Diocese: Essen
Pioneers: Sisters Severine Sequeira, Tresa Martis and Lilly Monteiro
St Elisabeth Convent consisting of four tiny bed rooms, a chapel and a hall is located in the fourth floor of Haus Elisabeth, Home for the Aged at Ennepetal2. The origin of Haus Elisabeth is to be traced to a vision of Fr Erwin Otte, parish priest of Sacred Heart parish, Ennepetal. He constructed St Elizabeth of Thüringen Home for the Aged on December 1, 1965 in order to attend to the sick-aged members of his parish. The Home consisting of 72 members was administered by the parish council of the Sacred Heart parish until February 1999. Due to internal conflicts in the management of the Home, during the time of Fr Albert Oberkoetter, the succeeding parish priest and chaplain to the Home, the Home was handed over to the Theresia Alberts Stiftung; it was renamed as Haus Elisabeth.
During a canonical visit of Sr Edilburga Monteiro Superior General, to St Josef Convent, Hattingen in 1999, Mr Johannes Maurer, managing director of St Josef requested her to provide personnel for Haus Elisabeth. Doubtlessly, the request was a by-product of the dedicated service of the Sisters at St Josef. On May 1, 2000, Sr Severine Sequeira began serving at Haus Elisabeth; she lived there all alone nearly for four months. On August 12, 2000, Sisters Lilly Monteiro and Tresa Martis joined her. At the successful request of Sr Severine to provide them with an additional post in the institute, Sr Selly Mascarenhas joined the community on October 15, 2000.
Thirteen years have elapsed since the Sisters began to serve at Haus Elisabeth. Their life of prayer has been keeping them bonded together effecting fruitful ministry at the service of the sick-aged. They prove correct: As an example to emulate the Sisters have witnessed Sr Severine, pioneer at Haus Elisabeth and long-standing member of the community, spending long hours in prayer even immediately after being administered a dose of chemotherapy! The community accords utmost importance to spiritual exercises; in view of this they even bend their otherwise inflexible work schedule. They also enrich themselves spiritually during their vacation to India. Besides, community meals, recreation, celebrations, meetings, evaluations, picnics, gatherings, recollections, apostolate, planning and discernment are various sources that help keep the community bonded.
Carrying on one’s apostolate with ‘total love, total zeal and total commitment’ is in a way the vision of St Elisabeth Convent. This correlates with the motto of Fr Erwin Otte, founder of the Institute, namely, ‘making Christ present in everything one does’. In line with this challenging vision, the Sisters strive to fulfil physical, spiritual and psychological needs of the sick-aged at the institute. They also make themselves available to assist the inmates on their day of pilgrimage to neighbouring sanctuaries. Distributing communion to the inmates in their individual cell, conducting Marian prayer with/for them, accompanying them in their final journey here on earth, visiting the ill inmates and parishioners in hospitals and counselling the colleagues are a few of the many humanitarian deeds of the Sisters to be noted.
Certain events in the history of St Elisabeth Convent deserve a mention. It has been the Regional House ever since the inception of the European Region in 2001 and Sr Severine was the Regional Superior. Two Region Days of 2002 and 2006 have been hosted by the Convent. Sr Selly Mascarenhas and Sr Roshni Monis have completed General Nursing at Evengelisch Krankanhaus in 2004 and 2008 respectively. Sisters Lydia Juliet Baretto and Janet Rita D’Souza have completed Nursing Course of the Aged at Katholische Schule Fur Pflegeberufe, Caritas, Essen in 2009 and 2011 correspondingly. Sr Celine Furtado has obtained her certificate on Pastoral care in 2012. The Sisters along with inmates had to shift to Wuppertal on March 26, 2007 for duration of nineteen months on account of renovation of Haus Elisabeth. At their return in October 2008, they had a more spacious shelter compared to the earlier residence. Sr Roshni Monis was appointed animator of the community on February 28, 2009.
Sr Severine Sequeira, battling with cancer left for India on September 1, 2011; she passed away on September 15, 2011. The Requiem Mass was celebrated for her on September 16, 2011 at the Regional level and September 30, at the level of the Institute. Mr Meinolf Roth the President of the Institute and Staff members were present at the occasion. Sr Roshni Monis was appointed Regional Superior in June 2013 with Sisters Monthi Mary Martis and Sr Juliet Molly Serrao as the Regional Councillors.
The Sisters depend much on the prayerful support of the Congregation in order to continue to ensure that the people they serve have someone in them on whom they can rely at all times.
