A daughter of the Münsterland

Burg Vischering near Lüdinghausen

Darfeld Hall - the Droste zu Vischering country home

Embedded in the parkland scenery of Münsterland

Her birthplace - Erbdrostenhof in Münster on 8 Sept. 1863

Room in which Maria was born

Rebuilt after1945

Baptised in St. Servatius Church

Baptised by her mother‘s brother, Maximilian von Galen, on 9. September 1863. He was the Prefect of the Priests‘ Seminary in Mainz

“So the Lord wanted to deliver me from evil and take possession of me from the moment I entered the world“.

(From her autobiography)

Childhood at Darfeld

Maria ca. 1867:

a perfectly normal,

very lively but

strong-minded child.

Inseparable twins

Maria and Max,

the inseparable pair.

Maria felt responsible for

Max for a long time, and

continued to worry about him

until she was sure he was

safely married

Education of a lady

Riedenburg, Sacré Coeur, formative years for the young Maria

A young girl like any other

Hearken, O daughter and incline thy ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father‘s house; the King greatly desires thy beauty. (Psalm 45)

Maria realises that this means her. She prays for clarity and discernment.

A 19th century family

A big, happy family whose life is rather like that of a religious community

Her parents´ example

He has always been a perfect gentleman to me

(Helene von Galen talking about her husband, Erbdroste Clemens Graf Droste zu Vischering)

Maria´s place in the girls´ sitting room at Darfeld Hall

Between the two windows is Anna´s desk, Maria´s is the one by the door, and the writing desk next to Maria‘s is Auguste‘s.

Bride of my heart, come to my heart

A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stone heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you. (Ez 36,26-27)

My love for you is everlasting and I have taken you to my heart full of mercy(Vespers for the Feast of the Sacred Heart)

Years of inner conflict

Maria ca.1886

Times of deep mystic experience – accompanied by many misunderstandings

I did everything I could to prevent anyone learning of what was happening inside me (Autobiography)

The king´s secret

It is hard to explain things that are totally heavenly with a human tongue. The Lord made Himself my teacher, He taught and consoled me.(Autobiography)

Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God with all thy heart

Oh, if only Darfeld parish church could tell what happened between myself and HIM. I was no longer myself but was immersed in HIM, one with HIM. (Autobiography)

TheWhite Sisters´ convent

Good Shepherd Convent in Münster ca1885

Mother M. Lamberta Bouchy, Provincial Superior

Standing on the right is the woman who guided Maria through her early years of religious life and understood her.

Together with Mother Theresia von Rump (left), she founded the convent in Münster

He drew me to Him

Maria´s parents gave her a miniature of the Darfeld Sacred Heart statue when she entered the convent in Münster.

This miniature now stands in the convent church in Maria Droste House in Hofheim am Taunus

I left everything behind

Maria´s spartan

convent cell was

destroyed in the

Second World War

This old photograph shows what it was like originally

Maria of the Divine Heart

She was overjoyed when shereceived this name at herinvestiture.

Sister Maria of the Divine Heart

It was the fulfilment of a secret wish

Saint John Eudes1601 - 1680

Never ending thanks to the sun of eternity, that is Jesus, whom we adore. (Johannes Eudes)

The novice Maria Droste zu Vischering follows the same road to the sun, a way of quiet joy and painful experience, a way of inner peace and fulfilment in yearning

It is the way of deep love.

I have chosen you

Profession of vows on 29 January 1891

Mother Lamberta Bouchy died soon afterwards.

Maria is made mistress of education for the children,

On 22 January 1894, Maria learned that she was to go to Portugal

.

The jouney from Münster to Oporto

Maria travelled with her parents viaCologne and Paris to the Motherhouse in Angers, then via Perpignan and Oporto to Lisbon.

The Motherhouse in Angers after renovation. A recent photograph

You are to save a convent in Oporto

The first window on the ground floor:

This was the Superior‘s office. Later, it was the room where Maria Droste zu Vischering died.

In the alleyways of Oporto

This is what it might have looked like in Maria‘s day

Superior in Oporto

Port city with 200 000 inhabitants

Vila Nova de Gaija with urban proletariat

Illiteracy

Decadent nobility

Liberalistiic bourgeoisie

Attacks on priests and religious

Moral depravity

View of Oporto 2007

Cathedral in the background, not yet surrounded by buildings in Maria´s day.

Maria probably knew this view.

A guide on perilous paths

Abbot Ildefons Schober OSB

Her friend and advisor

Her spiritual director

Custodian of writings byMaria Droste zu Vischering.

He ensured that her writings were archived in Beuron, and he washer first biographer.

On an initiative by Maria of the Divine Heart and inspiration from the Lord, he consecrated the World to the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the start of the Jubilee Year 1900.

In October 1899, he personally set the process in motion to gather the first documents for beatification.

Don`t you dare bring me to Germany,...

It was Maria‘s express wish to be

buried in Oporto in a pauper‘s grave

like others there..

This is a recent photograph of the

funeral chapel as is now looks after

her beatification in 1975.

What would Maria say to this?

`Maria was buried in a glass coffin according to southern European tradition. Her tomb is in the new Sacred Heart Church in Ermesinde near

Oporto.

What remains

Statue of Maria Droste in the courtyard of Good Shepherd Convent in Oporto

There are Maria Droste Centres around the world, where women like Maria try to help other women in need and bring them into God‘s horizon.

Lord, thy kingdom come!

A great daughter of St. Euphrasia Pelletier

German Province of the Good Shepherd Sisters, Würzburg March 2007 – Author. Sr. Gudula Busch RGS, Frankfurt am Main

Good Shepherd Sisters: an international religious congregation, NGO with advisory status at the UN in New York www.guterhirte.de