Blessed Emma Üffing

 

Nun of Mercy (✝ 1955)

Feast Day: September 9

She was born in a family rich in children in Halverde, Tecklenburg, on April 8, 1914 and joined the so-called Clemenszusters in Münster on July 23, 1934. This had not gone without difficulties, for she was considered to be too delicate in health. By her vow she chose the name Maria-Euthymia (Euthymia = "good-humoured", "tidy", "joyful").

She was trained as a nurse. From 1936 she worked in this profession in the isolation department of the St. Vincent Hospital in Dinslaken.

Angel of Llove

In February 1943, during World War II, Euthymia took over the care of infectiously ill prisoners of war and forced labourers. Often they have serious diseases: scabies, erythema, typhoid, venereal diseases, pulmonary tuberculosis. They usually arrive dirty and full of lice. Euthymia has no aversion to pus, blood, sputum and feces. There are now 70 patients in the so-called St. Barbara barracks. Patients call her the "angel of love".

After an episode of extreme fatigue, in July 1955, she was diagnosed with cancer. On September 9, 1955, at 6 a.m., Sister Maria Euthymia received Communion. She dies at 7:30 a.m. at just 41 years of age. At the same time, the sun falls through the window and illuminates the face of the dead - then it remains cloudy all day.

Crowds of the sick, sisters, students, staff and visitors flock to the morgue chapel where Sister Euthymia has been laid. Not only is the deceased prayed for, but she is invoked from the hour of her death as intercessor with God. Before she died, she promised others that she would pray to God for them.

She was beatified by John Paul II on October 7, 2001.
The opening of the cause of the beatification of Sister Euthymia stems from the fact that one of the sisters of the same institution, who had put her hand in the iron of the time and suffered severe burns as a result, asked for the intervention of Sister Marie . and sees his hand completely healed in a short time.