Helena Stollenwerk

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Sel. Sr. Maria Virgo Stollenwerk (1852–1900)

Helena Maria Stollenwerk (born November 28, 1852 in Rollesbroich , North Eifel ; † February 3, 1900 in Steyl , Netherlands ) was a German nun and founder of the order .

Live and act

Stollenwerk grew up on a large farm in Rollesbroich, on which four generations of her family, including eight siblings from her father's first marriage, lived. After the early death of her father, the mother remarried and there were three step-sisters and one half-sister. Shaped by this environment and the early experience of illness and death in the family, Helena Stollenwerk began to be interested in the Children's Mission at the age of ten, and in particular in the need in China.

In 1882 she went to the St. Michael Mission House in Steyl in the Netherlands, which was founded and directed in 1875 by the Superior General of the Steyler missionaries, Father Arnold Janssen . Helena Stollenwerk founded the Steyler Missionary Sisters in 1889 together with Janssen, the nun Hendrina Stenmanns and a few other sisters . In 1891 she made her first profession and took the religious name Maria. A little later she became the first superior of the new congregation. At the request of Fr. Arnold Janssen, she resigned from this office in 1898 in order to co-found the Steyler Adoration Sisters, where she carried the religious name Maria Virgo. Sr. Maria Virgo was only able to work there for a short time, as she died on February 3, 1900 as a result of meningitis.

On May 7, 1995 Pope John Paul II beatified Sr. Maria Virgo . Her feast day is November 28th .

literature

  • Hermann Fischer, Arnold Janssen, founder of the Steyler Missionswerk. A picture of life , Verlag der Missionsdruckerei, Steyl 1919, 493 pp.
  • Anselm Grün : Loyalty on the way. The way of the Helena Stollenwerk 1852-1900 . Vier-Türme-Verlag, Münsterschwarzach 1995, ISBN 3-87868-528-9
  • E. Kroes - O. Stegmaier, Stollenwerk, Helena , in: Dizionario degli Istituti di Perfezioni, vol. 9 (Roma 1997) 251-252
  • Ortrud Stegmaier: Helena Stollenwerk (1852–1900). Maturation and mission of the co-founder of the Divine Missionary Sisters in the light of their image of Christ , Catholic Academy Augsburg, Augsburg 1994, 76 pp.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Stollenwerk, Helena
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stollenwerk, Helena Maria (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German founder of the order, co-founder of the Steyler Missionary Sisters
DATE OF BIRTH November 28, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH Rollesbroich , North Eifel
DATE OF DEATH 3rd February 1900
Place of death Steyl , Netherlands