Sister Maria Ambrosa

April 26, 2023

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Elfriede Meurer

Maria Regina Province, Coesfeld, Germany

Date and Place of Birth: April 26, 1942 Gressenich
Date and Place of Profession: April 19, 1966 Mülhausen
Date and Place of Death: April 26, 2023 Nettetal
Date and Place of Burial: May 6, 2023 Mülhausen

As soon as you set out, the horizon opens its border.

Perhaps this word of Kyrilla Spiecker is the key to understanding the great longing to wander into the distance, which was instilled in Sr. M. Ambrosa. At first it was probably the wanderings and pilgrimages with her parents and her two older sisters in the surroundings of her homeland, the wooded “border triangle” of Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Professionally, everything seemed to go as usual for Elfriede: She graduated from high school, completed an apprenticeship and worked in a commercial profession until she was offered the opportunity to spend a year in Rome – in the Villa Maria Regina guesthouse run by our sisters. It was the time of the Second Vatican Council. In this way, Elfriede came to know people from different cultures and faiths, in addition to solid housekeeping skills. The love for Rome was awakened and was later revived again and again by many trips to Rome.

In 1964, Sr.M.Ambrosa began her religious training in Mülhausen and there also acquired the qualification to study for the teaching profession at the Liebfrauenschule, which she began and successfully completed in 1968 in Cologne at the Pädagogische Hochschule. Sr.M.Ambrosa gladly accepted the offer of the provincial leadership to train as a teacher in Berlin. More extensively than in Cologne, she was able to take advantage of the opportunities offered to her to broaden her spiritual horizons in many cultural areas.

Well prepared for the teaching profession, Sr.M.Ambrosa began her teaching activity in 1974 in the Liebfrauenschule Mülhausen in the subjects of art and mathematics, later she added geography. Her colleagues soon realized that Sr.M.Ambrosa was a dedicated travel companion for their class and study trips, who also took over parts of the trip organization and supported the trip leaders expertly in opening up the cultural treasures of the country. But that was not all: even during school vacations, Sr. M. Ambrosa felt the urge to explore new countries. So she kept finding other vacation destinations within Europe.

In 2005, at the beginning of her retirement, she and her natural sister set out on the pilgrimage to Santiago di Compostella in Spain, which continued in several years from different directions. Most recently, the two sisters walked the Way of St. Francis in Italy.

In 2005 Sr. M. Ambrosa changed her place of residence, first to Kempen, then in 2009 to Cologne. From there, too, she organized cultural and pilgrimage trips. Her fellow travellers could rely on well-prepared programs. Sr. M. Ambrosa knew how to unite the respective group into a travel community that could also experience in togetherness: “As soon as you set out, the horizon opens its borders.” The horizons expanded to Sicily, Croatia, the Baltic States, Poland, Armenia, Georgia, Cappadocia, among others. Finally, Sr. M. Ambrosa’s great love for Israel awakened in her. For years she organized pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Her last big trip went there in November 2022, when she was already suffering from a serious, incurable illness.

When she returned home, she needed to continue chemotherapy, pain therapy and radiotherapy. When home care was no longer sufficient, Sr. M. Ambrosa moved to Haus Salus in Mülhausen for palliative treatment at the beginning of April 2023. The decision was difficult for her, but even now she learned: “As soon as you set out on your journey, the horizon opens its borders”.

On her 81^st birthday, Sr. M. Ambrosa was freed from all earthly limits; her pilgrimage longing is now fulfilled in the eternal rest and boundless fullness with God.