Sister M. Edna (Eadburgis), MSC

Sister M. Edna (Eadburgis), MSC – Maria Averbeck
Born: June 1, 1924 in Westfalia, Germany
First Profession: February 3, 1950
Entered into Eternal Life: December 13, 2018

Sister Edna knew about our MSC community from a young age as her uncle was Father Joseph Averbeck, MSC and her older sister was Sister Clementis, MSC. She was one of the last Sisters from Germany to be missioned to our USA province and arrived in New York on May 15, 1951 as a young temporary professed Sister ready to serve wherever she was needed. She made her Final Vows in her adopted country on February 2, 1955 and became a U.S. citizen on November 7, 1956.

Sister Edna was a very practical no-nonsense person who had a heart of gold and showed her care and concern for others in many kind and generous ways. She used the gifts that God had given her in every place she was assigned. She took care of the MSC priests and seminarians in Geneva, Illinois; the Marianist Brothers in Dayton, Ohio; the children at Sacred Heart Home in Coopersburg; the elderly residents at the Knights of St. George Home in Wellsburg, West Virginia and at Villa St. Elizabeth, Reading. Sister Edna also spent many years in domestic ministry for our Sisters in St. Henry’s, Philadelphia, St. John the Baptist, Allentown, and in the kitchen, laundry, and sewing room of our Motherhouse.

In 1988 Sister Edna took charge of sending mission packages to respond to the needs of our missionaries around the world. This was an important service that she provided for many years and she did it with great care and compassion for the poor and less fortunate.

Since we opened Sacred Heart Villa in 2004 Sister Edna has been a welcoming presence to the lay residents who live here and has reached out to them in friendship and kindness. She has been a good friend to many people throughout the years, offering to help in any way whether providing a meal, mending clothes, or just being a good listener with an understanding heart.
Sister Edna loved her God and loved God’s people. A few years ago she shared a prayer that she prayed every morning:

You are ushering in another day
untouched and freshly new, so
here I come to ask You God if
You’ll renew me too?
Forgive the many errors that
I made yesterday, and let me
try again dear God, to walk
closer in Thy way.
But Father, I am well aware
I can’t make it on my own.
So take my hand and hold it
tight for I can’t walk alone.

Our loving God came to take Sister Edna by the hand the evening of December 13 to walk with her on her final journey home to Heaven. She had a small suitcase packed with her clothes for the undertaker. Inside was a note with her last message to us: “Thank you for my funeral. Thank you for taking good care of me.” And thank you, Sister Edna, for taking good care of all of us.