Hospital Sisters of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis

Sister M. Marzella te Poele

✝ Tuesday, October 24th 2023

“By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,Let us confidently await what may come.”                                   Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1944.

In the presence of her fellow sisters, God, with whom she always felt safe, completed the earthly life of Sister M. Marzella te Poele, Hospital Sister of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.

Born:               April 23, 1938

Entrance:        August 15, 1959

Profession:      May 3, 1962

Died:               October 24, 2023

Sister M. Marzella grew up in Vreden with her eleven siblings. Her biological mother died when she was nine years old. She also felt accepted and safe with her second mother. That is probably why the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer left such a deep impression on her that she wished to give us these words to take with us on our way after her death.

It was Helene te Poele's wish from an early age to become a nurse and to enter a religious community. So she followed her sister, our fellow sister M. Fantina, half a year after her entrance and joined the Franciscan Sisters of Mauritz.

Sister M. Marzella completed nursing training at St. Franziskus Hospital in Münster, later took the ward manager course at the Caritas Association in Freiburg and training as an instructor at the Chamber of Commerce in Münster. She was employed as a nurse in Olfen, Billerbeck, Körbecke and Sendenhorst. She then performed various tasks in Gladbeck, Borghorst, Datteln and Ahaus until her strength no longer permitted it. Since 2016, she lived in St. Heriburg House, where it was possible to respond to her diminishing strength. With an acute illness, she came to St. Franziskus Hospital a few days ago. There they could no longer help her medically, but they made it possible for her to live her last phase of life in peace and dignity in the presence of Sister M. Fantina and other fellow Sisters, who watched and prayed at her bedside for several days and nights. We will remember her bright eyes and her smile.

We gratefully bid farewell to Sister M. Marzella. We remember her in prayer and in the celebration of the Eucharist and remain united to her as sisters.

We express our special sympathies to Sister M. Fantina. Five of her brothers and sisters-in-law have died in the last nine months.

On Monday, October 30, 2023, we will say goodbye to Sister M. Marzella at 2.00 p.m. in the Motherhouse Church and then accompany her to her final resting place in the Sisters' Cemetery. Afterwards, we can share our memories of her over coffee at the Motherhouse. The usual rules apply because of the Corona pandemic.