Sister Agneta Morh, OSB, 85, passed away Jan. 2 at Our Lady of Rickenbach healthcare facility in Clyde, Mo.
She was born Agnes Cecilia Mohr on Feb. 12, 1927, in New Ulm, Minn., to Martin Joseph and Clara Tauer Mohr.
Agnes, the sixth of 10 children, grew up on a farm and helped with milking cows and also did baking and cleaning with her mother. During those depression years, music brought much joy to the family, and they played a variety of instruments.
Agnes graduated from Holy Trinity High School in 1945. She enrolled in a nursing program at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn., and graduated in 1948. She worked as a registered nurse for hospitals in New Ulm and did private duty nursing at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minn.
Agnes was content with her nursing profession but still felt a deep, inner voice calling her to more prayer. She had been aware of a calling to religious life since the sixth grade even though she had pursued a nursing degree. A priest in her parish at New Ulm had a sister already in the Benedictine Sisters congregation - Sr. Consilia. He suggested Agnes contact the monastery in Clyde. She visited the convent and had a “God-experience” while keeping a period of adoration, which helped her know it was the community for her.
She entered on the feast of St. Anne, July 26, 1951, and made first vows on Feb. 24, 1953, receiving the name Sister Mary Agneta so she could keep her beloved St. Agnes as her patron. She made final profession on March 13, 1958. After first profession, she was assigned to help the infirmarian and from that time on had ample opportunity to practice her nursing profession.
In 1959, she spent a few months in San Diego, Calif., at the temporary convent in Old Town. She then went to Tucson, Ariz., where she welcomed a change from nursing to altar bread work.
She returned to San Diego and helped with moving to the new location on Paducah Drive where she had charge of the infirmary. She would serve as infirmarian in many of the Benedictine Sisters’ monasteries over the years.
When Mother Mary Carmelita had her serious car accident in 1958, Sister Agneta helped her convalesce at Mercy Hospital in St Louis. In 1971, she took a clinical refresher course in nursing at the Rochester Clinic in Minnesota. That same year she received the Consecration of Virgins at the Benedictine Sisters’ monastery in Kansas City, Mo. It was her privilege to return to San Diego in 1990 to help care for Sister Luella Dick and Sister Angela Toigo, both dying from cancer.
Sister Agneta was fond of the Good Shepherd image of the Lord and considered herself a “poor and needy lamb who was a little lost” at times. “But Jesus the Good Shepherd always finds me, in Him I place my trust,” she once wrote.
Sister Agneta entered Our Lady of Rickenbach in 2007. In late December 2012, her health rapidly declined before she passed in January. Her funeral Mass was held on Jan. 5, and she was buried in Mt. Calvary Cemetery at Clyde.
To share a condolence or send a gift in Sister Agneta’s memory, please visit “Donate” at www.BenedictineSisters.org or mail it to Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 31970 State Highway P, Clyde, MO 64432. |
