auschwitz could not be realized at this time, but Polish Carmelites later erected the Carmel of All Saints there . Sr. Gemma was Prioress of Regina Martyrum from 1982 until her death in 1990. In 1982 she was awarded the Romano Guardini Prize for her work . The laudation was given by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Declaration by the discussion group "Jews and Christians" at the Central Committee of German Catholics (April 4, 1990)
2. ↑ www.kath-akademie-bayern.de ( Memento of the original from August 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

predecessor	Office	successor
Berta Vorbach	List of Prioresses of the Dachau Carmel 1970–1982