Mother M. Paula Emunds (1865-1948)
Co-Foundress of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood
Josepha Emunds was born in Germany on January 8,1865; she was an intelligent and sensitive girl. At the age of 5, she came to live with her aunt at Burtscheid. She started school at this time, and at eleven was permitted to receive her First Holy Communion. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship with Jesus and her readiness to serve him in the Church.
However, Josepha was not happy living with her aunt and would often become sick. When she returned home she found her older sister fatally ill. The death of her sister deepened her desire for a life lived with and for God. In a mission magazine she read about Mariannhill, a new Trappist foundation in South Africa, and the plea of its founder, Abbot Francis Pfanner to recruit female mission helpers. Her heart caught fire immediately. At 21 years of age, together with nine other candidates, she left her home and family and followed Brother Zachary, a well-known Trappist mission solicitor, to South Africa.
The party arrived at Durban on October 7, 1886. Abbot Francis was away in Europe attending a General Chapter of his order. In his absence Fr. Joseph Biegner served the small community of mission helpers who had elected Sister Philippine as superior. On November 21, Josepha received the red dress of a Mariannhill mission helper and the name "Paula." The time of adjustment was not easy. The food was nourishing but never varied; the sisters' house was a primitive iron roofed stone structure with furnishings of tables and benches made of crude wood. They studied the language and culture of the African people whom they had come to evangelize; and they labored in the fields during the day. The climate with its depressing temperatures made work very hard. As their chief apostolate, they gave catechism classes to some forty teenage girls and also taught them basic domestic skills. At the wish of the founder, they also shared their meals and recreation time with them. This made community bonding between the mission helpers difficult. Some problems also arose from the fact that initially they had no common rule. It was nevertheless a happy time for their joys outweighed the hardships.
In 1887, when the sisters expressed the wish for a vowed religious life, Abbot Francis introduced an experimental novitiate to which he appointed Sister Paula directress. From that time onward, there developed the relationship between her and the founder which was to be of profound importance for the future Congregation. The Sisters soon realized that they had found in Sister Paula a leader in whom they could place complete confidence, and one who would always have their concerns at heart. For the first time, they also felt that they were united in true community. Known at this time as the "Red Sisters" on account of their red skirt, they were under the leadership and rule of the Trappists.
The fact that Abbot Francis appointed Sister Paula as his right hand in the government of the budding Congregation seems to point to a certain relatedness in spirit. Like the founder of Mariannhill, she possessed enough courage and confidence to dare the utmost and the unknown. A great common love and enthusiasm for a life with God and the missions united them. This gave them strength to persevere whenever life was hard.
Although not yet an official religious congregation, Sister Paula was permitted to take her first vows on October 15, 1887. After spending three years in Africa, during which time her knowledge and love of the missionary vocation had become more realistic, she was sent to establish a house in Europe to serve as a house of formation for future members of the little group of women. From 1889 to 1907, the congregation developed along two lanes: the "motherhouse" was in Africa, Sister Paula who was perceived by the group as "Mother" was in Europe. Under the direction of the changing leadership of the Trappist monks, the "Red Sisters" experienced an identity crisis over the attempt to combine mission work, to which they were called by Abbot Francis, with the life of monastics. Sister Paula was in great distress as she worked diligently for her sisters to become a congregation of their own, with their own constitutions, government and mission ministries.
On October 9, 1906, the First Constitutions of the Sisters were approved by Pope Pius X. On April 14, 1907, along with fifty-three other sisters, Sister Paula took her final vows. On July 15th, 1907, at the 1st General Chapter of the Sisters at Mariannhill, the delegates unanimously elected her the first canonical Superior General of "The Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood."
In the years that followed Mother Paula struggled persistently against untold obstacles to consolidate the Congregation in Europe and expand it to new territories in and outside Africa. The struggle for financial stability was the hardest as the Congregation did not have a broad operating base in the home countries. During all these years, however, it was Mother Paula's first concern to give the sisters a solid religious formation and to assure their ongoing education and training. Once full independence from their initial Trappist affiliation was achieved, she was relieved. "Soon a new life made itself felt everywhere," she recalled, "and God was visibly with us. This was a great encouragement to the sisters who gave themselves with new apostolic zeal to their work. For the first time they felt like real missionaries."
Mother Paula died May 21, 1948, at the age of 83. She had worked untiringly for the development of the Congregation and had never shunned a personal sacrifice for this cause. Indeed, the co-foundress had endeavored with her whole strength to be an exemplary religious and missionary. She was a woman of deep union with God who was aflame for mission, truly a "contemplative in action".
Summary from the book: 'History of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood Our Legacy - Our Commitment'