Time passes quickly and there are younger members of the Congregation for whom this long time General Superior is a name on a death certificate and in the parenthesis of the Office of the Dead.
I “met” Mother Fidelia Weninger before I saw her and when the title alluded to her office as provincial superior of North East Brazil. It happened that I was living in Frankfurt, Germany and my superior had to sisters who were both living and working in the two provinces of Brazil. Both came for their home visit during my time there. It was Sister Aquinata Eibel who spoke English, had paid a short visit to the United States with Mother Kostka and told wonderful tales of the dynamic life of the FDCs in Brazil. She spoke of cooperation with a renewing church and familiarity with several bishops who often visited their convents and were welcomed as friends by the provincial and communities.
After my return to my home in the US, I became excited hearing that the General Chapter had elected this person who was told by the moderator to change her name from Fidelia to Fidelis. One of her first visitations was to our three provinces and, because she and I both spoke German I was assigned to care for her room and needs. I was also asked to interview her for our fledgling province publication. What follows is from the memories of that interview.
While walking with her mother in Vienna the young girl saw some sisters and laughed at the very strange habit they wore. Some weeks later her mother announced that they were going to Vienna again to the profession (?) ceremony of a relative. In response to where and who her mother told her it was with the sisters of the “funny” habit.
It was at that ceremony that she heard her own call and to that very congregation. Her mother objected to exactly this choice saying, “I don’t want you to go to Brazil”. She relented, however, and at her reception her daughter received the name “Fidelia” after the great missionary of Europe. Soon after Hitler took over Austria and it became necessary for educated sisters to flee the country. They told the novice, “Ask your mother to come and tell her you are going to Brazil.” In shock she wondered and prayed how to tell her mother that the dark intuition had come true. Soon Sister Fidelia was on a ship and came to the strange land where she soon fell ill and did not have the vocabulary to ask for a glass of water.
Very quickly Mother Fidelis learned English. She arrived in October and in January gave the first talk to the community in our own language. During the times I brought her coffee or cared for her room she told of the bishops who were guiding the church of Brazil toward the “preferential option for the poor”. She told of private tuition based schools opening their facilities at night for the poor. She proudly told of our own sisters who were pioneering in parishes without priests, bringing people the Gospel and the Eucharist in prayer services. The Spanish Club at St. Joseph Hill raised funds to pay for a jeep in Salvador, Bahia and many years later I was able to see there the trunk in which we had sent baby clothes for poor mothers.
Mother Fidelis excited us about the Second Vatican Council and helped us bring our own constitutions in line with its mandates. She found priest teachers for us and encouraged us to examine the Documents of Vatican II and how to read, discuss and understand Encyclicals of successors to St. Peter.
During another visitation she was in San Diego when the news came of the attempted assassination of John Paul II. Since my scheduled allowed it, we went to a special Mass arranged in the cathedral. As she always did, we went in the front row and this resulted in a large photo on the front page of the New York Times, captioned, “Nuns pray for the wounded Pope”. Mother Fidelis was known for front pews and front pages.
To this day, her special gift to me was an enduring love for and loyalty to the universal Church and the Successor to St. Peter. It was in her time that the Congregation studied its charism and adopted the beautiful emblem of the Holy Trinity, the basic mystery of Christianity. Mother Fidelis shepherded us through the very difficult post Vatican years, may her intercession now lead us into a blessed future.
Sister M. Caroline Bachmann, FDC
I “met” Mother Fidelia Weninger before I saw her and when the title alluded to her office as provincial superior of North East Brazil. It happened that I was living in Frankfurt, Germany and my superior had to sisters who were both living and working in the two provinces of Brazil. Both came for their home visit during my time there. It was Sister Aquinata Eibel who spoke English, had paid a short visit to the United States with Mother Kostka and told wonderful tales of the dynamic life of the FDCs in Brazil. She spoke of cooperation with a renewing church and familiarity with several bishops who often visited their convents and were welcomed as friends by the provincial and communities.
After my return to my home in the US, I became excited hearing that the General Chapter had elected this person who was told by the moderator to change her name from Fidelia to Fidelis. One of her first visitations was to our three provinces and, because she and I both spoke German I was assigned to care for her room and needs. I was also asked to interview her for our fledgling province publication. What follows is from the memories of that interview.
While walking with her mother in Vienna the young girl saw some sisters and laughed at the very strange habit they wore. Some weeks later her mother announced that they were going to Vienna again to the profession (?) ceremony of a relative. In response to where and who her mother told her it was with the sisters of the “funny” habit.
It was at that ceremony that she heard her own call and to that very congregation. Her mother objected to exactly this choice saying, “I don’t want you to go to Brazil”. She relented, however, and at her reception her daughter received the name “Fidelia” after the great missionary of Europe. Soon after Hitler took over Austria and it became necessary for educated sisters to flee the country. They told the novice, “Ask your mother to come and tell her you are going to Brazil.” In shock she wondered and prayed how to tell her mother that the dark intuition had come true. Soon Sister Fidelia was on a ship and came to the strange land where she soon fell ill and did not have the vocabulary to ask for a glass of water.
Very quickly Mother Fidelis learned English. She arrived in October and in January gave the first talk to the community in our own language. During the times I brought her coffee or cared for her room she told of the bishops who were guiding the church of Brazil toward the “preferential option for the poor”. She told of private tuition based schools opening their facilities at night for the poor. She proudly told of our own sisters who were pioneering in parishes without priests, bringing people the Gospel and the Eucharist in prayer services. The Spanish Club at St. Joseph Hill raised funds to pay for a jeep in Salvador, Bahia and many years later I was able to see there the trunk in which we had sent baby clothes for poor mothers.
Mother Fidelis excited us about the Second Vatican Council and helped us bring our own constitutions in line with its mandates. She found priest teachers for us and encouraged us to examine the Documents of Vatican II and how to read, discuss and understand Encyclicals of successors to St. Peter.
During another visitation she was in San Diego when the news came of the attempted assassination of John Paul II. Since my scheduled allowed it, we went to a special Mass arranged in the cathedral. As she always did, we went in the front row and this resulted in a large photo on the front page of the New York Times, captioned, “Nuns pray for the wounded Pope”. Mother Fidelis was known for front pews and front pages.
To this day, her special gift to me was an enduring love for and loyalty to the universal Church and the Successor to St. Peter. It was in her time that the Congregation studied its charism and adopted the beautiful emblem of the Holy Trinity, the basic mystery of Christianity. Mother Fidelis shepherded us through the very difficult post Vatican years, may her intercession now lead us into a blessed future.
Sister M. Caroline Bachmann, FDC
