Hedwig | STREITEL EN

Family members HEDWIG, HER SISTER

“In the silent Tabernacle in St. Gangolf let us meet, and there, united with our sacramental love, our God and our all, offer Him all our adoration and homage”.

Mother Frances Streitel

“MY GOOD HEDWIG”

Hedwig, - "my good Hedwig", as Mother Frances called her - was born on January 26, 1853 in Mellrichstadt, the fourth child and last daughter of Adam and Franziska Karolina Streitel. From her parents she received, like the other children, a good human formation and an excellent religious education. She attended primary school in Mellrichstadt with the sisters known as "School Sisters" and then studied for another four years at the Franciscan Institute of Maria Stern in Augsburg. Because of her mother's illness she was forced to interrupt her studies, a sacrifice much appreciated by Mother Frances who wrote to Fr. Jacquemin: “May God bless in a visible manner this noble soul who, in childlike self-sacrifice, accompanied her parents to the grave and still looks after them.”

And to Hedwig she writes, recalling that God places great value on our renunciations:

“Dear Hedwig, rejoice in the glorious crown which is laid up for you in the other world; there all the self-denial and sufferings which are born with faithful love will attain their full worth. God Himself will dry all tears and He, the source of light and blessedness, will be our full legacy”.

Meanwhile, Hedwig, due to her own physical frailty, had to give up even her great desire to enter the convent. Nevertheless, while remaining in the world, she lived in a spirit of piety and modesty, followed Mother Frances' work with great interest and offered prayers and sufferings to support the new community of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, for which she does her utmost by referring good vocations: “May the Lord reward her a thousand times all the good she has done for our Order”, said Mother Frances in 1890 in a letter to her parents.

Bamberg - "Institute of English Ladies". Here Hedwig teaches shorthand for over forty years

TIRELESS TEACHER

Hedwig taught shorthand at the "English Ladies" school in Bamberg for 41 years, where she zealously trained other teachers. After her parents’ death, she also gave private lessons. The effectiveness of her teaching was so well known that Mother Frances refered to it with clear satisfaction, while reminding her to support her professional commitment with prayer and to also pay attention to her health:

“Your success in your teaching profession is not surprising to me. Make sure, dear Hedwig, that you always begin with prayer, so that all your work is accompanied by God's help. Be watchful of your delicate health!”

Mother Frances writes to her sister

"Rejoice..."

"Rejoice, you've been prepared
a splendid crown."

“Dear Hedwig,

rejoice in the glorious crown which is laid up for you in the other world; there all the self-denial and sufferings which are born with faithful love will attain their full worth. God Himself dries all tears and He, the source of light and blessedness, will share Himself with us”.

Mother Frances Streitel

She will have to return to this subject several times, insisting that Hedwig's tireless work risks harming her fragile health. Thus, almost as if in gentle reproach, she does not hesitate to write: “I am told, dear sister, that you are well; but at the same time one regrets, as I do, good Hedwig, that you are working too many hours. When your strength is exhausted, then it may be too late to be sorry”.

Hedwig's health nagged at Mother Frances' heart: “The thought occurred to me over and over again that it might be sickness or something that afflicted you, but trust in the wonderful protection of Mother Mary, in whose sweet heart I have enclosed you, gave me courage to hope for the best”. And she asked her mother, showing some apprehension at the time of a viral epidemic, a strong flu which debilitated beyond measure: Is Hedwig all right?

DEEP SPIRITUAL HARMONY WITH MOTHER FRANCES

The two sisters lived a deep spiritual harmony and supported each other with great trust and confidence. "I could write to my sister in confidence," says Mother Frances, recalling the inner travails of her vocational search. And again: “That we would work together in the same spirit, I believe I can say with assurance”, specifying: “That our sister (Hedwig) would be a great help for our Community is certain; … Our sister would be especially suitable for instructing the sisters in foreign languages”. And, as for languages, almost hoping that her sister might join her in America, in Wichita, she urges her to familiarize herself with the language overseas: “Hedwig, learn English!!!”, insisting benevolently with the addition of no less than three exclamation points.
Affection and feelings of gratitude immediately rose to higher desires and goals.

“Dear sister, let us zealously seek only God and ﬁnd our peace in the fulﬁllment of His adorable Will”. “I entrust myself to your devout prayer...”. “ln the silent Tabernacle in St. Gangolf let us meet, and there, united with our sacramental Love, our God and our All, offer Him all our adoration and homage”.

Marienburg Convent Cemetery - Abenberg: Hedwig Streitel’s grave

Even the small details show the closeness of their relationship. In the margin of a letter, a note is written to her parents about 'dear Hedwig's flower seedlings' and the gift kept in store for her: “For my good Hedwig I am keeping a beautiful mother-of-pearl cross and will send by chance . . .”.

AMONG THE SISTERS OF THE SORROWFUL MOTHER IN MARIENBURG

In the constant interweaving of this dialogue between the two sisters, sisterly and spiritual at times, runs the life of Hedwig, who in her heart has not abandoned the desire to live within the walls of a convent. Finally, in her old age, this dream, locked in the drawer since her youth, becomes reality. In the autumn of 1925, she moved to Abenberg to the convent of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother in Marienburg.

A LIFE OF PRAYER, PRIVACY AND SIMPLICITY

There she spent her days in prayer, with reserve and simplicity. As long as her strength permits, she continues teaching postulants. When her hour came, having received the holy sacraments, she serenely slipped away, from earth to heaven. She died on January 22, 1931 and is buried in the cemetery of the Marienburg Convent in Abenberg.