Sister Maria Gisela

Sister Maria Gisela                ND 5135                  PDF Download

Gisela FRÖHLICH

Maria Regina Province, Coesfeld, Germany

Date and Place of Birth:              December 04, 1935      Vreden
Date and Place of Profession:   March 20, 1959              Coesfeld
Date and Place of Death:            February 02, 2024       Coesfeld
Date and Place of Burial:            February 09, 2024       Coesfeld, convent cemetery

“My eyes have seen the light of salvation“.  (cf. Liturgy of the day)

Gisela was the fourth of the nine children born to Franz Fröhlich and his wife Anna, née Tenwinkel. Two of her brothers made their center of life in Canada, another in Switzerland. All her other siblings remained close to their parental home. After completing basic elementary and secondary school, Gisela stayed at her parents‘ house; she found a job in a sewing workshop in Vreden until she joined the congregation. When she left the sewing workshop on  March 15^th 1956, she was given a good report card.

On May 8^th 1956, Gisela entered our congregation and on February 27^th 1957, she was invested and started her novitiate. After her first profession, Sr. M. Gisela came to the boarding school in Büren as an assistant in a group. Here and in other houses of our province her pedagogical talent became obvious. After completing her in-service training in 1972, she received her diploma in extracurricular education, especially in the boarding school and residential care section. She also received the certificate of competence for the management of care facilities from the catholic Heimstatt Movement in Altenberg. This enabled her to carry out valuable educational work responsibly in the different boarding schools of our province in the years that followed.

After ending her ministry in boarding schools, Sr. M. Gisela took on a new challenge. She moved to the Heart of Jesus Hospice in Bocholt, where she started her ministry as sacristan in the parish of St. Josef and completed a corresponding training program in Münster. After having done this ministry from 1996 to 2006, she stayed as a volunteer in the parish of St. Josef. During her years in Bocholt, she belonged to the church choir of the parish of Our Lady. She loved singing, enjoyed the rehearsals, the prayer services, and the social gatherings. Good contacts were made, which have been kept even after our convent in Bocholt was closed and the sisters of that community moved to Coesfeld.

At Kloster Annenthal, Sr. M. Gisela performed small services and went quietly her way. She kept in good contact with her family and was happy about visits, especially about news from Canada.

A fall and its consequences were a major setback for Sr. M. Gisela. She was afraid of falling again and of being alone. The beginning of dementia also became obvious. Several hospitalizations were not successful. Some days before she died, her family visited her. She was still able to communicate and repeatedly said, “It was so beautiful, almost everybody was here. Now all is fine”.

Sr. M. Gisela went home in the morning of February 2. In the liturgy of the day it says, “My eyes have seen the light of salvation“. Now her eyes see the light that is promised to all of us.