When Gertraud von Bullion in 1917 got to know Schoenstatt while working as a volunteer nurse in the military hospital in Mons, Schoenstatt was only for men.
She was excited with the ideas, and the testimonies of genuine committed life that she heard from soldiers who belonged to Schoenstatt. She began a correspondence with Father Kentenich and kept contact, and became the first female member of the Schoenstatt Movement.
On December 8, 1920, she she dedicated herself to the Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt, together with her cousin; this dedication is the root of the Women’s Federation and of the entire Women’s movement in Schoenstatt. Gertraud worked hard and with genuine apostolic commitment for the development of the women’s federation and league, until a severe tuberculosis step by step forced her to give up her outward activities and concentrate on the faithful accepting of her sickness and all the renouncements connected with it.
Lead by her life’s ideal – “I want to serve” – she found her way to turn her sickness into a possibility of serving others, and serving the Schoenstatt movement by giving all at the disposal of Jesus and Mary.
Bibilography:
- Gertraud of Bullion, a biographical sketch
